HP: The Arcane Thief

Chapter 168: War: Entry

"What does it take to become a relic wielder?" Axel asked.

Sylthia had a proud look on her face. "It's not something anyone can do. A relic chooses its own Wielders. You either have to be completely compatible with it, or you have to obtain the right qualifications."

Axel's eyes narrowed in confusion. "What does that mean?"

Could she not explain clearly?

"There are two types of Relic Wielders. Chosen ones and Acquirers. Only people with extremely high talents in specific fields are chosen by the relics. Those who readily get selected are called Chosen ones, and those who train themselves to be worthy of a relic are called Acquirers—"

Sylthia suddenly paused. Wait, wasn't she supposed to be only giving out a perfunctory tour just because the princess asked her to? This was an outsider! How did she end up having an immersive conversation with him?

"Why do you even want to know that?" Disdain flashed through Sylthia's emerald eyes. "You are never going to need the knowledge anyway. Relic Wielders are existences far beyond your reach," she said coldly, increasing her pace. "We're almost here."

Axel clicked his tongue. But, he could understand why she had such high pride. The relics of Theron and Nerio were extremely formidable in their respective fields. The Armor was unharmed till the end, and he had no direct solution to the extreme casting speed of Nerio's magic.

They both walked in silence as Axel shifted his focus to his surroundings. The corridors were brightly lit, but there seemed to be no sources of light. The infrastructure was a blend of ancient architecture, mixed with marvels of magical advancements that synchronized to make the castle extremely beautiful.

As they walked, anyone passing by would stop to greet Sylthia, who would only nod at them with her chin held high.

"What are the badges for?" He asked, not at all caring about the fact that Sylthia did not want to explain at all.

Axel had by now noticed that many people around here were wearing different kinds of badges on their chests, even Sylthia. They were of different colours, each containing different numbers of stars on them. Sylthia had a Red one with 6 stars, while most of the people at the only have 1 or 2 stars.

Sylthia glared at him, but still answered.

"The badges show your status. Red is for Relic Wielders. Green is for Menders (Doctors), blue is for Soldiers, and so on. The stars on the badge represent your authority while the colour represents your division. Relic Wielders have 6 or 7 stars, just below the authority of the General, who has Eight stars," she explained, almost as a warning. "I don't even interact with anyone below 3 stars."

"Fancy."

Axel's lip curled up in derision. He didn't care about those stars. Sylthia noticed it. Her gem on her wrist glimmered, causing a gust of wind to blow in the corridor, fluttering their clothes. "Ignorance can be such a bliss," she murmured to herself. She looked annoyed and amused at the same time.

Anyone who has witnessed the power of Relic Wielders wouldn't even dare to look directly at one, let alone act so unbridled. While on the other hand, Axel has shown her no respect at all. Watching him, one would think that he is not at all guest, but the king of Atlantis himself.

Soon, they reached their destination as Axel saw the letters "Royal Sanatorium" written on the wall. A blue ball was embedded at the side. It flashed, as if scanning them, and the door disappeared, giving them entry.

"This is the Royal Sanatorium. You can get the best healing aid in the world here," Sylthia still introduced, looking at him as if to say, 'You better appreciate it, cause you sure as hell don't deserve it.'

Axel glanced around. It was a spacious circular hall, with multiple doorways at its circumference. Each of the doorways was labelled with different words according to the type of Medical aid they could provide.

Maybe it was due to war time, but the place was bustling with activity, with many people going in and out of the place. Most of the people here had Green badges, which must be equivalent to the Medical division in the muggle world. The staff at the reception greeted Sylthia politely while throwing curious glances at Axel who was in a unique attire.

Ignoring everyone, Sylthia brought him straight to the department that was labelled "Injuries". Inside, multiple compartmentalised rooms could be seen.

"You are here again," said a voice as they reached deeper inside. "How many times have I told you to take it easy when training?" It was from a middle aged man who had just seen them come in. He had a pair of lenses hanging off of his neck, and a Green badge with 5 stars glinted on his chest.

"I'm not here due to my own injury," Sylthia said sullenly. It's for him.

The man's gaze shifted his gaze towards Axel, who stood casually beside her with his hands in his pockets.

"Oh? Who is he?" Asked the man, looking at Axel in bewilderment.

"Princess's Guest. Don't ask the details. Just treat him quickly," said Sylthia, though her tone was not as harsh.

The man obviously had a lot of questions, but just by the number of stars he had, it was apparent that he was not idle or insensitive enough to question further.

"Greetings, I am Caltus," he said, turning to Axel. "Where is the injury?"

Axel raised his hand, pointing at the scar on his wrist. "It's been reconnected but still not as good as before."

Caltus frowned upon seeing the injury. "Let me see," he said, putting on the black lenses that were hung by his neck. He cringed upon seeing what he saw. "Who did this?" he asked in disgust. But it was not for the one who cut his hand.

"It looks like it has been reattached by some stupid blobfish," he observed, taking off the lens. Indeed, his disgust was for the people who reattached it, nor for the ones who cut.

He dragged Axel to one of the rooms. Manipulating one of the Magical contraptions, he put Axel's hand in front of it for further observation.

"You are not from here, are you?" He asked after taking a look. "Those clothes aren't from here and this type of crude yet meticulous attempt to patch up your hand can only be done by the primitive people outside."

"No shit. But can you fix it?" Axel asked directly. He didn't care about the insults at all. In his opinion, even the Atlantians weren't much of a big deal themselves in comparison to the other worlds, where someone like Voldemort can casually annihilate this whole Kingdom. There was nothing to be proud of, nothing to be ashamed of. It was what it was.

Caltuas began doing more tests on his hand. "Of course I can fix it. But your people should have just chosen to regrow a new hand. Reattaching it is so much more complex, and they didn't even do it correctly. It will be much more difficult now since the hand was so crudely attached—" Caltus suddenly paused, as his eyes widened. "What the—"

"What is it?" Asked Axel, wondering if there was a problem, or if he somehow found out that it had been cut off by Nerio's relic.

That wasn't what baffled Caltus. He put Axel's other hand under the device for observation and his frown deepened. Cultus manipulated the machine and a number of bars came up on the screen, along with a string of numbers.

"What… what are you?" He asked, looking at Axel. "There's a limit to Magical Enhancements," he said, taking a step backwards. It was as if he was afraid of Axel's hands.

??

Axel peeked at the screen. Since he had Integrated the Atlantian language through the system, he could see in the screen that Caltus was currently looking at the parameters of his hands, which included muscle strength, flexibility, bone density, along with other things he didn't know could be measured, like magical conductivity, muscle memory etc.

'Damn it,' Thought Axel.

A thief's most important tools are his hands. His hands were the part of his body which Axel had trained the most in his life, whether he was before or after he got the system. Whether it was the physical parameters, or magical, his hands are on a level far far beyond the norm.

"What do you mean by that?" Asked Sylthia, still ignorant of the matter.

"Just heal my hand, will you?" Said Axel, glaring at the nosy doctor.

Caltus felt a prickling sensation on the back of his neck, giving him goosebumps. When he touched it with his fingers, they came back bloody.

!

Caltus almost peed his pants. Just now, he didn't even see Axel move! Or more precisely, his eyes couldn't register it! But it was definitely his hand that moved. It was apparent from the sudden dramatic spike in the stats on the screen. Caltus realized that he could have died now. The thought made him want to run.

Everything suddenly made sense. Why the young man in front of him is a royal guest and why his hand was reattached, not regenerated. With those extreme stats, his hand itself can be called a relic. But when it's regenerated, the stats would be back to a normal hand, which would have been equivalent to destroying a relic with your own hands, except the relic is your own hand, if that makes sense.

Of course, this put Axel on the same level as the Relic Wielders, the ultimate existences in Atlantis. People who you can only kiss up to, and not offend.

"It's—it's nothing. Just a glitch," he told the suspicious Sylthia. "L-Let's fix your hand.

Once the doctor had stopped bullshitting, the process was extremely fast. First, Caltus completely cut off Axel's hand again, since it was not attached perfectly in the first place. Then he reattached it using the right procedure, perfectly reconnecting every nerve, muscle, tendon and bone. Finally, it was healed using a subrelic, completing the process.

Once they were done, Axel examined his hand, and as he did, a small grin uncontrollably crept up on his face. Because he knew, his hand was back. Only now did he feel like had recovered somewhat.

After losing his magic, his hand, and the ability to move his body, he had to face two fearsome relic wielders on his own. Not even considering Theron, just Nerio could have killed him ten times in one second if that was his motive. But no more. Now the scenario has changed. He has his hands back, his body is back to its peak, and he now has [Zen Focus] and [Water Monarch[ to make up for his magic deficiency..

'Kraken, Relic Wielders, anyone… come at me now,' he thought, his confidence coming back. He was ready for war.

On the return journey, Axel was in a good mood. Well, relatively better mood all things considered. 'Daphne would be happy,' he thought.

But she would also be worrying about him a lot.

'As for Martina, she would literally drool after looking at the technology.'

The civilization around his advanced enough to fascinate even him. A geek like Martina would definitely see this place as heaven.

'But one who would want to be here the most would be Akiko.'

Akiko, the one who wants to take down Kraken the most. With most of her life spent training for revenge, he could imagine how much she would have wanted to come. Of course, he couldn't do anything to bring her with the situation like this.

'But all of them would also be worried,' he thought. It would be better if he informed them that he was fine.

But, when Axel took out his magimirror to inform them about his situation, he realized that there was no signal.

'Duh, we're deep inside Ocean. What did you expect?' his logical mind scolded him,

"Hey Greenie, can you help me contact someone in the outside world?" He asked Sylthia.

".....?" It took a second for Sylthia to register the fact that Axel was talking to her. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish as she looked at him like he had committed an atrocity.

"Greenie? Greenie?!' How dare you?!"

"Well? Can you, or can you not? I thought you had a lot of authority," Axel continued to ask, unaffected.

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Because, I don't want to! And outside communication is impossible in Atlantis!"

Axel paused. "What?"

"It's prohibited. Atlantis has only been in contact with the Japanese Ministry. That too is done by the Elders. I have no idea how to do it." Sylthia suddenly realized that she had once again been drawn into Axel's rhythm. "But! I wouldn't have helped you even if I could!" She harrumphed.

'Well, it can't be helped,' thought Axel with a shrug. Daphne is going to cry, but there's nothing he can do for now. Though, it did make sense that Atlantis has no contact with the outside world, or at least in the last year, Or someone would have seen him on the internet and realized the resemblance between him and Tristan.

"Can you walk faster? I have somewhere to be," said Sylthia urged, walking faster.

"Oh, where?"

"The Shinobi Reinforcements are finally coming today. I have to be there to— WHY AM I TALKING?!" Sylthia couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't understand why she hasn't been able to keep her mouth shut when she plans to ignore him the whole time.

Axel smirked.

[Silver Tongue:]

[This skill implies a smooth, persuasive way of speaking that can convince or manipulate others. A thief with a silver tongue would be adept at using words to extract information without raising suspicion.]

'Well, looks like it works.' Axel has been using this skill the whole time. Since he is on an Espionage mission here, he ought to have the equivalent skills as well, right? Poor Sylthia. She has been quite a useful siren. She has sung a lot of information to him.

"Hey Greenie."

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!"

"You still haven't told me how I can try being a Relic Wielder?"

Sylthia snorted in disbelief. "You can forget about it! Relics are strictly regulated Treasures. Even the Princess can't give you one if she wants to, You neither have the minimum criteria of 5 star authority, nor the approval of the majority of Elders—STOP TALKING!" Slythia's gem glowed.

Suddenly, Axel found his mouth forcefully pressed shut by an external force. 'I guess, it's enough,' he lamented.

They walked the rest of the way in silence, while Sylthia kept giving him murderous glances. With nothing to do, Axel checked the notifications from the system.

[Mission: Help Atlantis win the War, Gain as many merits and recognition as possible,]

[Mission: Join any Department and Reach 5 stars as soon as Possible.]

These missions weren't going to get him any particular rewards, but they were going to get him the most records, which would strengthen his soul and regain his previous magic limit. Something he could definitely use.

When they finally returned, the Princess was once again busy with various activities. But upon seeing Axel and Sylthia returning, she excused herself from the bustle.

"So, how's your hand?" She asked, walking over.

Axel flexed his fingers, rubbing his wrist. "It's healed. Thank you."

The princess smiled. "It was a small matter. I hope you do realize that you can ask me for more. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Axel hesitated. "Can I really?"

"Of course, You have my word, I will help you as long as it's something that doesn't harm Atlantis."

"Then…" Axel looked directly at the Princess. "Let me join the war."

....

A.N.: Next: Testing for Qualifications

Please keep giving Powerstones.

Also, come read ahead at Pàtreon. Action Packed War arc is here. /Snollygoster