Crownless Reincarnation: New World? Nah I'd win-Chapter 87: Practice [1]

[The next morning]

’Urgh’

Akamir groaned as he stretched his body.

After the date yesterday he was seriously in need of some sleep.

’Hard to believe I saw Atlantis.’

He thought, rubbing his chin as he walked into the teacher’s building.

Inara told him a lot of things on his date like how Atlantis is completely isolated.

It was the place that cannot be visited by the other races.

’Would have been nice if they actually accepted trade.’

Akamir thought walking upstairs.

’I could have used it to grow my company.’

Inara could have helped him on this because she isn’t just a normal member of Atlantis.

’A distant relative of Atlantis’s royal family, huh?’

She was really a special one.

Thinking about her, Akamir looked at Nayomi on his side.

"You never mentioned she was a mermaid." He said, staring at her.

Nayomi didn’t look at him. "It was never mentioned and she admitted she didn’t tell anyone."

"...Yeah." He let out a sigh. "I don’t know why she told me."

"Pretty sure she is into you."

Akamir shrugged. "I can see that."

"So." Nayomi moved and floated in front of him. "Are you going to help her?"

"..."

Akamir didn’t reply as he walked past her.

Nayomi floated beside him once again. "Having a queen as your wife doesn’t sound bad."

"I don’t care about that." Akamir replied shaking his head. "I just don’t want to be bound with a kingdom."

The one thing that he doesn’t want is the responsibilities of a king.

Even though he was aware that Inara won’t push everything on him, he can’t be too sure.

"Though." He mumbled, reaching Velyrian’s office. "....I am leaning more towards helping her."

Akamir knocked on the door and was followed by the opening of it.

He stepped into the room, blinking against the pale light that filtered in through half-closed blinds.

The first thing he noticed was the empty pedestal.

The Ven core was gone.

Then his eyes landed on Velyrian.

He sat hunched in a chair, arms draped loosely over his knees, face far paler than usual.

’...What happened here?’

Velyrian slowly raised his head.

His eyes met Akamir’s and for a moment, Akamir swore he saw something close to terror flicker through them.

"What happened?" Akamir asked, his tone quiet.

"I destroyed it," Velyrian replied after a pause, voice low and steady. "I don’t want to continue with it anymore."

Akamir blinked.

He waited a beat to be sure he heard correctly. "You... destroyed it?"

Velyrian nodded with a tired sigh.

"Last night. I couldn’t sleep, I just kept staring at it. The thing... it wasn’t right. I thought I was helping, but it was turning into something else."

Akamir let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding.

He crossed his arms and leaned against the nearby desk. "That’s... honestly a relief. I didn’t like where that project was heading."

’I was planning to destroy the core with my own hand anyway.’

"Neither did I." Velyrian rubbed his face. "I don’t know why it took me so long to see it."

Akamir nodded as he looked at the left side of the room.

’Hmm?’

A marking on the ground took his attention.

’What are those?’

"Why are you here?" Velyrian asked before he could inspect it. "Didn’t you walk out of the project yesterday?"

"...I came to check on you." Akamir replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "I had a weird feeling since yesterday."

"..."

Velyrian just stared at him with a trembling face.

He wanted to speak but he couldn’t bring himself to do so.

"So, what now?" Akamir asked, glancing once more at the empty pedestal. "What are you going to do?"

Velyrian didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he reached under his desk and pulled out a rolled-up sheet of parchment.

He carefully unrolled it on the table between them.

The chart was filled with scribbled notes and intricate diagrams.

A long staff took up most of the page, its shape segmented and complex.

There were runes, channels, and something that looked like a magnetic array embedded into its length.

"I always wanted to make this," Velyrian said, tapping the paper.

"It was something I dreamt up when I was still an apprentice. About combining magic and old runes in a way that didn’t corrupt either. This staff... was supposed to be that."

Akamir leaned over the drawing, eyes scanning the design. "Looks complicated."

"It is," Velyrian replied. "That’s why I never attempted it. But now... I think it’s what I should’ve done from the start."

There was a beat of silence between them.

The sound of a clock ticking faintly filled the background as Velyrian looked up.

"I want your help."

Akamir looked at him, then at the chart again. "You sure about this?"

"Yes."

"Alright," Akamir said, giving a small nod. "I’ll help but I got a question."

"Ask away."

"Who are you making this weapon for?" Akamir asked looking at him. "I mean no offense but can you use it—?"

"It’s not for me." Velyrian interrupted shaking his head. "It’s for my master....a way to help him fight his disease."

Akamir tilted his head. "Disease?"

Velyrian sighed rubbing his face once again.

"My master has a problem of mana leakage." He replied, his voice low.

"His body absorbs the extra mana but his race isn’t made for a strong body."

Akamir tapped on the staff’s diagram. "And this thing will suck his mana and store it without hurting him?"

Velyrian nodded his head in agreement.

"With this maybe he can live a little bit longer." He whispered. "Maybe teach my daughter a thing or two."

Akamir raised his brow. "You have a daughter?"

"....Yeah."

He leaned closer. "How old is she?"

Velyrian was about to reply but he stopped, his eyes narrowed at Akamir. "Why are you asking that?"

Akamir shrugged. "I am just wondering."

He remained quiet for a while before he replied softly. "She is old."

"How old?"

"I don’t remember." He rubbed his temples. "Maybe in her forties?"

"Oh, is she married?"

He glared at Akamir. "Again, why are you asking that?"

"Just curious."

Velyrian sighed and leaned back in his chair, clearly exhausted.

"I don’t think she is," he muttered. "Why does it matter?"

Akamir raised both hands. "Just curious. You mentioned her, so I figured I’d ask."

Velyrian gave him a tired look. "She’s not your type."

"You don’t know my type."

"I know enough to say you’d drive her insane."

Akamir chuckled. "That’s fair."

Velyrian remained quiet for a while, tapping on the diagram.

"Say." He whispered. "You don’t have an army..of deformed mutants with you right?"

Akamir kept his smile the same. "What are you talking about?"

Velyrian shook his head hastily. "Nothing special." He replied. "We should start working on it...I want to gift this to my master soon."

Akamir nodded silently as he stepped a little back.

His blood red eyes stared at the back of Velyrian’s head.

’How did he know?’

He wondered, keeping his emotions in check.

In no circumstances does he want the world to know about the mimickers.

And....

Velyrian talking about them made him alert.

’How does he even—?’

Akamir’s gaze slowly turned towards Nayomi who stared at Velyrian’s chest.

Her eyes shifted back to him.

"The Ven core."

She whispered softly.

"It’s beating in the place of his heart."

Akamir felt goosebumps all over his body.

’...What?’

Velyrian turned to look at him. "Are you going to help or not?" He asked.

Akamir drew in a deep breath. "Sure."

---

After two long hours of planning Akamir walked out of Velyrian’s office.

His eyes snapped towards Nayomi.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked. "How is the Ven core his heart?"

Nayomi floated beside him in the hallway, arms crossed, her expression serious.

"I don’t know how," she said quietly.

"But it’s there. I felt it the moment we walked in. That thing isn’t destroyed. He just... absorbed it."

Akamir rubbed his temple, feeling a headache creep in.

"That’s not how Ven cores work. They don’t just become part of someone. It’s supposed to explode or corrupt the user."

"I know," Nayomi said. "Which means this isn’t normal, something kept it stable or someone."

They reached the stairs and started descending.

Akamir’s mind was racing with different thoughts.

The core was dangerous and he’d seen what it could do.

It twisted people, fed on their mana, warped their intentions.

"Do you think he’s being controlled?" Akamir asked.

"No," Nayomi replied. "That’s the scary part. He’s still himself. Just... different."

Akamir stopped at the bottom of the steps. "You think it’s influencing him?"

Nayomi nodded. "Not like a parasite. More like... a subconscious thought, something breathing in the back of his mind."

Akamir looked over his shoulder, back toward the office.

Velyrian had seemed shaken. Tired, maybe but not wrong.

Not yet.

"...We keep an eye on him," Akamir muttered. "If anything feels off, I will end him."

Even though he didn’t want to....

.... Akamir knew when to draw the line.

’Still how?’

He wondered feeling a tinge in his mana core.

’Hmm?’

He summoned a little bit of mana and made a skin barrier of it.

’I need to work on this as well.’

Akamir thought as he began to walk away from the teacher’s building.

’With the speed I am progressing, I should break through in a day or two.’

Akamir was sure he would break through the white core in less than a year.

Something that humans could only achieve in their dreams.

’....Still, am I really human?’

He began to doubt his race because of his abnormal core.

Akamir let out a sigh as he found two boys moving out of a classroom.

His eyes lit up. "Viros!"

The boy turned to look at him. "Asher?"

Akamir walked closer. "Are you guys free?"

Luca quickly chimed in. "No, we are not—."

"We are." Viros cut in his words. "Why do you ask?"

Akamir smiled. "Wanna be my practice dummy—parther?"

They looked at him weirdly.