Episode 117 – Elaru’s Practical Exam

Previously:

Kiel’s practical exam ends and the entire world around him turns into motes of light. Mageheart tells him that he will see his score two days from now. When he exits the room, he finds Elaru and Arion waiting for him. Kiel subtly extracts information from Arion about Zor Arite, finding out that he died a heroic death 18 years ago which had a great impact on the Arite family, especially Rine Arite who was close to Zor. Elaru admits that her artifact is called the Seed of Aegis and that its original creator was Zor Arite, however, she refuses to reveal how her father got his hands on the artifact.

 

Episode 117 – Elaru’s Practical Exam

◈ The Purge headquarters, Ashar ◈

Nelaira Helyot stared at the items placed in front of her with a blank expression. Her gray hair fell around her head messily giving her a frightening appearance even when she was trying to look amiable.

Although, she certainly wasn’t trying to look amiable right now.

“What is this?” She picked up a pink crayon and stared at Nalen Talath with a baffled expression.

In response to her shock, he smiled a smile that made Nelaira’s hair stand on end and responded in a sickeningly sweet voice. “It’s a crayon.”

You don’t say! Nelaira gawked at him strangely for several seconds, but in the end, she managed to swallow down all the witty remarks and settled for: “Why did you bring me…crayons?”

“Because you asked for a tool with which you can draw and write, of course.” Nalen Talath responded in a tone that suggested that the answer was obvious.

“I asked for a pen or a pencil. Bloody meep, even quills would do! Why in the name of the gods did you bring me crayons?” Nelaira’s voice broke midway.

“Pens, pencils, and quills all have sharp tips and can be dangerous if used (in)correctly. The damage you can do with crayons, however, is quite limited.” Nalen explained patiently as if he was explaining that one plus one equaled two.

Nelaira rolled her eyes exasperatedly. “What could I do? Poke a hole through layers of solid metal?”

“Better be safe than sorry.” Nalen Talath shrugged, which looked odd, considering that he still had his hands clasped behind his back.

“Are you worried I would commit suicide?” Nelaira asked in a low voice, avoiding looking at the slits that were Nalen’s eyes. He, however, just wordlessly smiled.

“I assure you, if I really wanted to commit suicide, I could still do it, even with crayons.” Nelaira spoke grudgingly, her forehead creased in a frown.

“Do you want me to take away the crayons too?” Nalen still continued to smile amiably, his tone seemingly containing no sign of a threat.

However, Nelaira knew better. As a Purger, she had a keen sense of danger, and no matter how close to her deathbed she was, her mind was still clear enough to pick up on it.

Her face darkened, and she changed the topic, for the time being, pointing to the thing next to the box of crayons. “What is that?”

“It’s a romance novel you asked for.” Nalen resumed in the same tone as before, as if he was talking to a child who had trouble understanding what he thought to be obvious.

Nelaira looked at the cover, her lips pressed tightly together. Is he testing me by bringing me such novels? If I didn’t complain…would that be suspicious?

She fidgeted slightly, before musing: “This isn’t romance, it is erotica…”

Nalen’s lips curled into a smirk. “My mistake. I don’t know my way around romance fiction. If you don’t want it, I’ll just take it away.”

Nelaira flipped a few pages and frowned. “…and it is about a lesbian couple…”

Gods only know where he managed to find such a book. Lesbian fiction is very scarce.

“Is there a problem?” Nalen continued to stare at her smilingly, seeming not seeing any issues.

The muscles of Nelaira’s face slightly twitched before she let out an incredulous, hoarse reply. “I am not gay.”

“Thank you for sharing.”

Nelaira glared at him. “My point is, I would appreciate it if you brought me what I asked for next time…”

“No promises.” Nalen Talah turned on his heels and leisurely made his way out of Nelaira’s cell, not bothering to say any goodbyes.

Nelaira continued to glare at his back until the doors of her room slammed shut, and the sound of Nalen’s footsteps disappeared down the corridor.

Even after she was left alone in her cell, she still didn’t allow herself to smile in self-satisfaction, afraid that a single smile would ruin everything she had worked hard to achieve.

After Kiel had returned from his practical exam, several hours passed before it was time for Elaru to take hers.

In the meantime, Elaru had mentioned what practical exam she had chosen.

Unlike Kiel, who had applied for the Battle Royale, Elaru had applied for “Apprehend and rescue” exam. According to her, she could have applied for several different exams and managed to get full points in each, however, the reason why she applied for this one, in particular, was because she wanted to showcase the range and keenness of her mana sense.

Or rather, she wanted to use her Aethernea of Sight to create an impression that she had a very keen mana sense. This way, in the future, when she saw things that normal people wouldn’t be able to, she could use her “keen mana sense” as an explanation for it.

By outright claiming to have a keen mana sense instead of trying to hide it, she would be less suspicious. People would take this reasonable explanation as truth and wouldn’t bother prying deeper into it. She was basically hiding in plain sight.

Thus, when the time of her exam arrived, she made her way towards 6th floor.

Kiel politely wished her good luck but didn’t send her off.

The room on the 6th floor of Replica Dungeon looked exactly the same as the room on the 4th floor – it was entirely black with white egg-shaped chairs. The only difference between them was the large white number engraved on the door.

When Elaru opened the door with the number six, what waited for her on the other side was an almost entirely white figure with the most flawless face she had ever seen.

What followed the flawless face was just as flawless voice: “Welcome back, Elaria.”

As she heard the softly spoken sentence, Elaru’s emotionless face was broken by an involuntary twitch of her mouth.

She had not expected such a strange greeting. After all, this was her first time using the Replica Dungeon, and she had never seen, let alone talked to the white haired female before.

But even so, when she intended to argue she realized she had no grounds on which to argue. She couldn’t say that she hadn’t been here before, nor could she claim that the white figure before her was a stranger.

After a brief hesitation, Elaru settled for saying: “Don’t call me that.”

The white-haired female paused, staring at Elaru blankly, before asking: “Is that not your name?”

Elaru opened her mouth to respond but closed it again. Then she opened her mouth once more, only to close it again.

On her third attempt, what came out of her throat was: “I have many names…”

Her voice uncharacteristically apathetic, she continued. “But currently, I am Elaru Wayvin. Refer to me as such.”

The female fixed her emotionless purple eyes on Elaru. Most people would get lost in those purple eyes that resembled the night sky with their golden, pink and blue lights, yet, Elaru paid no attention to them at all.

She didn’t even wait for the female to offer her a seat and explain the proceedings. Instead, she went straight to the nearest empty chair and sat down.

“Alright, Elaru Wayvin.” The female confirmed in a voice even more apathetic than Elaru’s, as if it was a contest of who could make their voice sound more dead. “Which two artifacts do you wish to carry into the exam?”

Elaru, however, ignored her question and asked her own: “Is this safe? I’m not going to die from this, am I?”

The white-haired woman continued to stare at her emotionlessly. “No one has ever died from the operation of the Replica Dungeon.”

Elaru looked up unconvinced, locking eyes with the female. “Oh? What about the incident from 18 years ago?”

“That fatality was not due to the operation of the Replica Dungeon.”

“Yeah, it was just bad luck.” Elaru sneered, but the female didn’t seem to catch on to her sarcasm.

“I suppose it could be attributed to bad luck.” The white-haired beauty agreed straightforwardly.

“Right, right. I have no desire to lose my fragile little life due to “bad luck”. And considering how unlucky I am…” Elaru’s musical voice echoed in the black room with fake cheerfulness.

The female looked at Elaru up and down and then replied blandly. “You are still alive. I’d say your luck is pretty good.”

Elaru’s soft smile turned into a gape. “Is this your attempt at a joke?”

“No. I don’t have a sense of humor.” The female continued to respond in a plain yet completely serious tone.

Elaru placed her hand over her face and exhaled tiredly. This conversation is completely pointless…

“Mageheart, will there be a problem with the replication process?”

“No. The process will proceed as usual.”

“Will you be able to sustain my body through the absence of my mind and soul?”

“Yes. I am aware your current vessel requires high maintenance. Be at ease. I will supply it with enough mana to sustain it.”

“Alright. Then start the exam.”

“Which two artifacts do you want to keep?” The female repeated.

“My necklace only.” Elaru finally replied, holding her crystal pendant between her thumb and index finger.

When the world once again appeared within Elaru’s eyes, she was standing in front of a tall sea of trees. She blinked her long thick eyelashes several times before her eyes focused on the argel man standing right in front of her.

The man looked to be in his late fifties or sixties, making it difficult to tell whether his short gray hair was the result of his original color graying or if his hair color was originally gray.

He was dressed in the Peacekeeper white and gold uniform that, judging by its awe-inspiring design, marked him to be of a high rank.

The man’s light gray eyes looked down strictly at Elaru. “Good. You are finally here, cadet. We have no time to lose.”

If the man had spoken to someone else, they would have surely looked behind themselves expecting to see the person the gray-eyed man was talking to. However, Elaru, whose Aethernea of Sight gave her a clear overview of her surroundings, realized immediately that the man was talking to her.

It took only a moment for Elaru to comprehend exactly what was going on.

The practical exam she had chosen was tailored for future Peacekeepers. So it wasn’t surprising that the person in front of her treated her as if she was a Peacekeeper under his command. He was probably here to give her the details of the exam.

Elaru decided to play along and did a salute of respect that consisted of placing a clenched right fist on top of the chest, where the heart ought to be. It was a customary way for the Peacekeepers and the Purge to greet their superiors.

The man nodded at her, pleased with her actions, and continued: “Last night, a band of bandits broke in and robbed our victim. They took 500 gold coins as well as a… hostage.”

The man’s face momentarily contorted into a strange expression as he spoke the word “hostage”.

But a moment later he resumed, in his usual strict and down to earth voice: “Our investigation shows that the perpetrators are hiding within this valley. We have narrowed down their possible hiding spot to a relatively small area. Your mission is to find their exact whereabouts and rescue the hostage.

Your utmost priority is to secure your own life as well as the lives of your partner and the hostage.”

Partner? Elaru’s eyebrow shot upwards, but she didn’t interrupt the man’s speech. A Peacekeeper would be harshly scolded if they were rude to their superior.

“If you can manage to apprehend the perpetrators without causing them any serious injury, you should do so. However, if you feel it is beyond your capabilities, you are to shoot a signal flare, and we shall immediately send back up.”

I’ve lately been thinking a lot about what I initially wanted from Aethernea and how it turned out. I’ve been compiling a list of things that need working on so that this first draft of Aethernea can be edited into perfection before it is released as a published book. There will be many small scale changes and there might be some large scale ones as well.The most often complaints I’ve been getting from readers are that the story is progressing at snail’s pace, that there is not much romance in it, and that they dislike Kiel’s and Elaru’s personalities. There are also complaints about how Elaru is not trusting Kiel with her secrets and how Kiel seems like a sidekick.

I would really appreciate it if you guys could think about what you would like to change in Aethernea to make it better and tell me about it. What bothered you about it? What did you miss in the last 100+ chapters? Would you prefer the romance to be progressing faster? Does the slow story pace bother you? What aspects of the characters bother you? Etc.

And of course, which parts of Aethernea do you think are great just the way they are and shouldn’t be touched?

Please let me know your thoughts on the matter so that I can make Aethernea better for everyone.

(You can leave me a comment below this chapter, or you can go to the Contact page and write me a private message.)

Coming up in the next episode:

Why does this exam force me to have a mission partner? What is her role in this exam? Will she be helpful or a liability?

It took Elaru considerable effort to prevent a fit of giggles threatening to erupt from her throat.

Orie bowed politely, her soft pink lips spread in a sincere smile. “Hi, just call me Orie. I’m glad to be of service.”

“Correct.” Elaru smirked. “But, who says we can’t move on ‘flat ground’?”

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Remdale
Remdale
6 years ago

Re-reading this some of it seems harsh, but I don’t mean it that way – you asked for criticism and I tried to oblige. 🙂 The only reason you see people saying it is too slow is because rather than a full release, they are reading it piecemeal. There’s also some people that don’t like a story to drag on and just want it to get to the point. I’m not one of them. 😉 I hope you won’t cut anything or change the way you write in the future because of them. I personally value the detail you put… Read more »

Remdale
Remdale
6 years ago
Reply to  Remdale

Sorry, that wasn’t very concise. I didn’t mean to imply you needed to change anything with Elaru, Kiel or the nature of their lopsided relationship, either. But I think one thing you could do to get Kiel out of Elaru’s shadow is to elevate a certain side of him – when Elaru came out covered in the healing potion, I believe Kiel truly shined in the best way yet. Give Kiel some scenarios where he can really impress other people with that side of him, in situations that matter, sooner rather than later. Basically, give Kiel some stronger Lelouch moments.… Read more »

Remdale
Remdale
6 years ago
Reply to  Remdale

I can’t help myself, I’d like to be a bit more concise on one more point. 🙂 If readers don’t feel like they care about what happens to the characters or have anything in common with them early on they may drop it there. I know you enjoy hiding tidbits, giving clues, and doing reveals – as an involved reader I definitely enjoy them too! I also know their reveals are a big part of the story. But I wish you would give the readers more connection to Kiel in the beginning. Perhaps a dream of his earlier on that… Read more »

G
G
6 years ago

I don’t really agree that the story is moving too slowly.
It’s the first book in the series and you’re building a whole new world for us to enjoy so of course you need to spend some extra time explaining it.
Plus we are reading the chapters as you release them, so I think it makes the story progression feel slower than it actually is.

Remdale
Remdale
6 years ago

That preview is very foreboding. Quite a partial reveal. Honestly, the very deliberate obfuscation in this chapter to the reader was frustrating and left me with a discontented feeling. Of course, maybe it was just the dry tone throughout. 🙂

Aoto
Aoto
6 years ago

In my opinion the story has a good pace, just that some chapters include too many details and could have been cut a bit, as for the romance, they barely know each other for a week what romance? As for kiel, he is currently way too weak and elaru too op if the story goes on like this kiel will always be carried by elaru, so kiel needs some kind of power up for example learning the basics of time magic to make someone faster and slower on an entirely different lvl from accelaration(this is not my personal wish or… Read more »

asura
asura
6 years ago

Personally i think the story is moving slowly but whats wrong with it being slow paced? I think i prefer it slow paced then fast. Kiel and Elaru’s personalities to me have depth to them. They aren’t perfect people and have their own problems and defects that makes their interactions with each other very enjoyable. And while i want romance i can’t even see a hint of it i assume the starting line for romance will be book 2/3 so im in it for the long haul. Both of them have alot of crap to deal with they have no… Read more »

Sdarkhorse
Sdarkhorse
6 years ago

It feels very slow. I am of the opinion of show not tell. It seems like you explain a lot about the rules when it is not Kiel trying to work it out in his head about magic in the World. Also, it feels like it is almost like dragon ball z with how long some of these combats take. The dialogue is great. It just seems like you are trying to spell out the rules for the World immediately instead of letting the reader figure out the details. As long as you keep how magic works consistent through out,… Read more »

Dark
Dark
6 years ago

I also think the stories pace is moving at an ok pace. My favorite moments are when elaru and Kiel are together and see Kiel who doesn’t trust anyone or open up to anyone start to open up to elaru. My favorite character is Kiel and looking forward to see his character grow and all though most people see him as a side character to me this is the story of his development into his heroic story. I also think I am starting to understand his character a bit since we have already seen the fire also saw what elaru… Read more »

Dark
Dark
6 years ago

As for what I want to see is I wanna see Kiel get a strong overpowering desire to become stronger and stronger so never have to look weak or depend on anyone again

Dark
Dark
6 years ago

I am a bit confused is the arite clan all one race or combination of both and did I miss explanation on that?

Kyu
6 years ago
Reply to  Dark

I seem to remember it mentionned earlier that there was 2 branches of the family, will look at that upon rereading. Although this raises the question of how the heck would that be possible without a common ancestor since interbreeding doesn’t work. Still, yeah, the clan seems to have an argel and an elibu branch.

6 years ago
Reply to  Kyu

Why do they need to share blood initially to form a clan? They can just say “our two families are now one clan”.

Kyu
6 years ago
Reply to  Kosie

It seems to me this all stems from the ever so slight (perceived by me?) distinctions between “Clan” and “Family”. The term “branch of the family” reminds me mostly of the traditional japanese extended family system where a “branch” is created when a non heir goes off to found his own family. ep. 97 – The Purge, 3rd to last paragraph: “the previous heir of the argel branch of the Arite family and the appointed future head of the Purge.” ep. 113 – The Last Attack: ““You want me to believe that you know nothing about the head of the… Read more »

lemontrees
lemontrees
6 years ago

This sounds crazy but could Zor’s soul possibly be in Elaru’s body? That there are two souls co-existing in one body? Hence the imbalance and infinite mana pool. ?

themotherlessgoat
themotherlessgoat
6 years ago

I am one of those people who do NOT think this story is progressing too quickly. (Let’s see how concise I can be haha ><) Yes, there's a lot of text that could probably be cut out IF you were aiming for a younger demographic, but if you're aiming for young adult (which I think you are, correct me if I'm wrong), you're on a good track. As for the romance in this story, I wasn't really expecting it to be the most prominent genre. I came for Fantasy and the way you've built everything up keeps my attention. If… Read more »

Annie9010
Annie9010
6 years ago

I do not think the pace of the book is slow. The book has been carefully constructed to give readers real insight into the mental image Cloe has of Halnea. After all, it’s a whole new world she’s thought up and the first book of it’s series. It’s only been a few days so far in the book and it seems a lot longer, but everything is being described to great detail for the readers to understand the workings and intricacies of the fantasy world. About the romance between Kiel and Elaru, they’ve only gotten to know each other a… Read more »