A New Star Chapter 30

It was many, many long hours later that I first awoke, feeling as if a starship had been parked on me for a year. Desperate to hold myself together, I shakily grabbed one potion after another, noting my right arm had been partially restored, though there was still much work to be done. After chugging and eating almost everything laid out by the bath, I slipped back into blissful unconscious, oblivious to the world and everything around me. I would have had some worry about beasts and such, but I highly doubted anything was going to be venturing into the area for quite some time. The very air itself still carried a heavy charge that discouraged anything from so much as approaching the blast zone. My bigger worry was if any of the few crazy adventurers like my grandfather happened to stumble upon the area and thought it interesting enough to investigate.  

I faded in and out for hours before becoming fully aware and awake again, finding myself still absorbing healing energy from the bath. I knew about a day had passed; my sense of time had always been rather impeccable and something about this new body, or world, had only made it better. Even as I aged in my previous life, I had only ever gotten a better sense of the movement of time, down to the second, and I knew it had been a bit over twenty-four hours since I had come very close to killing myself doing something impressively foolish. I inspected my body, finding the bath and the enormous quantity of healing items I had consumed to have been rather effective, if crudely so. I still felt like I had been hit by a dreadnought at ramming speed, but I was able to maintain my hold on consciousness and even move my body, albeit slowly and painfully. It looked like I would need at least another day or two of rest before heading back home; I figured I might as well check what that experience had actually done in the meantime. 

Warning!!! Miss-targeted Tribulation detected!!! 

Warning!!! Seek Authority Override!!! 

Warning! Warning! Warning!  

Tribulation Descending! 

Tribulation energy channeling at 80% capacity.  

Warning! Insufficient data! 

Warning! Affinity Metamorphosis in progress! Results may be unexpected! 

Greater Lightning has completed the metamorphic process. 

Greater Lightning has become Lightning of Heaven's Great Abyss. 

Affinity Compatibility increased! 150% > 200% 

Affinity Grades upgraded! 

Body of Heaven's Calamity: E > F 

Lightning of Heaven's Great Abyss: F > H 

Soul Resonance: C > D 

New affinity acquired! 

Eighth Affinity: Body Reconstruction 

Grade: B 

Compatibility: 90% 

Well. 

Well. 

That was certainly something. 

I still wasn't back up to a full hundred percent, not by a long shot, but I had both my arms back, and most of my organs were in the right place and healed, so I could at least drag my weary ass out of this bath. Even medicinal baths could lead to one pruning after a time. Not pleasant.  

I spent another hour healing up before I felt I was ready to try to the trek back to the old research lab I had found. Since that wasn't all that far from where I was now, relatively speaking, I could use that as the first stop and judge how I was feeling after I got there. My body still hurt, and my head felt like an entire marching band had been playing inside it for three days straight, but I pushed through all that, moving out of the hideout and entering the Dark Paths. I walked through them for miles, finding that it was a bit more draining than before, though that wasn't because I had become any weaker. It was all due to my lingering injuries, which had gone even deeper than the physical level and affected my mana and spirit. It would likely take me days, perhaps even weeks, to fully recover back to one hundred percent. Even my new affinity, Body Reconstruction, wouldn't be of terribly much help, as the damage was to more than my physical flesh. 

I had to take a break at the old research lab and rest for a couple hours, popping a few healing and stamina restoration pills to try to keep myself awake and together. Once they had gotten a chance to do their work, and I had run my new affinity a bit to boost their effect, I was up and out of the lab, locking it behind me and slipping back into the Dark Paths once again. The method of travel was quite convenient, but I was still always very careful when using it. I had never been attacked within the paths or had any danger, such as a pocket of wild mana, threaten me, but my senses told me that there were dangers within. Such senses, having been honed by a thousand years of battle, were never wrong, and I was not looking forward to whatever kind of monster made its home, or hunting ground, of such a difficult and depressing place.  

I approached the estate from the west, walking right through the walls and into the greater area around the buildings before making my way to the main building. I dropped out of the Dark Paths still outside of the building, and it wasn't more than five steps later that the count was before me, eyeing me quite critically. I stopped just long enough to give him a particularly withering look before continuing past him. I could feel and hear him following along behind me, but I ignored him, as I so often did, and made my way inside. He followed me back to my suite, wherein I turned to him and gave him another withering look. 

"Are you not going to invite me in?" he asked very innocently. 

"No," I replied coldly. 

"Oh," he said, looking for all the world like a disappointed grandfather. 

"What is it you want?" I asked him with a sigh. 

"Well, a report would be nice," he replied, stroking his beard.  

"I don't remember becoming your subordinate," I said, still just as cold. 

"I am responsible for your education, young lady," he chided me. 

"And?" I asked, still impassive. 

"Well, I need to know what you've been about," he said.  

"Fine. Make this quick," I said with another sigh, opening the door and gesturing him in. I walked in after and started to empty my belt pouch, or rather my spare belt pouch, as I had had the foresight to have an extra set of clothes, including a second pouch, in my hideout. I had a group of empty vials and small jars that I had used for medicine with me; I couldn't just throw containers away, as making even the jars wasn't particularly cheap. The glassware and other containers, including the belt pouch, were even more expensive; that damned Tribulation had cost me a decent chunk of change just vaporizing my belt pouch and the containers within, not to mention the contents of said containers.  

"And where have you been, exactly?" the count asked, taking a seat on one of the two chairs by the unlit fireplace.  

"The Wilds, of course," I replied, giving the man a critical eye, my expression clearly conveying the question 'Are you a fool?' 

"Yes, very good pedantry," he huffed. "I was looking for something a little better than that. You look like you've been run over by one of those coastal salvage ships." 

"Alright, we are going to put a pin in that one," I said, sitting in the armchair across from him with a long, drawn-out sigh. "But yes, I'm not exactly functioning at a hundred percent right now." 

"A bad battle?" he asked. 

"You know what a Tribulation is?" I answered with a question of my own. 
  

"No," he said in a shocked tone of voice, sitting forward in his chair. "Tell me you didn't!" 

"Well, I did, and I'm still here, so put whatever fears are running through your mind to rest," I said, leaning back in the chair and clasping my hands over my stomach.  

"I'm not worried about you surviving, as you've clearly done that," he replied with a sigh, standing and putting a couple logs in the fireplace. He lit them with a casual flick of his wrist, though my sense from the brief puff of fire magic was that he hadn't taken the affinity very far. He stood over the hearth, leaning against the mantle with one arm and poking at the fire with the poker for a few moments before he was satisfied and resumed his seat. 

"What I'm worried about," he continued, "is that such things can bring attention to you. Understand, I have never experienced a Tribulation myself, but there are people and…things out there that can sense or analyze such things. Setting one off just for the hell of it is a rather boneheaded move." 

"Appreciate the subtlety of that jab," I replied with an eyeroll. "I highly doubt anyone will be looking for me after what happened, but if they are, I certainly have more than one way to cover my tracks. Besides, I would think that the danger would be when one is undergoing such an ordeal, or in the time afterward." 

"Well, that is true," he conceded. "Since you've returned, and there doesn't appear to be anyone hot on your heels, it seems you got away with it. Or, more likely, you've gotten away with it for now, and we won't see the full consequences of that action until sometime later." 

"Well, they can bring it on, just as long as they do it tomorrow," I said with a sigh. 

"What did you get out of it?" he asked, pulling out a pipe and sticking it in his teeth unlit.  

"Benefits," I said, not necessarily intending to reveal my cards to anyone, let alone the count.  

"Affinity upgrade?” he persisted. 

I pointed a finger at him, which had him raise his eyebrow, before I sent a bolt of my new abyssal lightning shooting at him. He blocked it with his hand rather easily and, though I hadn't put any real power into it, it still made his flesh sizzle slightly, which lasted longer than I would have thought. He had a very surprised expression on his face for quite a while before that morphed into a rather thoughtful look. Someone as powerful and experienced as the count I would expect to conceal his reactions, but I had a feeling he didn't much care about doing that, at least around me.  

"Fascinating," he said. "I've experienced tens of thousands of affinities and magic types over the years, but this is a new one for me. I can certainly tell it’s a type of lightning, but it is far more powerful than I would expect for the amount of mana you used. Not only that, but there is some lingering burning effect even after the bolt dissipated that I am still attempting to shake off. Quite powerful." 

"Considering the nanometers away from death I was, I should hope the reward is quite powerful," I said calmly.  

"I have a little knowledge of Tribulations," he said, dismissing the lingering energy with a flick of his finger. "I have, in my long years, only known one person who attempted or had to undergo one. I've visited their grave a few times in the years since." 

"From firsthand experience I will tell you, I can understand why," I said, getting a small, poignant smile from him in return. 

"I can imagine," he said, sitting back in his chair and sucking on the stem of his unlit pipe.  

The fire might have made the room too hot, but not for me, and I settled back in the chair before losing track of what was happening. I woke sometime later, realizing that I had dozed off, and with someone I wasn't a hundred percent trusting of within close range. It just went to show how injured and tired I truly was, though I noted the count had disappeared at some point when I was out of it. I leveraged myself out of the chair with a groan, feeling a lot closer to my previous eleven hundred years of life than my current eight before moving into the bathroom. I took the opportunity to clean up rather quickly, happy that I had a shower in the suite, as I would have fallen asleep in the bath.  

And speaking of sleep, it was my next priority. I barely did more than dry off before heading into the bedroom and passing out once again. I must have been far more tired than I thought, as I didn't wake up until many, many hours later, more than half a day having passed since I fell into bed exhausted. I felt a little more human now, but I was still weary, a tiredness having settled in my spirit that would be weeks in working away. In such consideration, I gave myself the day, and likely the next, off from everything; no training, or exercise, or alchemy, or lessons with the count. I threw on a robe and shuffled out of my room, moving a bit better and noting that I was nearly back at fully healed, physically, before sitting in one of the armchairs in the living room. I flicked a hand and caused a few logs to twist off the now very small stack and into the fireplace, settling on the faded embers of the last fire before I lit them with a slightly lazy application of my fire affinity.  

I had not seen my maids since I had returned and, as if the thought of that summoned new disturbance to my abode, there was a slight rattle as the knob of the outer door was tried and then opened. I had gathered energy, though it was a little slow and painful, ready to hammer whoever walked through, but it was only a servant of the house, one I recognized, carrying firewood and kindling. He gave a start when he saw me in the chair by the fireplace, but quickly gathered himself and resumed his tasks, giving me a few surreptitious glances, or so he must have thought, as he stacked everything properly and checked the hearth. I said nothing, glancing over to see my maids had entered behind him and now were both standing and looking at me in some dismay, hands crossed in front of them at their stomachs.  

"Well? Out with it," I said once the other servant had left with a parting bow. 

"Are…are you well, young lady?" asked Zira nervously. 

"I am tired, Zira," I said shortly. "Is there anything else?" 

"Well, we were, uh, worried about you," Zira said again, fidgeting under my continued glare.  

"As you can see, I am perfectly well," I replied coolly. "If there is nothing else, I wish to rest today. Or tonight. Or whenever the hell it is." 

"Yes, ma'am," they both replied, bowing deeply before quietly leaving the room. 

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