"How'd it go?" I asked, "I got the mana I needed, but will need some time to analyze it. It's unlikely anything will come from it, so don’t get your hopes up."

"Mealtime is almost up. Chew down what you can and don’t be late." He responded before getting up, and I followed his advice and also got up to reach the training facility in time. After I arrived, practice went as usual, and so did the rest of the day. Weeks went by, but my partner Higa still couldn’t give me any conclusive information on the slave seals.

Time went on without any news. Weeks turned into months, years, and eventually, I lost my sense of time. My prowess with short swords kept increasing at a good pace. To expand my arsenal, I also had learned how to use different weapons like daggers, bows, lances, and whatever the weaponry of the training facility offered.

My magic abilities kept increasing tremendously as well. Now I could cast 2 powerful spells simultaneously, 3 medium spells and 4 weak spells. However, I wasn’t able to perform magic outside the 4 basic elements.

The training was getting more brutal by the day, and out of the 31 others that shared my predicament, only 10 others were left. Through the advice of my partner, I survived the spars that were getting more and more deadly. Killing off so many good potential soldiers still seemed inefficient, but what did I know?

We had to get out of this shit hole sooner rather than later. There was no telling when spars to the death became mandatory. It would be devastating if Higa and I got matched up in such a fight. But today at dinner Higa finally had good news.

"I finished my analysis, and luckily, it is only a modified version of the original slave seal. It has a strange structure with a significant flaw. The owner of the slave usually is determined through a contract where the slave has to agree. But in this case, the owner is determined by the mana injected into the subject.

This means if we can force it out and inject your mana, only you can control the seal. Eventually, you will get rid of it entirely if you don’t supply new mana into the seal, since it continuously uses a small amount to function. It really sounds convenient; however, it is not. The last time we tried something similar, you could barely get a single drop out.

This time we will have to puncture the seal, push enough of your mana in to get all the foreign mana out and fix it before the built-in kill switch is triggered. It is pretty dangerous, but do me a favor.

If you get all the mana out and still are alive, use the mana to remove my seal. To do that, move the foreign mana towards one of your magic circles. Since it’s not your own mana, it won’t be as easy, but if you suck it in strongly enough, you might be able to use it to get one of your circles going.

The next part is important, so listen closely. Remember how I told you about common magic? You normally need a scroll, but we don’t have one, so we need to recite the words and comprehend how the spell works. I know the words you need to recite, and fortunately, we only need to release the seal, which means comprehending it won’t be necessary with my approach.

My slave seal is also at my heart, so once you have everything ready, place your hands there and recite the words: From this day forward, you are bound no longer. Seal release. As soon as you recite, you want to visualize a lock, create a key, and insert it. Then when you say: seal release, turn the key and unlock the lock. We’re running out of time, so let’s start."

Confused, I looked at him and asked: "What do you mean we're running out of time? We still have time before dinner is over, and won’t they detect if the seals are gone?" In his usual emotionless face, albeit a bit stressed, he replied: "No time to explain, but I figured out how to use summon magic to control a cockroach and used it to explore the buildings for quite some time.

I created a plan to escape, and we are gonna put it into motion today because otherwise, we might not get the chance. We’re running out of time, so ready yourself. I’m gonna pierce your slave seal now and heal you afterwards. The rest is up to you."

No idea how he was going to heal me, but trusting him would give me the best chance to escape. I nodded, and once he started, there was a sharp pain in my chest. Undeterred, I started pumping all the mana I converted into the seal, and it, fortunately, went smoothly.

After pushing everything out, I used my remaining mana, that wasn’t in the seal, to push it towards my nearest circle. Pushing it with my mana and pulling it with my circles finally succeeded, allowing me to use it with one of my circles.

Instantly I did as he explained and started reciting while visualizing the lock I was about to open. Everything was going smoothly, but I was running out of mana. I was so close, and then. "Seal release!"

The key turned, and the lock started fading. I opened my eyes, breathing heavily. Higa had formed something in his right hand, and before I could see what it was, he pushed it into my chest. And the aching pain caused by the seal disappeared. "I didn’t know you knew healing magic. How are you able to use the Light element?"

"No time for questions. We should be the first to leave the dining hall, but enough time has passed to not arouse suspicion. Just follow me and do as I say." He quickly got up, so I did as well and followed him. After leaving the hall, we ran for some time on floors I hadn’t explored before. After a bit, we arrived at a door. Undeterred, he pulled out something akin to a lock-pick and picked the door open.

He really seemed to be good at everything. We went up the first set of stairs, which meant we were now on the 3rd floor. After walking through some corridors avoiding some lazing guards, we quickly made our way to the 2nd floor. This one was even less guarded, so we quickly reached the first floor.

This really seemed way too easy, but who am I to complain about something like that? We were about to enter another corridor but then heard a loud ringing. "We’re under attack, everyone get ready for comba— arghhh." A guard on the floor above us got killed. This organization was getting raided.

"Tsk, this makes things complicated. Listen up, don’t trust the attackers. They are going to kill everyone, even women and children. Don’t ask questions. Just follow me, and I will get us past them unnoticed."

I had many questions, but did as he told me. After some time, we started moving again, making our way to the last floor, where a huge fight had erupted with people dying left and right. Amidst all the chaos, we progressed unnoticed.

Finally, we found a wide-open door leading outside with no one around. So we started running towards it. I could already feel my freedom. But then a colossal Knight with a greataxe entered the door, blocking our path to freedom. He arrogantly said: "Oh, what do we have here, two rats trying to escape? I will grant you a swift and painless death."

I needed to delay him to ready more mana. "Sir knight, please spare us. We are just prisoners of this evil organization!" He laughed and said: "I don’t care who or what you are. Everyone in this building not belonging to our squadron will die."

I briefly closed my eyes, visualizing the lock that had faded almost entirely. Then I used the remaining drops of foreign mana and spoke: "Listen up Higa, this is your last order as a slave. Get ready to run out of the door on 5 and don’t stop until you're safe." For the first time, his expression changed into a confused look, and he said irritated: "Who do you think you are giving me orders?" Uninterested in our conversation, the knight charged at me. I barely dodged and started counting. "1, 2, 3, 4,"

"Shut the fuck up and die already." The knight shouted before taking a big swing. "5!" Immediately after I launched the 2 fireballs, I had readied at the knight. I looked over and saw Higa running as I ordered him. "I thought you lifted the seal. How did you—" I interrupted him. "I told you I would pay you back. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine." Now I could fight with no regrets.