Chapter 212. The Offer.
The Sacred Spring was a small natural source of water with extraordinary properties. It could pull a person back from the very edge of death regardless of their rank or specialization, restoring them in seconds, even regrowing severed limbs.
But if it were only that simple, Severus would not be fighting the urge to resurrect this old man and throttle him, then resurrect him again, and throttle him again, on and on until the rage finally burned itself out.
The water from a Sacred Spring had one other property beyond the one already described: it weakened and could completely destroy dark creatures below the sixth rank. If used in the forging of a blade, the resulting weapon could deal those creatures unhealable damage, regardless of what remedies they used. After that, the sacred aura would continue eating into them until nothing remained.
But its effect was not limited to ordinary dark creatures; it affected Devils with equal force. That was precisely why, in the war that swept through his world and took the lives of five Creators and tens of thousands of wizards, it had reduced casualties by an order of magnitude.
These creatures possessed tremendous natural defense and equally tremendous regeneration. They could regrow a severed limb from nothing in roughly a minute; if the limb was preserved, reattachment took only a few seconds.
Whether that was entirely accurate or partly exaggerated, Severus couldn't say for certain, but he had always followed one principle: hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Perhaps that regeneration was overstated in the sources, but he had no doubts at all about the Sacred Water. Every surviving text from that era said the same thing, and it wasn't as if the books had all conspired to lie about one specific detail.
That was why, the moment Severus remembered all of this and saw the vial, his emotions were so violently conflicted. He had no doubt it was Sacred Water; he had seen it sold at auction more than once, and had even purchased a small, somewhat diluted vial himself. By his millennium, only three Sacred Springs remained in the entire world, and access to them was restricted to the "chosen few."
Sacred Water was worth considerably more than Sun Bee honey. The honey had a weaker healing effect, while Sacred Water could bring someone back from the edge of death, which was why it was so often called the "Second Chance."
For Severus, who intended to destroy the Devils in the future, this substance could multiply survival chances many times over and tip the balance on a goal most would call insane. And because of one reckless, greedy old man, that chance was shattered. As if some god had decided to mock him in the most elaborate way possible.
In that moment, he felt the weight of an extraordinary loss.
I would have been better off never knowing it existed.
"Young man, are you all right?" The spirit, noticing his strange reaction, asked hesitantly.
"Yes. Everything is fine." He exhaled slowly, gathered himself, and looked at the vial again, and again felt the urge to hit something.
"Good. I'm certain this can remove any curse." The spirit said with a certain quiet pride, watching the reaction of the young wizard, who looked as indifferent as ever, which thoroughly puzzled the old man. He had expected at least some reaction, not complete neutrality. "Is something wrong?"
"It won't work."
"That's impossible. My father was once cursed by a Dark wizard, and this..."
"It won't work." Severus fixed the spirit with a cold look and cut him off. "This water can remove any curse, that's true, but only if the curse has not yet fully merged with the host. Nagini has been in this form for over forty years."
"No, but even so..."
"Her core has fully restructured itself around her new body. And the curse is no ordinary one; it is, one might say, hereditary, and considerably more severe than any other." He cut him off again, then paused for a few seconds before continuing. "As for her soul, I can say nothing definitive, but over such a long period, it has most likely been affected as well." That had been one of the reasons Severus had taken the Qilin: he wanted to understand the degree to which the curse had touched Nagini's soul, so he could tailor both the ritual and the potion accordingly.
"This." The spirit heard his words and genuinely didn't know how to respond. If what he said was true, there was simply no way to help the snake. "But then, how do you intend to do it?"
"Use a different curse." At those words, the old man's eyes went wide, but he understood that the young man before him was not foolish, and would not harm his own companion, especially after what he had just witnessed. So the elderly wizard fell into deep thought, trying to figure out what the young man intended to achieve with such an approach, and just as he was about to voice his opinion of this "brilliant plan," something seemed to dawn on him. He froze for a moment, wearing quite a peculiar expression.
"What's the matter with him?" Nagini had calmed somewhat, and was watching the spirit with mild bewilderment.
"Nothing important." Severus reached out, lifted the vessel of Sacred Water from the stone, and placed it quietly into his coin pouch.
That action brought the spirit back to himself. He looked at the young man before him with a startled expression, not even noticing that the water was gone.
"I-I am astonished. I would never have thought of approaching the problem this way!" He nodded excitedly, stroking his beard. "It reminds me somewhat of the principle of 'debts' in arithmetic."
"Hm? Not bad at all. That's precisely the idea." Severus nodded calmly and began turning toward the exit, which did not escape the old man's notice.
"Wait! Where are you going?!"
"There's nothing more for me here. I have what I came for, and once Nagini becomes human again, she won't be able to study light magic anyway." He shrugged indifferently, fully turned away, and headed for the exit.
"Stop! Surely you have more questions for me?!" The old man quickly caught up to Severus and began circling him urgently. "In my time I was considered among the wisest men of my millennium! People waited in line for months just to ask me a question. Will you at least stop walking? Show some basic respect!"
"What do you want?" Severus finally stopped at the very edge of the exit and looked at the old man with a flat expression.
"Don't you want to ask me anything? There is much that I know." The Asian spirit drew the words out mysteriously, a cryptic half-smile on his face, which made Severus's eye twitch.
"No." His hand touched the right door.
"Stop!"
He exhaled slowly, turned back with visible irritation, and found the old man shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot, not meeting his gaze.
"Say what you mean or I'm leaving."
"I... I—" The spirit's face showed a genuine internal struggle, but after a few seconds, he seemed to throw caution to the wind, and blurted it out, head bowed to hide his embarrassment: "Please stay a little longer! It has been a very, very long time since I spoke to anyone! When I built this place, I never imagined that wizards would grow so weak over time, and that no one would even be able to pass this mediocre trial!"
"I see. So you want to talk." Severus's expression shifted into something rather too smug, ignoring Nagini's reproachful stare. "Very well."
"Really?!"
"Yes. Really." He put on his most radiant smile and continued: "On one condition."
"Which is?" the elderly wizard asked with considerably more caution now. Something in the young man's manner had just changed, triggering his instincts.
"I want you to teach someone light magic."
"Ah?" The old man looked at the snake, then back at Severus. "Because of the curse, she can't—"
"Not her." He shook his head, and a moment later, a Qilin appeared beside him. The calf looked thoroughly confused. One moment he was playing with his brothers, and the next he was standing in this strange cave. But when he turned and spotted Severus, he let out a happy squeak and immediately began rubbing his face against his leg. Severus's expression softened noticeably as he stroked the calf's head. "Him."
"What?" The old wizard blinked slowly, looking from the Qilin to its owner and back again, simply unable to understand how a creature this luminous, one capable of seeing souls, could be pressing itself so affectionately against a wizard with a soul that dark.
"Are you sure? He's too suspicious. I'm worried about Bambi. What if this old man teaches him something terrible?" Nagini watched the spirit with barely concealed distrust.
"Which Bambi?" Severus looked at the snake with a rather odd expression. She had apparently already chosen a name for the Qilin without him.
"Well, you remember that animated film we watched?" Severus nodded, some vague recollection surfacing. "He's the image of Bambi!"
"Fine. Bambi it is. But when he grows up, you're the one explaining to him why you named him that. As for the training, only this old man can help with it." He pressed two fingers to his left temple. They share the same specialization. White magic includes light magic as a component, so it would really help him develop in that direction. Then he spoke aloud, addressing the Asian spirit: "You are the wisest wizard of your millennium. I'm certain you can find a way to reach even him. Am I wrong?"
"You're simply playing on my pride. A cheap trick."
"I know. But you have no choice." Severus shrugged indifferently. A tired, helpless laugh escaped the old man's lips.
"True enough." His hand settled on his beard again, and his eyes filled with white light. "I'm surprised. Talents like this among Qilin are rare indeed." He studied the calf with quiet approval. "But if you want me to teach him, you'll need to leave..."
"That won't be necessary." A pocket watch appeared in Severus's palm. The spirit's interest in it immediately eclipsed his interest in the magical creature.
"This artifact. It can hold a soul inside it." He stepped closer, studying it with genuine fascination. "I'm astonished that someone in this era could create something so remarkable." He leaned in further, puzzling over the numbers around the edge and the hands. "And these are?"
"A clock. Built to measure and track time. It tells you the hour, whether morning or evening is coming, that sort of thing. Very practical." The spirit's eyes nearly popped out of his head. He stared at the artifact with undisguised reverence.
"Extraordinary. But how do they..."
"For now, go in. I'll have someone take you on a tour of the world later."
"I... I can't. I can't leave this place unguarded." He shook his head with a strained smile, though his eyes betrayed how badly he wanted to. "I cannot simply abandon it."
"We can divide your soul. One part comes with me, the other stays here. They remain connected to each other. You would effectively be in two places at once."
"Is that... actually possible?" The spirit looked skeptical. "I watched several wizards attempt something like it, but they either destroyed their soul in the process or the two halves lost their connection."
"In magic, almost anything is possible."
That seemed to really sink in. The old man fell into thought. He had wanted to leave this place for a very long time. Living here in solitude had become increasingly difficult, and there were moments when he thought he was beginning to lose his mind. But his duty, maintaining the barrier, the weather, and the watch over whatever was sealed below ground, had kept him bound here with no way out.
About five minutes passed before he finally raised his eyes to the young man again, and spoke with an expression that had become considerably more serious:
"I agree. But first, explain to me exactly how you intend to do this. Every detail, because my continued existence depends on it."
"Of course. In fact, it's quite straightforward." Severus nodded calmly, raised one finger, and a white light bloomed at its tip. He began writing in the air: a specific sequence of runes, and then a magical circle.
The elderly wizard studied each symbol in turn with intense concentration, nodding here, starting there, eyes going wide at one point with unconcealed astonishment. This continued for the next hour and a half.
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