Chapter 156: Living

When the rice entered Villin's mouth, he froze. He felt shocked at the taste that entered his mouth. For the last year all he had eaten were pills, none of which were tasty in any way, shape, or form.

He soon went in for a second bite, adding some curry to it as well this time. When it entered his mouth he felt an explosion of taste. Without realizing it, tears began streaming down his cheeks as he took bite after bite of the food on the table.

Saying this was the most delicious food he had ever eaten wouldn't be wrong. He had forgotten good taste as a whole, this felt entirely new to him, of everything thus far, this was the first thing that truly brought him an emotion. He wasn't sure if it was happiness or sadness, but tears kept on coming until he finished his plate.

When everything was done, he promptly stood up and said, "Thank you for the meal.". After saying this, he made his way back to his room.

Silver, who was still sitting at the table, looked at his back with a sad smile. It was truly heartbreaking, seeing what the boy had become. She wanted to hug him but knew that physical contact probably wasn't a good idea.

Normally, she would be assisting one of the teachers with their classes currently, but due to Villin's situation, she had been allowed to go home two months before the ending of the school year.

Now, The Academy and white tower hoped she would be able to allow him to feel more comfortable and at home again. So that when the doctor came in two weeks, they would be able to have a decent look at him without resistance.

For the first week, Silver decided not to go any further. She simply engaged and talked with him regularly and left whenever she felt he began pulling back a little. They also ate two meals together. One in the morning and one in the evening.

In this week of time, Villin got himself to move all over the house. He washed himself with hot water and ate a snack when he felt like eating.

After this period of time, Silver brought Villin a wooden spell blueprint. It had been supplied by The Academy and it held a minor illusionary spell. It allowed the caster to change the appearance of their face, because of this, this kind of spell was generally not given to young students, this was to avoid aiding future criminals. This time, an exception was made since Villin would be able to hide his facial scar using the spell.

When Villin got the spell blueprint, he nearly immediately began working on it. Silver had noted that although he seemed to be a mess socially, when it came to magic, he seemed to be able to think and act clearly. Physical training was also something he continued doing without a problem.

It took very little time for Villin to learn the spell, after four days he got the hang of the spell and he began using it, regaining his former appearance, when it came to the face, at least.

After this time, Villin got a little bit more used to the freedom he got. He still always slept on the floor but this wasn't something he intended to change. It made him feel at ease when waking up. With his hands and feet touching the ground he could immediately sense around the house, make sure he was still safe.

Socks also stayed off. Even though you could very much transfigure things with socks and shoes on, it still made for a sort of divide making it slightly harder. It would also make it nearly impossible for Villin to properly sense things through the magical pathways he had made.

Overall, he began feeling a bit better. He somewhat enjoyed most of the conversations he had with Silver and the food was amazing. Still, he couldn't forget about the things that happened in the cell.

He often did weird things subconsciously. Every third day he woke up early and approached the door, as if waiting for Candil to come to get him. He was also hesitant of practicing magic in sight of Silver, even if it was harmless.

After two weeks, something changed. When he woke up, Villin could feel there wasn't one but two people in the house. He could guess which one Silver was by now but he had no idea who the second person was.

He got up warily. He grabbed the wand on his desk and aimed towards the door, his hand was shaking, it was as if he was expecting Candil to come out of that very door.

He could feel the two figures approach the door, then a loud knock could be heard.

Villin's eyes widened slightly 'Voccocito' with this simple spell, the door swung open, revealing the two people standing there.

Next to Silver was an old man in a bright green robe. The man looked familiar, after thinking for a bit he recognized him as Elder Tian. They had met at the yearly runemaster conference. He was the representative of the green tower, even though Villin didn't quite know what that meant.

The old man showed Villin his palms, he clearly wasn't holding a wand. After about a dozen seconds Villin lowered his wand "What are you doing here?"

The kindred elder smiled "I've come to try and heal you."

As soon as he did that, he noticed Villin tensed up a little so he quickly continued.

"I won't make any incisions or have you take any pills. I will use magic to see how your body and mind are doing. I will make sure it is always weak enough so that you can expel it when you feel uncomfortable."

Villin hesitated for a while but eventually, he agreed. His only condition was that Elder Tian would always have to be in front of him and not behind, the elder readily agreed to this.

Soon, Villin was sitting on a couch with Elder Tian standing in front of him. He first took his wand and softly tapped it on a multitude of locations across Villin's body. Villin could feel very faint bits of magical power enter his body and scan his various organs. He immediately snuffed any bits of magical power that approached his heart but let the rest do its thing.

Even though Elder Tian noticed Villin didn't allow him to get close to the heart, he didn't mention it and simply worked with what he had.

"Your organs are significantly more powerful compared to those from a regular magus." after saying this, he began scanning Villin's muscles "Oh my, the muscles in your body are much stronger compared to those of regular magi. This seems to have been caused by the gravity array we found in your cell. Your arms in particular are extremely powerful, it is hard to believe that would've been caused by an experimental pill."

Even though he said this, the man didn't actually seem to be suspicious of Villin, he simply commented on things he noticed.

"Your blood seems odd, calling it tainted wouldn't quite be right but it was certainly changed in some way, this might've been caused as a side effect by some of the pills." he frowned slightly as he thought about it "Still, your blood is pumping properly, your organs don't seem to be rejecting the blood so it shouldn't be much of a problem."

After all this, he was able to give a conclusion of the body as a whole "Overall, the body seems healthy, it is overall more powerful than those of a magus. The only part that will not heal with a bit of time is the skin. Most scars are caused by some sort of magical effect, healing the scars will not be possible even for me."

These words actually reassured Silver quite a bit. The fact Villin's body was healthy was already very important.

"Now, it is time to have a look at the mind. I promise I will try to stay away from any memories and head straight towards the second layer of your mind, having a look at your emotional state."

At this point in time, Villin wasn't afraid of anyone messing around in his mind, his mental defenses were extremely strong and the Kitsune increased his defenses as well. If Elder Tian were to try something, Villin was confident he would be able to counterattack near immediately.

And so, after Villin's nod, Elder Tian put his hand on Villin's forehead and began inserting magic power.

Elder Tian was one of the best purely magical healers in the central continent. He had seen thousands and thousands of mental spaces and knew what to expect. A regular magus would have practically no defenses, there would be nothing dividing the different areas of the mind.

Those that have fought wars had generally instinctively built up mental defenses, often without even realizing it. They would have a layer between each part of the mind as protection.

Elder Tian expected Villin to be like those that came from long wars, he probably instinctively made mental walls to help him cope with the pain. But when he entered, what he saw was way beyond anything he had ever seen.