We stood together in the long, quiet hallway of the large mansion right after the bright flash of light from our sudden relocation had completely faded away from the space. The area around my boots was entirely still, and the tall wooden doors of the other rooms remained shut tightly along the smooth stone walls. I turned my head slowly to the side and noticed that the entrance to the infinite maze library had completely disappeared from the corridor, leaving only a flat, blank surface of solid blocks where the large entryway had been located just a moment before. The air in the hallway was very cool and quiet, carrying no sounds from the outer garden or the lower levels of the house where the other companions were currently staying. I lifted my head and turned my physical frame slightly on the floor blocks to face the person who had just traveled back through space with me. I looked at Chlaire, keeping my body perfectly upright while she stood a few paces away from me in the center of the passage. I held my breath for a short second, checking my own chest and my arms to see if anything had changed within my physical frame after completing the soul bond contract. I moved my fingers slowly, feeling the smooth skin of my palms, but my muscles felt completely identical to how they had felt before the ritual. I looked at Chlaire and asked her, "I don't feel any different." My voice was very low and clear in the silent corridor, echoing softly against the flat surfaces of the mansion walls as I waited for her to respond to my direct statement right now at this very moment because everything seemed entirely unchanged to me in the quiet mansion corridor today.
Chlaire listened to the words I had just spoken into the quiet air of the long passage, keeping her gaze fixed directly on my face. She did not hesitate to react to my observation about my physical state. Suddenly, Chlaire stepped forward with a very quick and deliberate movement of her feet across the level floor blocks. Her boots made a tiny, sharp clicking sound against the hard stone surface as she closed the small distance that separated our two positions in the middle of the hallway. She stopped her forward movement right in front of my frame, standing close enough that I could feel the presence of her energy in the quiet corridor. She lifted her chin slightly, looked straight into my eyes, and she said, "Master, of course you'll feel the same. You're manaless, but I can fix that." Her voice was completely steady, smooth, and confident, filling the empty space of the hallway with a clear tone that was very easy to understand. She spoke the sentences directly to me, acknowledging my natural lack of internal energy while immediately offering a solution to change my current condition right there on the spot. After she finished delivering her words to my ears, she did not wait for me to make another movement or ask an extra question. Suddenly, she held my hand again, reaching out her arm to wrap her fingers securely around my right hand. Her grip was very firm, solid, and warm against my skin, locking our hands together tightly in the center of the quiet mansion passage so that I could feel the intense warmth of her touch flowing smoothly through my fingers right away during this silent morning as we remained entirely still on the flat ground of the wide corridor right now today.
As soon as her fingers wrapped tightly around mine, a sudden change began to occur right on the surface of my skin. My hand lit up with a very bright and brilliant radiance that appeared out of nowhere, illuminating the entire space of the quiet mansion hallway with a sudden flash. The light was very strong and solid, casting sharp moving shadows against the flat wooden doors and the stone walls of the long corridor as it emanated from the point where our fingers were joined together. I kept my arm perfectly still, watching the bright glow spread across the back of my right hand with a lot of surprise in my expression. Underneath the brilliant illumination, a series of dark lines began to form and trace themselves permanently onto my flesh, creating a highly detailed pattern that had never existed on my body before. The bright glow slowly started to fade away into the quiet air, and a weird tattoo of a sun surrounded by three stars and three moons appeared fully visible on the back of my hand. The weird tattoo of a sun surrounded by three stars and three moons was drawn in clean, precise lines that stood out sharply against my regular skin. The center of the design featured a large sun shape with detailed rays extending outward, and this central figure was completely encircled by three small, distinct star shapes and three crescent moon shapes placed in a perfect ring around the outer edge. I lifted my arm slightly to bring the new mark closer to my face, looking at the weird tattoo of a sun surrounded by three stars and three moons with a very confused expression. I turned my head toward her and I asked her, "What's this?" because I wanted to understand.
Chlaire kept her secure hold on my hand, looking down at the newly formed lines on my skin before lifting her gaze back to my face to provide a full answer to my question. She began to speak in a very informative and steady tone, and she explained, "Master, that's a servant mark. It's a mark that lets you use my endless mana pool. But I see that your stats got locked, but that's alright because you still have a magic affinity. Even though I can't see it, I can feel it. You have Destruction magic, one of the rarest besides creation magic, Divine and demonic magic. But the only problem with the mark is that if I get unconscious, you'll not be able to access my mana pool." Her explanation was very detailed and thorough, delivered with absolute clarity into the quiet space of the long passage. She made sure I understood that the weird tattoo was the official bond that connected my physical frame to her vast store of internal energy, allowing a person without any natural mana to perform magical actions freely. She acknowledged the unusual condition of my locked stats that Sir Vael had said before, but she assured me that it would not prevent me from using the special power that she felt hidden deep within my chest. She described the exact nature of my unique affinity, naming it as Destruction magic and comparing it directly to the other rare types like creation magic, Divine magic, and demonic magic that existed in the world. She also clearly outlined the main limitation of the servant mark, warning me that her own physical consciousness was completely required to maintain the flow of energy today because she wanted me to be fully aware of the facts right now.
I stood still trying to understand the info that she had just delivered to my ears in the middle of the mansion corridor. My boots remained flat on the smooth stone floor blocks, and I kept my body motionless while my mind processed all the complicated details about the servant mark, the endless mana pool, my locked stats, and the rare Destruction magic affinity. The information was large, and it took a moment of complete silence to think about what this meant for my capabilities and my future training sessions inside the house. I kept my eyes fixed on the weird tattoo of a sun surrounded by three stars and three moons, watching the dark lines stay perfectly still on the back of my hand. Chlaire did not give me any extra time to ponder the situation or ask another question in the hallway. While I was standing there completely silent and motionless on the ground, she held my hand tightly with a very secure and firm grip once again. Her fingers squeezed mine to signal another sudden action, and she teleported us to the middle of the forest right away without any delay. The space of the mansion hallway vanished instantly from our surroundings, and our physical bodies were carried through the air in a single fraction of a second. We arrived immediately in a completely new environment where tall green trees and thick bushes stretched out in every direction around our positions. The ground beneath my boots was no longer made of smooth stone floor blocks, but was instead covered in rough dirt, dry leaves, and small twigs that cracked softly under our weight. The air was fresh, and the bright sunlight filtered down through the branches above our heads, casting shadows across the clearing where we stood.