Chapter 627
Chapter 627
“First things first, what is stopping you from healing yourself?” Luna asked. “You have Life Mana so whatever is stopping you is something that will need a lot of power to clear up.”
“Nothing is stopping me from healing myself exactly.” Ajax said. “The issue is what will regrow if I do it with Life Mana.”
“What does that mean?” Luna asked. “Are you infected with a parasite?”
“You tell them about the werewolf bite yet?” The eldest prince joined them after making his way into the palace the normal way and not just flying over.
“Werewolf bite?” Even the royal healer looked stricken at hearing that. “There’s no cure for that.”
“He already neutralized the venom.” Aurexion huffed with annoyance. “Life Mana can do that, it just can’t undo what’s already been transformed. It might have if he’d have cut off the arm as soon as he got bit but he actually used the turned arm for a while so if he tried it would just return with the werewolf toxin.”
“You know the cure to a werewolf bite?” The royal healer wasn’t as attached to Ajax; he was instantly drawn to the new information Aurexion might have for him. “I’m not sure we have all the reagents you might need for that.”
“All you need is regular Light Mana healing.” Ajax interrupted the questioning as he felt the annoyance building through the bond. “The venom was neutralized but the regrown arm needs to be regrown from knowledge instead of blind infusion.”
“Like removing a scar.” Things clicked for Luna. “That’s why you wanted our latest research. Though I have to say remaking an entire arm is a lot harder than just remaking the skin to remove scars. It’s also why you can’t do it yourself, at least not yet. It’s a lot harder to ignore the natural healing on yourself than it would be when doing it to someone else.”
The royal healer got to work reading the research Luna brought with her as she started examining Ajax’s still working arm making a plan for rebuilding a new arm for him. “Don’t forget that I need a left arm not a second right arm.” Ajax’s bad joke put them all a little at ease.
“So how did you lose the arm?” the crown prince asked. “Did you cut it off to stop the spread?”
“No, the spread had stopped already once Life Mana neutralized the toxin, though I should note it seemed to absorb other poisons to restart the process.” Ajax answered. “I lost the arm when fighting a troll floor boss.”
Unlike with his family Ajax didn’t go over his trip to the Wild Lands in chronological order and instead started with the final dungeon as he explained the circumstances that forced him to go one floor higher than he had initially intended.
“You cleared a level one hundred and twenty dungeon floor on your own?” The crown prince was more than a little surprised, after all that was something he very much doubted he could do, he was sure he wouldn’t be able to solo a troll floor boss at that level. It was humbling for him to see someone four hundred years younger than high exceed him in strength.
“It’s not something I’d be willing to try at any moment.” Ajax said. “If the floor boss was another werewolf or something with a lot less Endurance and more upfront power I’m pretty sure I’d have been done for.”
It took three hours for Luna and the top two royal healers to even get a start on rebuilding Ajax’s arm. They had only remade it up to the elbow but the joint was taking a lot of time and they had all pretty much ran out of Mana.
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“Think it's best if we stop here for now and give our minds some time to rest and our Mana some time to recharge.” Luna said, while she didn’t have the best Mana control or the strongest spell list she was in charge or directing both healers. “We can’t afford any mistakes with something this sensitive since there will be nothing to correct them.”
Ajax was fine with the progress that had been made, he was sure in the next day or two he would have his arm back if things continued like this and then he would need to train it up. He could already feel that while he could flex his new bicep the same as he could his right arm there was absolutely no instinctive response, every flex had to be intentionally made and not part of a smooth movement.
“It’s nice to see your trip was exciting.” Duke Manashaper said, he had arrived about an hour after Ajax did with Lexi and whilst Lexi had already heard everything Ajax had to say about his trip to the Wild Lands the Duke was intrigued by it all.
Unlike what he shared with his family Ajax had been a little more spare on the details on certain topics when sharing them with the royal family. He kept the details of the source of the high Mana density area to himself as well as limiting the information on his interaction with the Ascended races to sparse encounters. He also said nothing about the Death Mana gem.
“Do you think we could trade with these non-Ascended villages you encountered?” Was the first question the crown prince had for Ajax once he finished his retelling.
“I think we should be able to.” Ajax agreed. “Most seemed happy to trade with me.”
“They weren’t so much happy to trade with you as they were to be dealing with a pleasant Ascended, they could all read what you were in your Aura.” Aurexion corrected.
“Most of those villages had the people to kill me if they wanted.” Ajax countered his point.
“They could also probably kill those two young sidhe if they came by, but you know why they wouldn’t even if they were acting entitled.” Aurexion asked.
“Because others would come to ask questions about it.” the King caught on.
“Exactly.” Aurexion nodded. “ Ideally you would send an Ascended to make contact along with some of your merchants for an introduction but keep the Ascended out of the way unless there is trouble. Also do your scouting, trading with a group living in another Ascend's territory could be seen as an attempt to poach terrain and would give that Ascended an excuse to attack you.”
“I think this is enough for today.” Duke Manashaper said. “It's already dark out and I'm sure my future son-in-law is quite tired after his trip here and the regrowing of his arm. I’ll be more than happy to provide room for him and his bond at my manor for his stay in the capital.”
“But...” the crown prince was cut off as the king put an arm on his shoulder.
“You still need to prepare for court in the morning.” the king said. “There will be a lot of questions asked about the dragon that was seen heading towards the palace. We can continue this conversation tomorrow once we’ve all had a chance to better absorb all the information Duke Hearthbound shared with us. He’s still got an arm to regrow after all and we have time.”
Ajax groaned at the mention of the royal court. Though a scenario where he showed up with Aurexion who made a scene early on and he would get to skip all the annoying politics quickly started to build in his mind.
“Quite right father.” The crown prince nodded before he turned to Ajax. “Thank you for sharing all of this with us Duke Hearthbound. Let me assure you that you are excused from attending court until your arm is regrown though I will have to insist that you attend for at least one day before you return to your duchy.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Ajax said as he moved to leave with his fiance and her grandfather. “Oh, by the way, where is Xavier?” Ajax had expected his friend to be here, he was in fact sure that Anna and Benedict were also in the capital yet none of them had shown up like he had expected.
“My son as well as Lady Goldmancer and Lord Steelblade are currently in the dungeon blowing off some steam.” the prince said. “The lake he is in charge of in your duchy is losing Mana density, on top of the pressure of waiting for the griffin to hatch it was starting to get to him so he decided to go for a delve.”
“Oh, well that’s one thing we can clear up for him.” Ajax said with a nod to Aurexion. “The reason for the Mana density of the water was the tree in the center, it apparently drew in the ambient Mana and focused it in the water through the roots. I already told my retainers to have the biggest of the saplings we had sent over to the lake for replanting.”
As the king and the crown prince watched Ajax leave they were both feeling a headache coming. “That bond of his is a treasure trove of knowledge, even if he is young for a dragon he has already proven to have knowledge about certain resources. The other Houses will want access.”
“Then tell them to go asking them on the battlefield.” The eldest prince said with a smirk. “From what Ajax was saying on his way here after he gets used to his arm I expect he and his bond will be joining the war.”
“That’s magnanimous of them.” The king said. “It’s a good way to delay things while also giving us a solid reason to back them once they return.”
“I just hope he realizes what he’s getting into with the war.” the eldest prince said. “It won’t be like the mock war he took part in with his fiance, there will be a lot of death there, some that he is responsible for and some that he can’t do anything to stop.”
“I think his bond will help him with that.” The king said as they all returned to the palace.
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