“All right. Now, if you could add some of your fire elemental power for me…”
“Okay.”
As the mysterious flickering ball began to buzz, Blade did as he was told and placed his hand on it, then filled the device with his fire elemental power.
“Right, next, I want you to put some raw spirit in there. It’d be a pain to separate it all out later, so don’t mix in any fighting force, magic, or elemental power, please. I’m looking for pure spirit—at least ninety-nine percent, if you can.”
“Right.”
Again, Blade followed Eliza’s instructions and added spirit into the sphere. Hitting 99 percent purity wasn’t particularly difficult for him. If he wanted, he could achieve something closer to 99.999 percent purity. The problem was that if spirit got too pure, it would turn into something entirely different, known as chi.
“Whoa, look out, your ice pop is dripping.”
“Oh.” Blade licked one side of the treat in his hand before any could spatter on the floor. “So this elemental power… What are you using it for?”
“My research, of course. Elemental power as an energy source. Creating and maintaining megawatt-class generators is a real drag—spirit and elemental power are a lot more convenient. Assuming I have someone willing to provide it, that is…”
Oh, thought Blade. Like a battery, then. Am I just a battery to her? Well, whatever.
“But…are you sure you’re all right with this?” she asked.
“With what?”
“I mean, normally, squeezing this much force out of someone would make them wither and dry up like a mummy.”
“Oh,” Blade replied casually, “there’s a trick to it.”
Power sources like spirit and magic were composed of the possessor’s own life force. Just as Eliza said, if that life force was simply converted into energy, it’d be impossible to squeeze out this much. No matter how strong or physically fit one was, the person contributing would be turned into a raisin. But there was a trick to it. Blade still had to pull the energy from his own life force, but instead of simply converting it, he used the energy from his surroundings to amplify what he produced dozens of times over. He could even create a perpetual energy cycle if he wanted to. This was all standard stuff in the Hero business; without such methods, it’d be impossible to keep up constant barrages of powerful techniques.
Blade was starting to think, Hm… Perhaps this wasn’t common knowledge. But he didn’t let it bother him. Eliza already knew of his former status as a Hero; there was no need to hide it.
Some time ago, Blade had asked Eliza what gave him away. She said she’d suspected something for a while, but it was when she repaired the Hero King’s armor that she became certain. After carefully examining the physical specs of the wearer—Blade, that is—she’d concluded he couldn’t be anything but a Hero.
Blade didn’t mind that Eliza had figured him out, but how many others were on to him? There weren’t that many people he needed to keep it from anymore, but still…
“Hey, uh, how many people do you think know?” he asked.
“Huh? Know what?”
“I mean, besides you, how many people know I used to be a He—…koff, koff… Y’know, all that?”
“Oh, that? Well, despite being a genius, I wouldn’t have been sure if you hadn’t told me. I’ve yet to invent a mind-reading machine, after all.”
“Okay. But how many people know? And who?”
“Dunno. I never discussed it with anyone. The only ones I’m sure about are General Dione, who practically blurts it out every chance she gets, and Iona, I guess. You guys have known each other for a while, haven’t you? I heard you used to visit her all the time.”
“I already knew about those two,” Blade said.
Several people in the student body were aware in addition to Eliza. Iona and the Overlord had known for a long time, and he’d confessed the truth to Sophie, too. Among the adults, anyone he’d known prior to joining the academy was in on the secret.
But what about the rest of them? Especially Clay, Kassim, Claire, and Yessica?
“Okay, but…do you think everyone knows? Or am I in the clear?”
“Why’re you asking me?” countered Eliza, lips pursed.
“’Cause, like, you’re the only one I can talk to about it.”
“Y-you can try and butter me up, but you’re not gonna get anything outta me.”
“C’mon, give me some information, at least.”
“Well, look, I…I’m not good at reading people, all right? Or picking up on vibes, either! I wouldn’t exile myself to this lab day and night, all by myself, unless I had to!”
“You’re not by yourself, though. Someone joined you recently.”
Blade motioned toward one corner of the lab, where a man was repeating the same task over and over with machinelike precision. This was James—a newcomer who served as Eliza’s assistant. He had been caught doing something bad in town, but they’d let him off the hook as long as he became Eliza’s slave in all but name.
He was very diligent, at least, calmly carrying out the monotonous tasks he was assigned. Occasionally, he’d lose it and erupt in a rage, but Eliza would chant the magic words “maybe I’ll make a homunculus for you,” which always instilled a fierce determination in him to keep going.