The Mage With Sealed Powers: - Nick Venom (fox in socks read aloud .txt) 📗

Episode Three "Citrate"

Zeke lowered Hellbringer to the ground, kicking Enix out into the town of Citrate, a small stone town with a population of about two hundred people. Zeke waved bye as he raised Hellbringer, leaving Enix behind. He then headed towards the actual destination for dropoff. 

Now left behind, Enix looked around, noticing the town’s citizens coming out in bunches to inspect him. A blonde pig-tailed woman, who stood at the same height as Enix and looked to be the same age, walked up to Enix with a spear in her right hand. “Who are you?” She asked.

“My name is Enix and I was sent here by Merlin.”

“Merlin? You must be a summoned one?” Enix nodded his head as the blonde woman raised her spear in the air. “There’s nothing to be wary of! This is a present from Merlin!” She declared. The people around her cheered, raising whatever was in their hands---even their babies or tools. She then motioned for Enix to follow her, leading him to a small-sized brick mansion not far from where he had been dropped off at. A butler and two maids rushed out of the mansion to bow their heads towards the blonde woman and Enix.

“Welcome home, Miss Lavtok.” The butler announced with the maids on his right side. 

“Raise your head, Fred. Grace and Holly can raise their heads as well.” She then pointed at Enix. “This is a summoned one. Merlin sent him, so treat him with the utmost respect.” Her staff nodded their heads. Miss Lavtok then motioned for Enix to follow her inside, entering the small six-room mansion with two floors and a basement. The staff followed after them, rushing to fulfill their positions. The maids began cleaning while Fred led Enix to his new room with Miss Lavtok followed after them.

 Enix entered his room and noticed that it was enormous. A queen-size bed on one wall with a window on the adjacent wall that looked out towards the front of the town. The other two walls were blank, leaving room for decorations. The walls, ceiling, and flooring looked to be recent, with no fading in paint or chipped hardwood. 

Enix walked over to the bed and jumped onto it, resting his face in the pillow. The blonde woman, though, barked at him to stand up. Enix stood up from the bed and faced her. “Don’t think about lazing around while you’re staying here. Today, I will push you to your limits, similar to how Merlin did to me.” She declared while smirking. 

“Yes, Miss Lavtok… I mean master.” Enix shouted.

Miss Lavtok shook her head. “Call me North, not master. Merlin is the only master. I’m, simply, an apprentice.” Enix nodded his head in response. She nodded her back before turning to Fred. “Fred, can you tell me what happens when you run out of power?” 

Fred cringed. “The user will feel immense pain that nearly kills them.” 

North grinned at his words. “Perfect, let’s see if you can get used to the pain after a couple of days.” 

Enix’s eyes widened as he gulped down his fear. This won’t be good, he thought. What did Merlin bring me to?

***

North trained Enix to slowly increase his power limit and master his skills, with his only skill being Creation: Ice. She trained him by forcing him to use up his power and push him to a near-death state. Two weeks of constantly being on death’s door trained his mind and power level. His mind toughened up while his power level slowly increased past the one percent cap. 

Unfortunately, Enix couldn’t access his raw power level past the one percent cap, which affected the power of his skill. This, however, fuelled Enix into building up his strength to ensure that his new life wouldn’t end as anticlimactic as his previous one did - which was as a high schooler with few aspirations and fewer friends. 

Once his initial training period was up, North, graciously, granted him a futuristic white tactical military outfit with a large red square in the middle of his chest and black outlines running throughout the full outfit. The outfit was padded with bulletproof armor and maintained several buffs that increased Enix’s stats by a small percentage. The slim outfit consisted of thin materials that allowed Enix to run at full speed without being dragged down by the outfit.

Some hours later, a bandit party came close to Citrate, threatening the town. “It seems like the first challenge for Enix has appeared,” North remarked to Fred. They stood on the watchtower that overlooked the entire town and its surroundings, noticing the party instantly. It had been two full weeks since Enix had arrived. 

“Mind calling him, Fred?”

Fred shook his head. “It would be my honor, Miss Lavtok.” He said before turning away from her and cautiously descending the wooden ladder. Enix, meanwhile, was still infatuated with his training that he never caught wind about the incoming bandit party until Fred informed him. It was then his chance to reveal his true worth.

 

TBC... 

Episode Four "Second Chance"

The bandit party consisted of fifty riders and ten carriages, who rode at a terrifying speed towards the town. North and Fred watched from the watchtower as the riders closed the distance. The citizens of the town noticed the roars of the riders, declaring an emergency and rushing into their homes, bunkering up.

Enix noticed that the streets were devoid of life and energy, leaving a vacant and bland landscape. The windows were barred with bars that attached to them while the doors had furniture barring any attempts of entering. It was as if they were preparing for a war in the town.

North, meanwhile, smirked to herself as the riders neared the town while the carriages lingered behind. “Enix!” She barked from the watchtower. Enix looked up at his master, noticing her with ease. “Are you confident in your skill?” 

“M-My skill? I’m not confident about my skill at all. I need more time to-”

“Enix!” She shouted, shushing the air particles around her. She looked down and shot a long glare at him. “I kill people who make up excuses.” She remarked. Goosebumps shot through Enix’s body as her glare intensified on him.

“Y-You’re right,” Enix stated while looking down at the ground. His gaze slowly crept up before stopping at North. “I’m confident in my… abilities.” 

“Perfect… use the high-tier sub-skill that I’ve taught you,” North ordered before she put on a silver-colored helmet that covered her pigtails and the upper part of her head. A small tinted visor hid her eyes. It was her scouting helmet; admittedly, it looked somewhat out of place. 

“Yes, North,” Enix whispered as he prepared himself to chant a sub-skill of Creation: Ice. The riders were at bow’s range, dashing towards the town to steal it of its belongings. 

“Fire at will,” North ordered. 

Enix didn’t hear her words as he finished the chant. “Frozen Wave!” He shouted with his palms facing the bandits. His chant brought a tremor that ripped through the ground. The tremor roared as it began breaking the surface. An ice tsunami emitted from his palms, ripping through the ground, and crawling over the bandits and the first several carriages. All riders and some of the carriage drivers were frozen immediately by the sudden blast of ice. 

Unfortunately, Ice Wave drained Enix of almost his entire mana pool. He nearly collapsed instantly, feeling pains rip through his body. She wasn’t kidding. He thought to himself.

“That’s one percent of his power?” She asked out loud, staring at Enix.

“It seems like Mister Merlin was correct about his potential. I suggest that you deliver harsher training to ensure his level cap can be risen by the time Mister Merlin arrives.” Fred suggested. 

“You’re right about that Fred. I’ll give him today off, but tomorrow will be a nightmare for him.” She said with a creepy grin on full display. Fred nodded his head in agreement, not at all surprised by her expression.

North then turned around and flew down the watchtower ladder, alerting the citizens about the situation with the bandits. “The bandits have been defeated. You can leave your homes.” The citizens then began flooding out of the homes instantly to witness the devastation of the bandits, encased in transparent ice boxes for display. 

“I did it,” Enix muttered as his breathing grew rapidly erratic while the pain shot through his body in larger waves. Somehow, with an insufficient amount of mana for any skills, Enix managed to stay on his two legs with a slight balance. However, he did sway back and forth.

North passed by him to deal with the remaining carriages to slaughter any leftover bandits that were not frozen by Enix’s Frozen Wave while the citizens rushed to Enix’s side. They brought out a stretcher to put Enix on before rushing him to their hospital, a large four-story building with a large red cross hovering about it. Enix’s eyelids slowly lowered themselves before collapsing under their weight as the citizens carried Enix to an empty hospital room. Enix’s hand reached out to grab at something, but there wasn’t an object there. There was nothing there… except he did have the silver watch on him.

Several hours later… 

 

Enix awoke to the sight of North staring at him with an intense stare. Enix tilted his head and attempted to sit up, but his body yelled at him to sit down. “What happened?” He muttered while drowsy. 

“After you killed the majority of the bandits, I slaughtered the rest, but found something peculiar.” She said as the eyes of a child peeked in from the slightly ajar door. Enix picked up on the stare, directing all attention onto the pair of eyes. “It seems like they’re here,” North whispered before walking over to the door.

“They?” Enix questioned. North ignored his words and twisted the door handle, revealing five slaves of varying ages. 

“I’ll introduce your new servants. The first one is Rex.” She motioned towards a young dwarf boy with bright red hair that slumped on his forehead. He had rich dark-blue eyes. 

“This one is Arson.” A frail bear demi-human teenager with straight black hair and dark red eyes nodded his head in acknowledgment. 

“She’s Natalie.” A blonde elven teenager with light green eyes and straight hair, that went down to her waist, weakly raised her hand. 

“ Then there’s Jessica and Milena.” She said, finishing her introduction. Jessica looked away from Enix and didn’t acknowledge him. She had black straight hair that she styled into a ponytail with bright yellow eyes. She looked to be a human noble’s daughter. 

The other slave, Milena, wasn’t a noble’s daughter but a normal cat demi-human. She had light brown hair that dropped to her waist and light pink eyes that stared at Enix with large curiosity. She was the youngest of the five. 

“These kids wanted to meet their savior.” 

“Savior?” Enix repeated.

“You saved our lives. The only way to properly thank you for your actions, we must serve as your servants. You can do