I have Nine Lives

Chapter 55: As a friend or as a soldier

Felix was having an inner conundrum at this point... what should he tell him? What if his words actually influenced him? At this point, he realized that if he was too forceful with him he would do the opposite of what he told him... but if he was truthful with him there was also a chance he would listen...

Lindo was a strange being to Felix, he acted so out of the ordinary around him unlike his normal and collected actions when he was on the battlefield or in front of his grandfather...

Maybe he really thought of Felix as his best friend that he could show his true personality to.

On the surface, Lindo was a tough man with a strong will, but on the inside, he was just a teen that wanted to have fun with his friends... unfortunately, the current situation in this world meant that he had to keep up his outer appearance if he wanted to survive, in conclusion, Lindo was still a child at heart.

He looked rather happy even though he was so injured, it seemed he really wanted to catch up to Felix even though he was doing with through a self-destructive technique... he didn't know that Felix didn't use his breathing techniques fully or else he wouldn't have been able to dodge like that.

But Felix couldn't bear to tell him that, or else who knew what he would do?

Felix looked into his eyes as he told him:

"I just think that you shouldn't use this technique anymore during training... I don't think the aftereffects would diminish with more uses."

Lindo snorted as he tried to get up from the ground, Felix supported him up and Lindo became a little bit calmer as he said:

"You don't know the technique as I do, after all, I'm the one who learned it."

"Indeed, but you cannot hide the fact that the injuries have reached your soul already."

Lindo's eyes widened... how could have Felix seen through him so easily? Did the gem training really improve his soul vision that much?

Felix could see some cracks appearing on Lindo's soul from the inner vision he gained during training... he was getting closer to gain what shaman's called, The vision of the wild souls.

Shamans were normally born with this ability as they had an immensely strong soul since their birth but others could gain it through training.

Lindo knew that he was found out so all he could do was keep his hand down, seemingly as if he was a child who was caught when he stole some cookies from the cookie jar when he was supposed to eat his greens.

Felix sighed, he was only his friend, not his family but he somewhat cared about him. It was impossible to not get any comradeship feelings for him after so much time passed training with him... fighting with him on the battlefield and chatting with him from time to time when they were free. Felix had feelings he wasn't a robot so even though sometimes he would tend to ignore them, he couldn't ignore all of them, while they could be suppressed during combat rather easily, in the day to day life Felix would somewhat follow them.

Felix stood closely near him as he patted his waist with his paw trying to make him feel better while telling him:

"I don't forbid you from using it when you are supposed to, but using such a technique during training is a great waste of your strength and potential, fortunately, you didn't push yourself too much or your soul might have been affected."

Felix's knowledge of souls was rather shallow but just like a trainee medic would know when the body couldn't recover anymore, He knew when the state of the soul would be too damaged to restore itself anymore.

Lindo didn't say anything as Felix helped him to his house, where he left him on his couch made of yellow bamboo and intended to leave when suddenly a strong voice was heard coming from the kitchen of the moderately sized house.

"Lindo it seems you finally decided to invite your only friend to our home and that was without even announcing me first?"

"Huh? You..."

The appearance of Siracha's son didn't surprise Felix, he was a man looking to be in his late thirties with a golden mane and red eyes, unlike his father Lindo inherited blue eyes from his late mother.

Lindo's father quickly got near him as he looked him up and down before he slapped his forehead gently and saying:

"You have found those things that your mother left behind didn't you?"

Lindo's closed eyes started to tremble at the mention of his mother and he huddled himself on his couch...

His father shook his head seeing his current situation then decided to leave him alone, he looked at Felix and motioned with his hand for him to follow him outside in the training area behind the house.

The training area behind the house wasn't very big but it was fortified with a metal unknown to Felix, it wasn't Dark Hex iron but it was somewhat similar but weaker at the same time.

There Lindo's father sat down as he motioned for Felix to sit near him as he said:

"First things first, I would like to thank you for being Lindo's friend for such a long time... I still remember Lindo's first day at the soldier training camp where he bashed the adversary trainee's skull in... he couldn't make friends with anyone else after that, everyone was scared of him at that time. Even though he mellowed out as time passed people were still scared of him, that's until you came around."

"I'm not sure why but you are very approachable and Lindo hanging around you made him well... less fearsome in the eyes of others, at first whenever I was marching through the capital I would hear about how my son is a brute, and how he takes after me."

The man sighed as he reminisced a bit:

"He was never a brute... that day when he bashed that trainee's skull in was the day he heard his mother died on the battlefield... not even her remains were sent back."

Felix could feel the bare emotions coming from Lindo's father at the moment, it was anger, regret, and melancholy at the same time... his red eyes were flickering with strange energy as he thought about those times before he shook his head and looked at Felix:

"Sorry for acting like this... sometimes it gets too hard remembering my late wife, anyways my name is Diorno, nice to finally meet you properly Felix."

Felix tried to shake the outstretched hand that Diorno gave him after he introduced himself but it was quite awkward considering he had a paw, so Diorno just grasped his paw and shook it before going back to business:

"I think you must have already seen what ability Lindo unleashed while he sparred with you, it's the technique that made his late mother perish on the battlefield along with some invaders from the outer continents."

"I can't forbid him from using it as he doesn't respect me as he used to... and physical punishment wouldn't work on him at this point either, he is too old and too stubborn. You are his closest friend and as his father, I can only ask of you..."

He bowed to Felix as some tears came out of his eyes... even though he looked middle-aged the look in his eyes showed that he was quite older than he looked on the surface:

"Please take care of my boy... he is my only inheritor and the last seedling of the shaman family line, I also love him..."

Felix felt quite awkward, a general bowing to him? He was barely a rank 1 lieutenant right now, not even a vice-captain.

Felix told him to get up as he looked towards the direction of the house and told him:

"I cannot promise you anything, he is meant for the intercontinental battle and things will get ugly there, he might need to use this technique of his multiple times and you know what that means."

The man nodded, he couldn't ask Felix to give his life for Lindo, even though he had multiple lives it would be too selfish to ask him to do such a thing... but he hoped Felix's benevolence would shine upon him and his son, after all, he couldn't go and protect his son at the battle, it was against the rules and if they wanted to win the battle they had to send out their best... and Lindo was one of their best.

Diorno shook his head as he took out a metal flask from the air and took a huge gulp out of it, then he waved his hand and said:

"You can leave now, I will make sure Lindo is back on his feet for the training tomorrow, just make sure he doesn't use the technique anymore during your training."

Felix nodded and left the training area, but before exiting it he looked back and said:

"That's one thing that I can promise you... as for the other things... I will also try my best but I won't put myself in extreme danger for him."

Diorno waved his hand and Felix disappeared as he went back to the inn where he had some food and went to train his stamina breathing technique.

He could feel that he could reach around the 7th stage before the intercontinental battle or maybe even higher if he was lucky.

After he finished his session of breathing training he went to sleep...

in his soul space, a dark bear was rampaging around his memories as it roared and attacked everything that moved as if it was mad, his eyes were reddened from fury and he had foam coming out of his mouth indicating that he wasn't in his right mental state... The soul of the bear shaman was berserking as if nothing could stop him in the mental place.