Edmund didn’t ?notice much difference from the nail he had applied to his arm; other than that, there was no pain, and he could feel the air flowing through his body; it made him more aware of his surroundings, a sensation he remembered from the memories of the hero, and even that he could handle his sword more effectively when practicing. Nothing ?impressive, but he reasoned it might only be a matter of time.

  ‘Could this be used in commoners?’ Edmund thought to himself.

  If that were the case, he could use this on everyone; it would be very beneficial in the future, but how could he test it? He had to ask; it was too important for him to miss this opportunity. Ruppert was the only choice that crossed his mind. He stood up, grabbed a bag containing the alcohol, bandages, and nails, and ran to the blacksmith's workshop. Arriving there, he was ?with the blacksmith.

  ‘I need to test something, old man; it is ?important. Could you help me?’ Edmund closed the door behind him.

  Ruppert then took off his gloves and came to meet Edmund while looking at the puzzling boy. He thought his eyes betrayed him, but some of the boy's hair was white now, but he did not mind that.

  ‘Let’s sit first; I already helped you a lot, no problem; besides, it needs to be important or a dumb idea like that one in your arm.’ He pointed to the nail on Edmund's arm.

  ‘Well, let me put this on your arm. I need to know if this works for everyone or me only.’ He looked at the nail on his arm.

  ‘There is no way in hell I am going to let you put this thing in my arm.’ Ruppert responded with anger.

  The boy got closer to the blacksmith, and with the nail on his arm, there was no time for Ruppert to react. He slammed it on his arm with no hesitation, making him scream.

  ‘Ahhhh, you little.’ The blacksmith held his arm.

  Ruppert looked at the boy and swung his arm, trying to hit the boy with anger in his eyes but with no success. When he thought his punches would hit Edmund, he moved only enough that Ruppert missed, making him feel like he was fighting a ghost.

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  ‘Old man, I am so sorry, but I have to know.’ He said this while dodging the blacksmith's strikes.

  ‘Know what? If it hurts to nail someone's arm?’ Ruppert asked?.

  ‘So you are just feeling the pain from the nail? Interesting.’ Edmund looked at Ruppert's arm, confused.

  ‘Just pain? Are you crazy?’ The blacksmith screamed at the boy.

  He attempted to pull the nail from Edmund's arms with no success as if it were part of him, just ironed to his skin. Edmund took this opportunity to pull the nail from the blacksmith's arm and gave him his bag so Ruppert could treat himself.

  ‘Doesn’t your arm hurt?’ Ruppert asked while treating his arm.

  ‘At the beginning, yes, but now I feel stronger and faster than before; that is why I needed to test it.’ Edmund passed a finger over the top of a nail on his arm.

  ‘I have no idea what in the name of God you are doing at home, kid, but please try not to kill yourself, you crazy bastard; this alcohol is mine now, for the trouble.' Ruppert sighed.

  ‘Ok, ok, ok.’ Edmund smiled.

  The boy left the workshop thinking that he might be unique or that it was because he was a noble without magic; he needed more information, someone like him, to know if it could be replicated or if he was unique in some way.

  ‘I need someone like myself to test this.’ He scratched the back of his head.

  A year passed quickly, and when Edmund was eleven years old, after waking up, he was surprised to see that his hair had some white patches while looking at a piece of mirror that he stole to conduct some experiments. This intrigued him, so he went to the library to figure out what was causing it, as he had no memory of this happening before.

  As he made his way towards the library, he noticed everyone staring at him with surprise, some even pity. This only increased his concern for his condition. There, he was met by the surprised gaze of the librarian.

  ‘Impossible.’ The librarian looked at Edmund.

  The librarian rose quickly and dragged Edmund to the second floor, where he grabbed a book and handed it to the boy without saying anything before returning to his desk and getting back to work.

  ‘Rare diseases. Am I sick?’ Edmund murmured to himself.

  As he turned the pages and began reading, he came across a topic called white hair disease. Which was as simple as the name suggests; it was a disease that caused people's hair to turn white, but what piqued his interest was that it was present in babies; as soon as the baby was born, all of his hair turned white. It only happened with noble families; they could not use magic and suffered extreme pain all over their bodies, but they possessed abnormal strength; painkillers were the only treatment, and most did not pass sixteen.

  ‘Well, I am not in pain, only that day; perhaps it is like being born with the ability to absorb magic like I do with the nail, but to the level of the bracelet.’ Edmund thought to himself as he turned the pages of the book.

  After placing the book back where it belonged, he returned to the first floor. The librarian was both sympathetic to the boy and intrigued by him. Edmund grinned as he got out of the library.

  ‘Now I know what to search for.’ The boy tapped his lips with the point of his index finger.

  At home, he believed that this was the end of his advancements in the experiments; from now on, he was going to perfect the prototypes, and anything new was speculation, just theory and drawings on his tablet. Training his body has limitations, as some moves can’t be done in the warehouse.

  ‘Yeah, I am kind of lost; there is only so much I can do from where I am right now; the only thing I can do is wait for an opportunity.’ Edmund took a deep breath and smiled.