SOUL FORGE CHRONICLES
Chapter 7 — The Power of Spells
Time rewound to a few moments before the door latch snapped.
Aldric stepped out of the observation deck and immediately spotted the Iron Bear Gang's leader hammering at the door.
This leader's name was Rael — the son of a gang boss from the Red Thorn Territory in the Kingdom of Valdenmoor, before being selected as a prospective sorcery student.
Rael had been born with extraordinary physical strength since childhood. He had become a guard at twelve and had nearly earned his full knight title by fifteen.
At that rate, Rael could have become a full knight in five years. With another ten years of training, he could have been a high-ranking knight in his thirties.
A high-ranking knight at that age would have been considered a genius even by Valdenmoor's standards.
The king would have granted him a title, and nobles seeking marriage alliances would have flocked to his door.
But Rael had been selected.
The will of a sorcerer could not be defied. Even if he had been a prince, let alone a gang boss's son, he still had to submit and become a sorcery student.
Rael's father had lamented this fate. But Rael himself didn't see it that way.
When he witnessed the king and nobles bowing respectfully before a sorcerer during the examination ceremony, a fire had ignited within him.
The fire of ambition.
He wanted to become a sorcerer — to hold that extraordinary power in his own hands.
Once aboard the airship, Rael — with the soul of a gangster — quickly realized that the sorcerers didn't care what happened among the students, as long as no one died before the exam.
After confirming this, he swiftly gathered followers and began his brutal reign.
Whatever he wanted, he took. Whoever he wanted, he threatened.
Many nobles despised his behavior, but not one dared to interfere.
Not just because Rael didn't directly provoke the nobles — but more importantly, because Rael was a trained knight's guard.
No noble was willing to risk conflict with someone like that for the sake of defending commoners.
...
BANG! BANG!
Rael grinned as he slammed his fist against the door of Room 225. He hadn't seen the woman inside yet — she might still be untouched. The thought made his blood run hot.
But just as he raised his fist to strike again, a figure suddenly appeared at the edge of his vision.
The figure looked fairly thin and not very tall, with a handsome but delicate face framed by thick black hair.
Rael suddenly stopped.
His eyes swept over Aldric from head to toe with a look that made one's skin crawl.
"You lot, block him," Rael ordered his lackeys, while a disgusting smile spread across his face.
Aldric, seeing Rael suddenly go still, felt a cold chill run down his spine.
It seemed something very revolting was about to happen.
"Little beauty, are you from the last group?"
Rael stared at Aldric with lecherous eyes, his tongue unconsciously licking his lips.
It turned out Rael was not only depraved — he was also bisexual. And Aldric fit perfectly into his type.
Aldric looked behind him.
There was no one there.
So it was definitely him being addressed.
There was nothing more to consider.
Aldric turned back around, his face darkening like a storm.
Waves of fury mixed with disgust surged through his chest.
"Die!"
Aldric raised his hand coldly. Magic gathered at his fingertips, transforming into a dark blue light that shot like a meteor — striking Rael squarely in the chest.
Zero-Ring Spell: Mana Bolt.
In an instant, Rael felt as though a fully armed knight had struck his chest with a war hammer. He was sent flying backward, his face contorted in pain and rage.
"A sorcerer! A sorcerer!"
The lackeys beside him immediately panicked and scrambled to retreat — but Aldric had no intention of letting them escape so easily.
"You too!"
Streaks of dark blue light shot from Aldric's fingertips, hitting the fleeing lackeys one by one before they could get away.
The lackeys crumpled to the corridor floor, groaning in pain.
Fortunately, Aldric hadn't been completely blinded by his anger. The bolts were aimed at their legs, not their vital areas.
As long as no one died, everything was within acceptable limits.
Aldric slowly stepped forward, the blue light at his fingertips still flickering with an eerie glow.
In that moment, he was like a judge of the underworld walking calmly among mortals — prepared to deliver judgment on the sins before him.
One step. Two steps. Three steps.
Finally, Rael — who had been pretending to be unconscious — couldn't bear it any longer. He scrambled to his feet and fled toward the far end of the corridor.
"Sorcerer! Sorcerer! Someone is—"
Before he could finish the sentence, a Mana Bolt landed right between his legs.
A very unpleasant sound echoed through the air.
From the unbearable pain, Rael's eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed to the floor.
But Aldric still wasn't satisfied. The nauseous feeling — like having swallowed something filthy — hadn't left his stomach.
So he walked over to Rael and stamped on his chest twice.
"You bastard! Breaking into my room, bullying my roommate, and you even dared to come near me..."
"Aldric!"
Aldric turned and found Elara standing in the crack of the door, staring at him with an expression that was hard to describe.
"Oh, Elara. Are you alright?"
Aldric greeted her casually, then wiped the toe of his shoe on Rael's clothes.
"You... did all of this?"
Elara stared at the scene before her. Rael — who had terrified everyone on the ship — was lying helpless on the floor.
And all of this had been done by Aldric — the roommate she had spent the past few days assuming was a frail, weak young man.
A sense of absurdity washed over Elara. She felt as though she was dreaming.
Since when had he mastered the Mana Flow?
Not long after, a sorcerer appeared from down the corridor — arriving late to the scene.
At the same time, the nobles who had been in the observation deck came flooding out, drawn by the commotion.
"Good lord, that commoner actually beat Rael."
"Rael was a trained knight's guard. Even among the nobles, he was considered dangerous!"
"Does that commoner have a magic artifact? But even with an artifact, you need magic stones to use one."
"Could it be that he's already built his Mana Flow and become an official sorcery student?"
"Impossible! How could a commoner do it this fast!"
The nobles' whispers reached Aldric's ears clearly. Setting aside their condescending tone, one piece of information caught his attention — magic artifacts powered by magic stones.
Magic artifacts? Aldric quietly filed that away. That information might prove useful in the entrance exam ahead.
The late-arriving sorcerer was a woman who appeared to be in her thirties. Her appearance was fairly ordinary — except for both her palms, which were covered in sharp teeth like the jaws of a beast.
After a quick look at the situation, the sorcerer stepped through the crowd and walked directly toward Aldric.
"I'm Selvara. Who did this?"
Elara, seeing the sorcerer approach, immediately tried to defend Aldric.
"Ma'am, these people tried to force their way into our room, so—"
But Aldric cut her off before Elara could finish.
"Ma'am, I don't know who did this. They were already lying here when I arrived."
Aldric said this calmly, looking at Selvara as though the injuries on the floor had absolutely nothing to do with him.
Selvara stared at him for a long moment. A faint smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
"Alright. It seems some invisible hand has taken care of these little troublemakers for me. Though it was a bit excessive — if caught, there might be consequences."
With that, Selvara waved her hand and used levitation magic to move the bodies on the floor away from the scene.
Elara watched it all with eyes that could barely believe what they were seeing.
"Aldric, how did you..."
Elara clutched her own chest. Her heart was still pounding hard.
Lying directly to a sorcerer's face — how bold! And Aldric had done it without trembling in the slightest.
Why had the sorcerer believed him so easily?
Elara's mind was still in chaos until Aldric pulled her into the room and closed the door.
"Aldric, what actually just happened?"
Aldric sat down in the chair, his expression calm with a glint of understanding in his eyes.
"Elara, this is about how the world of sorcery works. On this airship, the rules are an uncrossable red line for us — but for sorcerers, rules are probably just an agreement made casually over dinner."
Aldric paused.
"Even though I just broke a rule, Sorcerer Selvara who came to check knows that I did 'useful work' for her. She doesn't want to punish me. That's why she asked that question."
Elara murmured quietly, "Who did this? She obviously knew who the culprit was. But if rules mean nothing to her, why bother asking at all?"
Aldric smiled slightly.
"Because there's more than one sorcerer on this airship. She needed a reason to explain to the others. Even if that reason makes no sense at all."
He looked at Elara with a steady gaze.
"To a sorcerer, a badly injured student only deserves an explanation that doesn't need to make sense."
— End of Chapter 7 —