Chapter 272 - I Became a High Elf

  Nathan Evenhart:

  I ran my fihrough my hair, but no matter where I looked, the bck strands from before were gone. I still couldn’t believe what had happeo me. My heart pounded as I rushed to the nightstand beside my bed. With trembling hands, I grabbed the mirror and stared at my refle. That was whey finally hit me.

  “It’s… silver-white…” I murmured in disbelief, my eyes fixed on the gleaming strands that had repced my former hair.

  "You didn’t know? I thought Aunt Katie had already told you," Chloe said, watg as I examined my silver-white hair.

  Kianding beside her, chuckled as she stepped back.

  "No. I had no idea," I admitted, still stunned.

  "Well, you’re in for a lot of trouble now," Kinue said, still ughing.

  "What do you mean?" I asked, fused.

  "You know, I pyed with your hair while you were unscious," irked, running her fingers lightly through my hair. Immediately, a faint tingliion ran through my scalp. When she pulled her hand away, I noticed strands of my hair ging slightly to her palm.

  "Electricity…" I muttered, feeling the soft buzz of energy in my hair.

  "Exactly like Professor Adrihna expihe hair of your kind is magical—it acts as a mana duit," Kinue expined. "Your hair is dug yhtning mana."

  I ran my fihrough my hair, trying to prehend it. The geingling and the faint crackle of static left me even more bewildered. It was as if my hair had bee aension of my own energy.

  "So… my hair is literally the physical maion of my mana?" I asked, still processing.

  Kinue grinned and nodded. "Exactly. And now that it’s awakened, learning to trol the mana in your hair is going to be part of your training."

  "I see…" I murmured, staring at the glowing strands that carried my energy. "Looks like the professor will have to teach me how to trol this too…"

  Kinue added, "You also o figure out how to turn off whatever is making your presence feel this rofessor Adrihna oold me that High Elves learn this as children so they don’t cause trouble when walking among other elves. But since your hair just ged, you’ll have to adapt quickly. They learn it as infants, but you… you have to catch up now."

  "What do you mean? resence?" I asked, still irely uanding.

  Chloe rolled her eyes. "Your aura, dummy. The same mystical aura that Tiffania used during the ceremony. You o stop the mana flow into your hair. Right now, you’re stantly emanating that presence. Your hair even looks like it’s glowing. If you don’t learn how to suppress it, yoing to attract a lot of attention."

  I took a closer look at my hair, and for the first time, I uood what they meant. There was something… different about it, something that made it feel like I was looking at a rare gem.

  "This mystical aura is ing from the mana cirg through my hair… Like a delicate struct, the very essence of a High Elf’s mana personified," I muttered, toug the silver strands and studying them more closely.

  My hair shimmered faintly—not like a bright light, but something more ethereal, almost spiritual.

  "Hum… The professor’s doesn’t glow as much, but maybe that’s because yours is a lighter shade than hers," Kinue mused, examining it up close.

  The glow wasn’t something obvious. It wasn’t a regur light but a subtle, nearly imperceptible radianething that felt almost otherworldly. It had a serene quality to it, like an intricate masterpiece sculpted by nature itself. That delicate glow carried with it an air of mystery and admiration.

  "I really o learn how to trol this..." I murmured, now aware of what it must feel like to be a High Elf. Maybe that’s why they don’t care about beauty—naturally, they emit somethiiful, something that might even be overwhelming to them.

  It’s the same as when I focus mana into my eyes and they start glowing. After all, my special eyes are a physical maioed by my mana. My hair is almost the same thing.

  "So? Did it ge?" I asked, trying to replicate the process I use to activate mana in my eyes, this time attempting to trol the mana flow in my hair.

  "It ged a little, it looks more normal now," Chloe said, watg me closely. "You deactivated that natural glow High Elves have, but even so, it's still really beautiful…"

  Ki out a small chuckle beside her.

  "We’ll have to dye your hair befoing back to the academy. Now that you trol the mana in your hair, maybe the dye will st longer, since you prevent mana from flowing into it," Kinue suggested. "That way, you won’t have to dye it so many times a month."

  "Hope that works," I replied, really hoping her idea was right.

  Kinue, who trained with Professor Adrihna in mana circution teiques and light element manipution, ractically an expert. If she said it might help, I trusted her judgment.

  "Before, the process wasn’t plete, so you didn’t have full trol over your hair as a mana duit. Now, we dye it a if it sts longer," Kinue expined, examining my hair with a critical eye. "Besides, I don’t want you attrag other females..."

  "What?" I asked, nervous.

  "She’s right!" mediately agreed.

  "I agree too!" Cyl shouted from the bed.

  I looked at the three of them, still trying to figure out if this was a joke or if they were actually serious.

  They’re serious. I think I’m in trouble… a lot of trouble.

  "Don’t worry. I’m satisfied with you all in my life… I guess my house will always be lively," I said with a small smile. "But… I just ask that you all be patient with me. I need my own time to process what I feel."

  Before I could think of anything else, the three of them moved in and hugged me all at once. Cyl, of course, was the first to jump onto my shoulder, and I felt her start sneakily kissing my cheek. I decided not to say anything and just ehe moment.

  "By the way, Nathan…" Chloe started, her face slightly red. "About this patiehing… how long do you think I’ll have to wait before I get another kiss?" She turned her face slightly, trying to hide her nervousness.

  I thought for a moment, seriously sidering the situation, then answered.

  "About 200 years," I said, joking.

  She ughed and gave me a light sp on the shoulder. "Idiot… but fine, I’ll wait… for now," she said, hugging me again.

  "Wait! What do you mean 'another kiss'?" Kinue suddenly asked, surprised. "You two already kissed?"

  Chloe and I exged gnces, unsure of what to say.

  "I want a kiss too," Kinue demanded, hugging me even tighter and tilting her face dangerously close to mine, puckering her lips.

  "Hey! He said to respect his pace," Chloe intervened, pulling Kinue away. I realized my cousin was using what I had said as an excuse to stop Kinue from kissing me.

  "This isn’t fair..." Kinue grumbled.

  I looked at the two of them while Cyl ughed on my shoulder and realized my life was going to be a lot more lively… and full of chaos.

  Eira Green:

  It was nighttime in Midgard. Prihorsten and I stood atop a castle, parts of it shattered by a lightning strike. We observed the se around us, where a divine presehough faint, could still be felt.

  Sisika had tapped into a fra of her divine power.

  Beside us, a raven hovered in the air. It beloo our superior, who had iigated the area earlier and summoned us.

  "A human involved with Nidhogg… This Nikous Wolves… he was being maniputed by them."

  The prince’s face was tense, more serious than usual, and I kly why.

  "See, Prihorsten? Sisika used her powers to save that human. You know what that means, right? Love," I ented.

  He clicked his tongue, visibly irritated.

  "She would never fall in love with a human…" he grumbled.

  Prihorsten had been one of Master Sisika's students, admiring her since childhood. Perhaps that admiration had grown into something more. He had done everything to bee one of the potential suitors when the Great King made the proposal to the tribal leaders.

  "Well, you deny it all you want, but the truth is right in front of you. She isn’t being treated like a mascot—she’s choosing to stay with the one she loves," I said, trying to make Thorsten accept reality.

  He turned his bae, too proud to admit what he ko be true.

  "I'm going to iigate the area," he muttered before transf into a phoenix and flying away.

  I sighed, frustrated.

  He left all the hard work to me.

  I leaped from the top of the castle and nded in the crater below. Earlier, a few human mages had been w to restore the damaged structure. Transf into a small phoenix, I slipped through the cracks in the rubble, diving deeper into the dungeon remains. The entire pce was in ruins. The lightning’s energy had scorched every wall. I maneuvered through whatever openings I could find.

  After some time, I finally reached the remains of the ashes. Scattered among them were the remnants of many corpses.

  "The smell of… a magic," I murmured as I flew over the ashes.

  Corrupted.

  After iigating the area, I came to a clusion—all the evidence had beeroyed.

  Did Nathan Evenhart destroy everything? Why? I thought he would have been ied in uanding the past… or was there simply too little left to find?

  Pushing aside my thoughts, I tinued flying through the duoward the exit.

  "Nidhogg reag out to humans on this ti… Things are truly close to happening," I analyzed, feeling a rising tension. tact with the past was limited—only the tribe leaders khe full details of the great war. Since I was born after it, I never fully uood the past events or the secrets of my own world.

  As I flew, something made me freeze. A dark figure stood in the dista wasn’t something from this world, but rather the echo of a presence far removed from this reality. Yet somehow, it had been drawn here.

  I kly what it was. That prese was him, the ohe Nidhogg serve.

  "I … I see you…" the voice whispered, and for a moment, I thought it eaking to me. "I see you… white-haired boy…" it murmured to itself.

  The shadowy presence vanished, dissipating like ash in the wind, banished from reality.

  I approached the spot where it had stood.

  "I see… It was a remnant of his mana," I muttered. "Not the real one… just an echo of his existence."

  On the ground, I found a small fragment of a bck stone.

  "So that’s why… A Nidhogg must have ihis stoh that being’s mana," I murmured.

  He still cked the power to return, but soon, he would.

  "Their Great Lord… is ing back."