The Greatest Sinner

Evan was in great pain. Despite the incredibly cold, he felt a searing pain. He could barely squeeze and unclench his hand, and his fingers could barely move.

There was no grimace of pain on his face. On the contrary, he was smiling like some kind of madman, pleased he had injured himself.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAH, fuck, that hurts, but how fucking good is that!" Evan wasn't a masochist. It wasn't the frostbitten hand that made him happy, it was the magic.

Evan had been careless and got the punishment he deserved; it was a good lesson for him. It also meant that magic was even harder than he had first thought and that amused him.

In terms of magic, Evan was a real psycho. In his past life, he could spend decades in a closed lab to improve just one spell. He had never lost his interest in magic even for a second. And in the moments of study, he looked like some kind of fanatic.

In his new world, things were even more complex, more varied, and more twisted. That only made the desire to immerse himself in magic even stronger.

Evan kept laughing, forgetting all about his hand. He was too excited to think about it. It was a serious mistake, but he was lucky.

One of the maids was nearby and upon hearing Evan's loud laughter she decided to see what was wrong. When she saw Evan's hand she got really scared.

"Mr. Evan you need to go to the infirmary right away!"

The girl's voice knocked Evan out of his strange state and he began to realize the situation he was in.

"Shit, I`ve overplayed a little. You could lose an arm like that."

He looked at the frightened maid and quickly said: "Come on, we don't have much time."

The girl nodded and ran quickly toward the infirmary. Evan followed. It wasn't the injury itself that bothered him most, but the possible consequences - he wouldn't be able to train because of it.

The situation was serious, so a minute later they were in the infirmary.

Like all places in this mansion it was terrific. Unlike the bathroom, the infirmary didn't take up an entire building. Evan was amazed at the number of different herbs, ointments, oils, pills in front of him.

He was sure that with such an arsenal, his arm would soon be fine. The first thing to do was to place his hand in hot water and while the ice was melting, the girl was searching for the right medicine.

She was concerned about Evan's condition not because of compassion. If anything happened to him, Zak would skin everyone alive in the mansion and nothing would stop him.

<I should be more careful next time. If it weren't for this girl, things could have ended sadly.

Evan looked at his inflamed skin and frowned heavily. He'd received emergency treatment, but he wouldn't heal in a couple of hours, it would take at least a few days. It pissed him off.

Click.

Suddenly the door to the infirmary opened and Evan saw Margaret, as calm and cold as ever.

She looked at the maid and said briefly: "Go away."

The news had quickly reached Margaret as everyone saw Evan and the maid walking to the infirmary.

"Mr. Evan, you should be more careful next time."

Evan didn't answer anything, but just smiled. He didn't know why she came here, but then he realized.

There was one door in the infirmary that only Marguerite could open, which she actually did.

She came back in a minute. She had three small leaves in her hands, a strange blue color.

<О? Does it only seem to me or I`m feeling mana from these leaves?> Involuntarily he remembered the root he had taken from the merchant. From these leaves he felt the same as he did.

"What is it?" Evan was interested in the plant.

"These are the leaves of the Frost Nettle, it will be painful, in return your frostbite will be cured in no time at all."

Evan didn't know what kind of plant it was, but he realized that it was probably an expensive and rare medicine that magicians use. Evan realized that his root was probably, not the most ordinary plant, either.

He could have asked Margaret about it right then, but he trusted her a lot less than Zak, so he decided he shouldn't rush into it.

"When the ice melts, just put the leaves on your hand and everything will be okay." Margaret put the leaves next to Evan, closed the door, and left.

Evan smirked and muttered to himself: "Well, let's see what kind of miracle plant this is."

After a while, the ice had melted completely and all that was left was pain. The young man carefully took each of the leaves and placed them on his hand.

As soon as he did, he instantly felt his skin literally burn.

"And she hasn`t lied, it`s really a hell, not a cure." It was quite difficult to endure such a thing. Evan hardly held back from screaming.

A minute later, Evan saw the effects of the Frost Nettles.

He could feel himself getting better by the second, but the leaves, on the other hand, were wilting.

...

Evan felt fine. He could control his arm as if nothing had happened before he was wounded. The whole treatment took him only half an hour. The only downside was that the blue leaves had completely wilted. There wasn't a drop of life or mana left in them. It all went to curing Evan's wound.

Without thinking, Evan left the infirmary and headed straight for the training ground. That mistake didn't stop him in the slightest; on the contrary, he was even more interested in this challenging spell.

<Commander Zak is certainly a master of his craft. To be able to warm up a sword to such a state in such a short period of time, is simply impeccable craftsmanship.>

Evan once again appreciated Zak and his abilities in magic, but Evan was not a simple one, too.

Evan took the sword in his hands and began casting the spell again. His "Warp" began to rotate, and after a couple of moments a thin layer of ice appeared on the sword.

This time Evan was doing everything much more slowly and carefully. Last time he had hurried, for which he`d paid the price. He wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. We all learn from our mistakes.

The ice only spread across the sword itself, not touching his hand.

Sigh.

Evan sighed heavily and smiled contentedly. The second time he succeeded. Right in his hands was the most ordinary sword and the fully completed "Ice Veil".

Evan thought he could have done better, but as for the second try, he was pleased with his result. Now it was time for the most important and interesting thing of all - the strength.

Evan slowly walked up to the iron dummy and struck a diagonal blow with lightning speed, just like Zak had done it last time.

Clang.

"Shit!" There was a loud thud as he struck, and Evan felt an unbelievably strong recoil in his hand. He had underestimated the hardness of the dummy. Evan could not cut it in two, the way Zak had done, but he still managed to do something.

The sword had cut through about a third of the dummy. Evan simply could not go any farther. He didn't know if it was due to his poor physical training or the spell, but he was pleased with the result. If he had achieved that, in such a short amount of time, what would happen next?

<If I had a man in armor in front of me, I'd chop him up in a heartbeat. Of course, I`m still far away from Commander Zak.>

Evan was thinking of his results and didn't notice Margaret, standing on the roof of the mansion and watching him carefully.