Chapter Ten[X]: Training, That's the Plan (I)

Xenos Waters breathes in deeply through his mouth, holding it there for a moment before slowly exhaling with his nose. Focusing on the coldness of his core in an attempt to sense his mana, a task that Mr. Balanius said is the starting point for Xenos to take control of his magic. So far, it's been an absolute failure. In all honesty, it feels like he's wasting his time, something he doesn't have much left of.

He, of course, knows that isn't the case, but he can't help it. Despite putting all of his efforts into trying to sense his mana, he hasn't made even a tiny bit of progress. If anything, he's losing progress because of the continuous spread of the scales, which now covers the left side of his face and neck, along with his left ear, about one-fifth of his torso, and a bit of his upper thigh.

Groaning with frustration, Xenos furrows his eyebrow ( the other one is no more ) and opens his eyes, squinting at the white padded walls of the room in frustration. He's getting real tired of the colour, since he's been sitting in this room for who knows how long, with Felix and Mr. Balanius dropping by occasionally to bring him some food.

From what he's heard, Felix hasn't been having any luck either, but Mr. Balanius said that it usually takes about a week of searching before people usually sense their mana, so that isn't anything surprising. Xenos knows he's being impatient, he's trying not to be, but it's quite hard when he literally only has three months to live.

Xenos sighs, glancing at the leather armour discarded him a pile in the corner along with his mask before looking at his left hand. He taps the sharp claws that are now his fingers against his thigh for a few moments, still trying to come to terms with the fact that this is now his hand. Releasing a frustrated breath, Xenos flops onto his back and stares the gently glowing lights attached to the white ceiling.

He can feel his left ear twitch at the sound of the door opening but continues to stare at the light, beaming up his irritation at his lack of progression so he doesn't explode with it. Quiet footsteps approach Xenos and soon Felix is standing above him, feet at his hips and looking down with a quirked smile.

"Having fun, Xenos?" Felix asks cheekily, squatting down so his body is only a few inches away from Xenos'.

Xenos huffs. "Yeah, so much fun you'd be jealous."

Felix chuckles. "Come on, let's go do something else, I'm bored of just sitting in these white rooms for three days. Who knows," he shrugs, "it might just help us progress." Xenos raises a brow in surprise, shocked by the fact that three days have passed since he basically locked himself in here. He thought that, at the most, two days have gone by. Interesting what concentration does to one's sense of time.

"And what would we even do?" Xenos asks, pushing himself up so he rests on his elbows.

Felix holds out his hand, standing up and moving back a little. Xenos grabs ahold of his hand, making sure to keep his scale-covered hand far away from it. "Well, Mr. Balanius said we should go find our familiars," Felix says as he pulls Xenos up.

"What?" Xenos asks in shock, stumbling face-first in Felix's chest, Felix wrapping an arm around Xenos' waist to keep him from falling over. "Ow," Xenos mumbles, bringing his hand up to his nose. "Has anyone ever told you that your chest is way too hard?" Xenos asks, looking up at Felix, whose face is quite close all of sudden.

Felix chuckles. "Well, no one's ever fallen into my chest before, so no."

Xenos feels his cheek flush a little from embarrassment and he steps away from Felix, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Fair point, I suppose." He suddenly remembers what made him stumble in the first place. "And what's this about familiars?"

"You know," Felix says, making random gestures, "familiars, companions, partners, whatever you want to call them. Mr. Balanius says that we may have a chance of connecting with our familiars if we go to the barn behind the school. But before that, he says we need to bring you to an Illusionist so that we can make other people think you don't have scales, something about them being a dead giveaway to what your bloodline is."

"You bet it is," says a familiar voice, making Xenos peek over Felix's shoulder to see Mr. Balanius leaning against the closed door. "Anyone with basic knowledge about Shifter bloodlines will recognize that assimilation process just like I did, and the council members are very strict about not revealing the bloodlines of the contestants unless absolutely necessary."

Xenos nods. "Alright, I don't see why not." He's actually quite glad about this new development since he's extremely self-conscious about his appearance right now. Xenos doesn't want people to see him as some sort of monster. He holds back a grimace at the thought.

"Good, then let's head there right away." Mr. Balanius walks over to the corner and picks up Xenos' armour, handing it to him. Xenos quietly tightens all the straps, flexing his fingers to make sure he tightened it enough before placing on his mask. They follow Mr. Balanius out the door and into the hallways of the Magna Salices Clinic, reminding Xenos of the four healers, Asta, Keona, Zomelias, and Drakon that helped to extend his lifespan.

One time when Mr. Balanius visited him, he asked what type of magic the four of them have. Apparently, Zomelias and Asta have an Examiner bloodline, meaning they can examine the condition of people to see if they're sick, infected, or injured. While Drakon has an Acceleration bloodline, he can accelerate or decelerate the natural healing process.

Keona's bloodline, Marker, is the one that interests him the most, though. If she knows what a plant, mineral, metal, or gas looks or smells like, she can "mark" it on a map in her mind and then locate it. It's a really useful ability, if she were in Obuku, Xenos' realm, then she could have made a fortune off of finding precious minerals and metals. Mr. Balanius never did tell him their last names, but he supposes that didn't matter much.

They exit the hospital, Xenos squinting at the brightness outside, nose getting assaulted by all types of smells and his ear picking up on all sorts of sounds he's never paid attention to before. In the clinic, all he ever smelt was that hospital smell everyone knows about; chemicals, latex, and cleaning products. But out here. . . out here he can smell everything from the flowers a few metres away to the vanilla-cinnamon perfume of some random person.

Not to mention the sounds, the leaves rustling, small pebbles and dirt getting kicked up, the way the wind passes by, the breathing of people and beasts, even the scurrying of the ants on the ground. The beast walking with two people in armour leather really catches his attention, its movements graceful yet powerful.

It has sleek black fur, looking very much like a panther but more muscular. Well, it also has a lizard-like tail made of black scales, those same black scales around its yellow eyes, pointed ear, and, of course, beautiful black feathered wings that just glitter in the sunlight. "It's called a lacertus," Felix whispers in his ear, making Xenos jump slightly from fright.

"Christ," Xenos mumbles, letting out a breath to shake off the shock.

He hears Felix snicker and turns his unimpressed gaze to Felix. "Sorry, sorry," Felix says, not looking sorry at all. "It's just, you were staring at the lacertus so I figured I would tell you its name."

"Yeah, whatever," Xenos says. "And hey, how come you know what it's called?"

Felix winks. "Trade secret, if you figure out what my bloodline is then I'll tell you."

Xenos sulks. "You know my bloodline is, how is that fair?"

"Fine, fine, I'll give you a hint." Felix grins and Xenos can already tell the hint isn't going to be anything useful. "My power doesn't come from myself." Xenos makes a face that Felix can't see but most likely guesses.

Before Xenos can complain about the hint, Mr. Balanius cuts in, "Could you two stop flirting and come along?"

Xenos feels the scaleless half of his face flush. "We're not flirting!" Xenos says, glancing at Felix to see that he's smirking.

"Sure, sure, whatever you say. Just come on already."

Xenos groans.