Chapter 30: Chapter 27 - strategizing

After John's training session with the grand duke, he retreated to his room where he sat cross-legged on the floor, letting out a sigh of relief from the long day of studying and training. "Fhuuuuuuu, now I can finally focus on gathering energy to form my core," he said to himself.

Just as he was about to begin, Pallas's voice interrupted him. "Hey kid," Pallas said. John entered his consciousness space to find Pallas and Kostas, his two tenants, playing a game of chess in their human forms.

"What is it, Pallas?" John asked, curious about the interruption.

"I think we've figured out a way for you to create stars," Pallas said, grabbing John's attention. "But like with your core, it will be an abysmally slow process."

John was intrigued. "I'm fine with that. Tell me what the two of you have come up with."

Kostas began to explain their plan. "You will have to create three stars at the same time, one for each of the different energies within you. Then, you will have to fuse them to form one big star. The process will be excruciatingly painful, and even the slightest error could kill you. But we don't think there is any other way."

John contemplated their plan. "We should keep this option in mind, but I'm nowhere near forming my core right now, let alone forming a star. If you aren't able to figure out a stabler method by the time I'm ready to form a star, we'll go with this. For now, I'll just focus on circulating the energies to form my core."

John then asked about learning draconic magic and the runic arts, but Pallas and Kostas made it clear that he would need to learn basic magic first, and that wouldn't happen until he formed his first star. They urged John to focus on the task at hand.

"Alright, I get it. I will focus on forming my core for the time being then," John said, exiting his consciousness space and beginning to circulate the energies within him as he had done the day before.

As the night wore on, John's training had progressed at a sluggish pace. However, as he trained, changes began to manifest in his appearance. Although he had always been a handsome child, he had lived a reclusive life with his mother and had done little training before he traveled back in time. This had led to him having a layer of baby fat and improper posture. But now, with the gathering of divine energy and mana within himself, these physical hindrances were slowly fading away. By midnight, he would have been almost unrecognizable had it not been for his distinctive hair and eyes.

Suddenly, there was a knock on his door, interrupting John's meditative state.

"Your Highness, it's Hans. His Majesty is calling for you in his office," Hans announced, pulling John out of his trance.

"Ughh, why is he calling me so late?" John asked, not noticing the putrid smell emanating from him.

"I'm not exactly sure myself, but it appears that the entire hold is in chaos right now because the barbarians from the north have declared a surprise war on us," Hans explained, covering his nose to avoid the stench.

"What!?" John exclaimed, taking a moment to notice the panic within the palace as soldiers hurriedly ran through the halls.

"I'm not sure of the details, but the Duke will be able to tell you more about it. I ask that you get ready as soon as possible," Hans said.

"Yeah, give me a moment. I'll quickly wash myself and go meet him. It will only take five minutes. I can't go out anywhere smelling like this," John said, noticing the strange expression on Hans' face as he caught a whiff of himself.

"Right, then I'll ask one of the soldiers to deliver your message to His Majesty," Hans said, grinning widely, relieved that he would no longer have to smell the stench.

"You do that. I'll be out quickly," John said as he closed his gate.

"Yes, sir," Hans said, bowing before the door before doing as he was instructed by John.

Ten minutes later, John found himself in the grand duke's office, with the man staring at him in surprise. The young prince had transformed before his eyes, shedding his baby fat, refining his jawline, and correcting his posture. "What happened here?" the grand duke asked, incredulous.

"I think it happened while I was gathering mana to form my core," John replied, carefully omitting any mention of divine energy or reverse circulation. "Most of my unnecessary baby fat has disappeared, and my skeletal structure has fixed itself."

The grand duke's expression soured. "Yeah, I can see that too. But how the hell did something like this happen to such a young kid like you? Most people spend their lives without having their bodies reformed like this."

John offered a weird smile. "I'm not quite sure either. Maybe I just got lucky."

Dante shook his head. "Well, it seems like you won't tell me the truth, and I don't have too much time on hand. Follow me. We're going to my war room. You are not to say a word. All you will do is observe. I'm sure you will learn a lot from just looking." With that, Dante left the room and started walking towards the castle's war room.

"Yes, sir," John replied, following closely behind the grand duke.

The grand duke fixed a stern gaze on the young prince. "From now on, you are to accompany me everywhere I go until this war is over. Unless you are bathing, using the restroom, or sleeping, you must be by my side at all times. This is an order. Do you understand?" His voice was authoritative, and they stood before a large gate bearing the symbol of the Valorian Grand Duchy.

"Sir, yes, sir!" John responded crisply.

"Good. Let's go in," the grand duke said, nodding lightly and entering the room. Inside, about fifteen people sat around a round table, each one exuding a fierce aura. John was surprised by their talent; had he known such skilled individuals existed within the empire in his previous life, things would have been a lot easier for him.

"We greet the White Lion of the North!" The men stood from their seats and shouted as Dante entered the room, each throwing a salute.

"Enough with the formalities. We don't have time for that right now. Brief me on the situation," Dante said, taking his seat at the center of the table with John standing behind him. While some generals cast a glance at the young boy, they decided to say nothing about him and ignored him, as their liege had said nothing to them about the prince.

"At once, Your Majesty," one of the generals said, walking forward to a map on one side of the room. "From what our scouts have informed us, a large army of about one hundred thousand barbarians, along with a horde of fifty thousand beasts, are marching towards the Icewind Bastion. They are about five days away from the stronghold." The general pointed to the most northern point within the duchy, an area covered with forests and adjacent to a massive creek.

CREATORS' THOUGHTS
themusicaddict

I know the chapter is short, about 1200 words, but listen to me, this shit is about to be dope, I just couldn't find a way to end the chapter properly if I continued from here, so while editing I moved some stuff here and there. things are getting juicy now...find out more on the next episode offffffff I don't have a short form for the story yet.

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hey guys it's the 25th my time, and I am supposed to post a chapter today I know, but unfortunately, I cant, the editing is still left for the chapter, and I'm super sick today, I went to the doctor he said my allergies are acting up again due to god knows what, but he told me to rest. anyway, instead of today I will be posting the chapter tomorrow, it will be two consecutive days of posting on the 26th and 27th my time.

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