“That’s a fine name, quite befitting the sword. So ya ain’t as idiotic as I thought huh.” Aero’s voice rang from the doorway. 

Adrian turned to see the paladin leaning against the doorframe with his usual annoying smile plastered on his face. 

Carl looked over and spoke up, “Come on over brat. Let’s discuss the price of this ‘finely-named’ sword”, saying this, he led Aero to the backroom while the Paladin could only reluctantly follow. When Adrian came after them, Carl stopped him, “Lemme talk to this guy in private for a bit. Why don’t you go try the blade on those dummies in the backyard. Be careful not to mess up the backyard too much”, he warned him while wagging a finger.

Before Adrian could protest, Carl slammed the door on his face. Grumpily, he made his way to the backyard and gave his sword a few swings, getting a good feel for the weight and the balance. A few minutes later Aero emerged with a crestfallen but serious face while Carl seemed concerned but cheerful. 

Adrian ran up to the paladin who was walking slowly like a ghost. “Aero wha-”, before he could finish  his sentence, Aero’s hands rested on his shoulders as he raised his face to look at Adrian.

“Never”, the paladin started with a menacing stare while gritting his teeth, “I repeat, NEVER EVER, show your void mana off in public again.”

“Whatcha whispering around in the brat’s ears?”Carl called out from where he was standing. At this Adrian saw the change in Aero’s face almost instantly. From the menacing glare, Aero’s face had turned into a charming smile with no hint or trace of the previous pressure. 

“Nothing at all Carl. Was just telling him to say his goodbyes as we are to depart soon.” Aero replied

“Oh, leaving so soon?”Carl sighed as he turned to Adrian, “Son, take care of yourself out there. I know yer grown up and all but the world is too dangerous. Random crexes appear out of nowhere in the wild and it can become ugly pretty quick if you aint careful.”

“I’ll do my best to be cautious, Carl. Thanks a lot for the sword. I don’t know how to repay you back for this but……I’ll definitely work hard and not disappoint you for having made me this blade.”

Carl turned his back to Adrian, “Get goin’ kid. And yeah, come back in one piece.” With these final words, Adrian and Aero departed from Carl’s shop.

“Listen up kid, Carl seemed to pick up that your mana wasn’t normal. For now I’ve told him you have developed a core of a unique strain of the wind element. So that’s what you’ll be telling everyone who asks you about it. You don’t need me to remind you of how much trouble you will be in if your mana nature is revealed.” 

“I’ll definitely be careful whenever such situations arise.” Adrian said.

“Don’t worry about it too much, for I already have something in mind.” Aero replied, “Something I was working on when you were busy with your sword.”

Adrian was confused as to what Aero was referring to, but remembering the look on his face when Carl almost outed them, he chose to remain quiet.

Arriving at the inn, they found Hilda was out for some work, so Aero told Adrian to follow him to his room. As they both entered the lodging on the second floor, Aero locked the door behind them, flicking his wrist to bring up a barrier covering almost the room entirely.

“Take off your shirt kid” Aero said to Adrian as he headed towards his desk. Adrian gave Aero a perplexed look, “So the rumours about the church being filled with molesters is true” he said.

“Haha very funny, now take it off”

“Not until you tell me why” Adrian said, bringing his arms up to awkwardly cover himself.

Aero sighed as he turned around to walk towards Adrian while holding something in hand. “You know what this is?”

In his hand was a piece of metal that looked like to be the tip of a branding iron with an ‘x’ shaped structure with its lower two prongs elongated and curving downwards. The seal of the Forsaken. Adrian was quite familiar with the device as it was used to normally incapacitate the cores of criminals and traitors in the guild. Ensuring they couldn’t use mana.

“Why do you have that?” Adrian questioned Aero with a nervous look on his face. “Relax kid, normally it would imprint a mana circuit on you making sure all the mana in your body is expelled immediately, but this one I have tinkered with.” Aero explained, “this here mixed with my exquisa will imprint a circuit on you that will instead attract and inject wind mana in you covering your core at all times.”

“These last few days I have been covering your core with a spell of my own.”  Aero raised his hand as he proceeded to pull up his sleeve revealing the familiar band of emerald runes around his wrist. With a flick of his hand the markings started glowing brightly before shattering apart leaving the skin on his wrist smooth and clean.

Adrian was once again hit with the feeling of pressure build up in his chest as it made its way out through every pore in his skin, as the sensation of his core relaxing followed immediately after. “But that has its limitations as I need to recharge the spell every few hours, and it getting weaker the farther you are away from me.” Aero continued while taking the pristine white cross from his belt as he attached the seal to it just below the shining green gem of the Exquisa. “This thing here should resolve both of those problems.”

“Are you sure this will work?” Adrian asked. Aero turned his face to look at Adrian with a solemn look on his face, the two of them staying quiet for a moment as they stood in silence. “I may not be an alchemist, but I still know my way around mana, plus you are now my responsibility remember?”

Adrian sighed as he started taking off his shirt and the tunic he wore under it. Aero instructed him to sit on a chair with his back facing Aero as the paladin proceeded to place the cross on his spine, firmly pressing it down. “Now grit your teeth kid, here goes nothing” with that Aero started channelling mana through the Exquisa into Adrian’s body.

A burning sensation spread throughout Adrian’s back as he felt mana rush into his body. This mana however, didn't feel right. The foreign mana coursed through his body causing every fibre of his being to ache as he let out a scream, unable to bear the pain. Adrian desperately grabbed onto the sides of the chair and clenched his jaw, the feeling of his flesh being seared on his back causing him to almost lose consciousness.

Suddenly, he felt something in his core. The invasive mana was trying to penetrate his core as it kept rejecting the mana. He felt the pressure build up in his chest as the mana started gathering around the core, his heart beating faster every second. Just as he thought his body was about to give in, something changed. He could feel his core starting to change the incoming mana as it warped it into a new form. Something Adrian could absorb.

Adrian took a deep breath as he started to cycle the changed mana into his core and throughout his body. The pressure decreased as the feeling of pain subsided. Aero removed the Exquisa from Adrian’s back and observed as his skin started emanating a dim green aura.

Adrian’s back had been branded. A burnt-in cross shape with the seal at its centre now tattooed on his skin.