Nascent Soul Rebirth: Starting as a Wizard

The grinding of the elevator gears echoed in the shaft, like the panting of some mechanical creature.

As soon as Solo stepped out of the elevator, a dusty scout knight staggered up to him, his breastplate still stained with fresh blood and rock fragments.

"Commander... in the northern mining area... rock creatures are gathering..." He gasped for breath, his right hand pressed tightly against his left ribs—the plate armor there was dented, and dark red seeped from the edges.

"Speak slowly, how many people? What kind?" Solo pressed down on the knight's shoulder, feeling the muscles trembling with pain.

"At least... at least three hundred... still pouring out from the depths of the mine..." The scout knight swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

"More than eight large stone lizards... I saw at least three with crystalline reflections on their backs... and stone scorpions, lots of stone scorpions, hiding in the crevices of the rocks..."

Solo's heart sank.

Crystallized seeds, and the quantity exceeded expectations.

He turned to look into the depths of the main passage, where the roar of the production line continued, slaves pushed mine carts and ran, and the overseers' whips cracked.

In the windows of the distant magic workshop, the figures of wizarding apprentices flickered under the rune lamps, unaware—or feigning ignorance—of the growing threat beyond the walls.

"Go and treat your wounds first," Solo said to the scout knight, then strode toward the north defensive wall.

As he walked through the main passage, his gaze swept over several apprentices on the perimeter who were inspecting the conveyor belt.

The young men, dressed in gray apprentice robes stained with oil, held test rune discs in their hands and focused intently on adjusting the machinery.

When a patrol of knights passed by them, the two sides didn't even exchange glances.

The knights deliberately kept their distance, while the apprentices straightened their backs even more, as if getting too close would tarnish their status.

This scene reminded Solo of his conversation with the old knight Al three days earlier.

While on duty in the watchtower, the veteran who had lost his left arm rubbed his empty left sleeve heavily with his only remaining right hand. The rustling sound of his rough calloused palm against the fabric was particularly clear in the night wind.

"More than a decade ago, there was a young knight named Torin—he was probably about the same age as Edgar you see now, with freckles still on his face."

The old knight's voice was flat, as if he were recounting someone else's story: "In a small-scale attack, Torin's left arm was stung by a stone scorpion."

The wound wasn't large, but the rock toxins spread quickly.

"There was a newly assigned wizard apprentice who, probably wanting to show off, volunteered that he could cure it."

The old soldier's single eye gleamed murky in the moonlight. "He was indeed using healing magic—'Quick Healing,' a standard trick for dealing with slaves on the front lines."

The principle is simple and direct: using high concentrations of life energy to forcibly stimulate cell division, allowing the wound surface to heal quickly.

In three seconds, the wound closed, and Torin was even able to stand up and take a few steps.

The old knight paused for a long time, so long that Solo thought he had finished speaking.

"and then?"

"And then?" The old knight turned his head, his empty sleeve fluttering in the night wind. "Then three days later, Torin started to have a fever. The wound looked fine on the surface, but it was swollen inside as if a fist had been stuffed in it."

When we removed the bandages, we saw that the skin and flesh had healed, but bone fragments were still trapped inside, and the rock toxins hadn't been completely removed, continuing to corrode the muscle fibers.

"That apprentice doesn't know he needs wound cleaning?" Solo frowned.

"He knew, but he felt it was unnecessary." Torin's voice finally showed a slight fluctuation, a dull pain that had been suppressed for twelve years.

"The original design of 'Rapid Healing Technique' was for battlefield emergency response—to allow wounded slave soldiers to quickly return to the production line or the battlefield."

As for whether the arm or leg will become necrotic after three months, that's not a consideration. After all, slaves are consumables; if they break, they're replaced.

"But Torin is a knight."

"In the eyes of an apprentice fresh out of academy, the only difference between a knight and a slave is that their armor is better." The old knight spat, leaving a dark stain on the stone bricks.

"Later, Tolin's entire left arm began to rot from the inside, and the bone was eroded by the toxins and became like a honeycomb."

After three months of delay, the amputation finally occurred at a rear medical facility—up to the shoulder.

The night wind blew past the watchtower, carrying the smell of sulfur from distant smelting furnaces.

"I am Torin," the old knight said softly, so softly that he was almost drowned out by the wind.

"The apprentice was later transferred, supposedly to the front lines where 'efficient medical care' was more needed."

I stayed in the gray rocks, transforming from a knight into a lookout.

Watching apprentices come and go, seeing knights writhe in agony after being wounded, preferring to drink inferior potions rather than let them touch them.

He patted his left shoulder with his only remaining right hand: "This empty sleeve is the medal of the quick healing technique."

From that time on, a river of blood separated knights and wizards—they stood on the rune side, and we stood on the blood path side.

Over the past ten years, I've counted the words I've spoken to the wizard: nineteen in total.

"Get out of my way," "Danger," "Get lost"... and once it was "You're blocking my sun."

Tolin turned back and continued to look at the dark mining area, his hunched back resembling a weathered stone statue.

Solo's thoughts were pulled back to reality by the scene ahead.

The northern defensive wall was already in sight, and forty-seven knights were quickly taking their positions under Gareth's command.

Solo astutely noticed that the knights responded to Gareth's orders quickly and in perfect unison—a conditioned reflex formed from long-term camaraderie, something he, as the airborne commander, could not have developed in just a few days.

Gareth's voice echoed from the wall, deep and powerful, each command precise and accurate, and the knights adjusted their formation as if guided by their own limbs.

Outside the wall, three hundred troll slaves were already lined up.

These naturally resilient creatures can reach up to five meters in height, resembling mobile miniature fortresses.

They were unusually silent, with only heavy breathing rising and falling like bellows, and the rustling sound of their massive metal shields scraping against the stone ground, carrying a chilling weight.

Further away, the dust kicked up by the numerous rock creatures grew increasingly massive, like a swarm of awakened sandstorms, gradually coalescing into an unsettling tide.

"The scale has been confirmed," Gareth said as he approached, his face expressionless, but a subtle scrutiny flickered in his eyes—he was observing Solo's reaction.

"At least 350, with more than a dozen medium to large rock creatures leading the way, three of which showed signs of crystallization on their backs."

He paused, then emphasized, "The scout knight said he saw at least three stone scorpions. Those things play dead and ambush; we learned our lesson the hard way last time."

Solo nodded without saying anything more and jumped directly onto the steps of the defensive wall.

The walls are made of local limestone, and the surface is covered with repair marks and dried bloodstains. In some places, you can even see claw marks that are deeply embedded in the rock.

He looked into the distance and saw a large number of rock creatures rapidly approaching. The ground trembled slightly. These creatures ranged in size from two or three meters to seven or eight meters and had various shapes.