《The Unwanted Overlord》


 The Two Teenagers

    A teenage boy, with medium length dark grey hair tied behind his head with a rubber band was walking down a silent road. He had a small frame and it was hard to tell if he had any muscles under his clothes, it looked as if he had no expression in his face. Also, he was pale, as pale as the moonlight someone could say.


    He had a bag on his back, and a book on his hand, which he was reading. He walked with a purposeful stride despite his small stature. After walking for a while, he approached a bridge, at the end of which there was a girl standing, with hair and eyes as blue as the ocean.


    She had a slender figure, and was almost as pale as the boy. She was wearing a blue blazer with a white blouse underneath it, and a blue pleated skirt which fell just below her knees. It seemed like she was waiting for someone, she too didn¡¯t seem to have any expressions on her face.


    But that quickly changed after she saw the boy, a feeling of euphoria came sweeping across her entire body. Her face expression changed to a smile, her eyes started to seemingly glow, and her overall vibe changed to a happy one.


    ¡°Hey Shin,¡± she called out to the boy.


    However, Shin didn¡¯t seem to care, he still had that empty expressionless look on his face, and then he walked down the bridge like there was nothing there. He blatantly ignored her. But the girl didn¡¯t seem to care, as if she was used to being ignored.


    The girl then followed Shin, on their way to school the girl kept continuously rambling in front of Shin. Shin would however ignore her as if she just didn¡¯t exist there. After a while they arrived at the school.


    It was the best school in Japan. It was known as the hub of excellence with only the most exceptional students having the privilege to study here. This school was famous for having pumped out the future leaders of their society.


    The school was a tall building with 6 floors, it seemed to be a blend of modern architecture and Japanese design. The soft rays of sunlight peeking through the cloudy sky made the school look even more extravagant.


    Normally there seemed to be a sense of warmth and curiosity looming in the school building. But today it had a gloomy and sinister vibe. There were at least a few students walking in the ground and the corridors, but today there were absolutely no one on those places.


    As Shin and Azura entered the building they were quickly met by a surprise, a man wearing black robes covering their entire body except their eyes. He was holding an automatic rifle in his hands


    He was a terrorist.


    The terrorist yelled, ¡°Hey you two, put your hands behind your head, and follow me silently.¡±


    Without a change of expression Shin nodded his head in Yes.


    But the girl, she was terrified, after seeing the terrorist with a rifle. A memory of a man and a woman being shot to death flashed in her mind.


    Her face changed to that of terror, it looked like she was almost about to run away from the terrorist but then, Shin took a glimpse at the girl¡¯s eyes, and her face, almost suddenly seemed calm, it gave the impression of being at peace with the world. It was almost unbelievable how her emotions had a sudden change.


    At that moment Shin thought,


    He would have probably killed her if she ran away, Azura what were you thinking.


    Shin and Azura started following the terrorist through the first floor of the school, the first two floor in their school were reserved for school faculty, but today there were only about 10-15 terrorists moving some sort of boxes inside the faculty rooms, but it was difficult to make out what was inside.


    What could be inside these boxes, Shin wondered.


    At the same time Azura had a smirk in her face, while thinking about how Shin took a glance at her.


    OMG Shin I¡¯m so sorry, if I had run away, he would have probably killed me. But it made you take a glance at me; I¡¯d call that a success.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    The terrorist then took them to the first room of the third floor, where Shin and Azura saw kids around the age of 8 sitting on their benches, with fear on their eyes.


    Inside the room he met another terrorist to whom he whispered something, and left Shin and Azura on his care.


    The terrorist said to them in a dominating voice, ¡°You two don¡¯t say a single word and go sit with those kids got it¡±.


    Shin nodded his head, and Azura said in a faint voice, ¡°Yes.¡±


    The terrorist¡¯s voice changed from and domination one, to a voice filled with disgust and he said, ¡°oh what did you say little girl, I didn¡¯t hear you.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± replied Azura in a slightly louder voice.


    The terrorist yelled out, ¡°but didn¡¯t I tell you not to say a single word girl.¡±


    The terrorist violently grabbed Azura¡¯s hands, looked at Shin and said voice, ¡°don¡¯t you dare move, get it kid.¡±


    Shin stared at the terrorist with neither a face of anger, nor a face of fear. Then the terrorist pulled Azura near the writing board on the class, and threw her on her knees.


    Then the terrorist pointed his rifle on her terrified face from the front, at that movement the Azura¡¯s eyes met Shin¡¯s eyes and the girl, though terrified, smiled at Shin¡¯s face.


    Good Bye Shin, ¡°thought the girl.¡±


    Shin, maybe for the first time in his entire life, changed his expression, to an expression of care,


    ¡°Azura!¡±


    His mind went blank and he charged at the terrorist.


    When the terrorist noticed Shin charging at him, he fired his rifle at Shin, and shot him in the guts. While the terrorist was shooting Shin, only about 5 bullets had been shot, when Azura chocked him from behind.


    Shin with blood flowing out from his guts, went to help Azura since the terrorist was too strong for Azura to handle alone.


    As Shin was grabbing the terrorist¡¯s arms he shouted, ¡°Azura don¡¯t leave his neck.¡±


    Azura replied, ¡°Yes Shin.¡±


    Just after Shin and Azura had strangled the terrorist, the whole class went into a state of panic. Most of the children ran out of the class. As they were running out of the class, the accomplishes of the terrorist noticed them.


    After that all that could be heard was the sound of gun shots and loud screams of the children being murdered mercilessly, the sound stopped after about 2-3 minutes.


    An acrid stench of blood loomed in the school corridors, it seemed to emanate from the bodies of the kids killed by the terrorists.


    While this was happening Shin and Azura were still chocking the terrorist, they both didn¡¯t seem to be bothered by, neither the loud sounds nor the noxious smell of the blood and gore. Unlike the kids who didn¡¯t run away from the class, they were shivering in fear and vomiting because of the foul smell of blood.


    Just when the shooting stopped, the terrorist who was being chocked by Shin and Azura went unconscious.


    He was dead.


    After killing that terrorist, Shin let out a sigh of relief, but then he felt a throbbing pain on his gut. Azura saw the bullet wounds on Shin¡¯s gut and the blood flowing out of it. She asked Shin with a loud yet concerned voice,


    ¡°Shin! are you okay, wait don¡¯t move let me try to stop the bleeding.¡±


    Shin nodded his head, and Azura tore the robe of the terrorist who they just killed to tie around Shin¡¯s gut.


    While she was doing this, the other terrorists quickly came to the classroom they were in, Shin tried to back away with Azura, but because of the pain he fell on the ground. Azura panting tried to pull Shin away from the terrorists.


    The terrorists laughed at their feeble attempt to escape, one of the terrorists went to check on the man Shin and Azura had killed.


    ¡°He¡¯s not breathing,¡±


    As the terrorist who went to check on the man said this, all the terrorists grew really angry. One of them went up to Shin and Azura. Grabbed them both by the hair and yanked them upright with brutal force. A crimson stream of blood gushed down from Shin¡¯s guts.


    Azura shouts, ¡°noooooo leave Shin alone you monsters, leave Shin alone or I¡¯ll kill you.¡±


    ¡°Shut up you little,¡± the terrorist yelled at Azura and kicked her in the gut, which caused a lot of blood to ooze out from her mouth.


    She let out a scream on pain.


    ¡°Don¡¯t touch h-¡­¡±


    The terrorist punched Shin in his gut and said, ¡°Oh little boy, you really care for your girlfriend do you, then how bout we kill both of you together.¡±


    Then, one of the terrorists said, ¡°Hey weren¡¯t they trying to reach the window before, let¡¯s throw them out of the window.¡±


    After saying these words, the terrorists grabbed Shin and Azura and said to them, ¡°NOW DIE YOU BASTARDS.¡± Then they threw them both out of the window.


    As Shin was falling down the window, all Shin had in his mind was,


    I¡¯ll kill them, how dare they lay hands on Azura, I¡¯ll kill them, KILL THEM, KILL THEM, KILL THEM, KILL THEM, KILL THEM, KILL THEM, KILL THEM.


    Azura more or less had the same thoughts on her mind, but there was another minor thing she thought,


    Shin really cares for me, He cared for me, OMG SHIN CARED FOR ME.


    When their body met the ground a loud sound of blood splatter could be heard, their bodies fell on top of each other and blood oozed out from their bodies in a rapid stream.


    As they felt their consciousness fading on the final moment, both only thought of each other,


    Then they died.


    .


    .


    .


    .


    .


    After what seemed like moments to Shin, He felt his consciousness returning and before even opening his eyes he screamed,


    ¡°Azura!¡±


    After opening his eyes, before getting up he crawled in his feet to find Azura whom he found about 5 feet away from her, he didn¡¯t focus on the surroundings so he couldn¡¯t tell what was there except Azura, but then a tall dark feminine shadowy figure appeared in front of them and said,


    ¡°So, you¡¯re finally awake kiddo.¡±

 The Goddess

    Shin, after seeing the fa?ade quickly backed away holding Azura and asked it,


    ¡°Who are you, and where am I tell me.¡±


    The darkness covering the fa?ade quickly vanished, revealing a middle-aged tall woman wearing a majestic looking light pink gown. Her long pink hair was the same color as her clothes, but her face it was covered in a bright shining light, she had an aura of mystery and intrigue.


    She replied to Shin, ¡°I¡¯m the goddess of your world, and you two are dead.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m dead, and you¡¯re a goddess seriously now is this some sort of a fairytale.¡±


    At that moment Shin thought, but she might be telling the truth, there is no way I fell from 3 stories high and survived without a scratch, Azura¡¯s here too, I¡¯ll believe her for now.


    Suddenly Shin heard a faint voice,


    ¡°Shh- Shin.¡±


    ¡°Azura,¡± Shin exclaimed,


    ¡°You¡¯re awake, how are you feeling, are you feeling fine you¡¯re not in any pain are you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine Shin what about you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m fine don¡¯t worry.¡±


    Azura glanced around, and saw that the ground seemed as if it was made of clouds, then she saw the goddess. Azura panicked, asked Shin, ¡°hey who¡¯s that women Shin, and what is this place.¡±


    ¡°Stay calm Azura, I too have no idea where we are and that woman, apparently she¡¯s a goddess and were dead.¡±


    ¡°Were dead! How can that be, we are right here.¡±


    The goddess interrupted their conversation, ¡°Hey you two there¡¯s not time for chit-chat, I have a hefty schedule.¡±


    Azura and Shin went quiet and looked at the goddess¡¯s face.


    She doesn¡¯t have a face, thought both of them.


    Shin asked the goddess, ¡°why did you bring us here.¡±


    ¡°Why did I bring you here you say, that¡¯s funny; because you two came here on your own.¡±


    ¡°On our own?¡±


    ¡°Yes, when you two died your spirits drifted here, normally they would go to another place I can¡¯t tell you about, even I haven¡¯t heard of such an event taking place in history.¡±


    ¡°Our spirits drifted here, so what will you do to us now, send us back to the place you mentioned.¡±


    ¡°That is what I should do but, it would not be very interesting, what should I do... how about I reincarnate you into another world.¡±


    ¡°Reincarnate!¡± yelled out Azura.


    ¡°Yes, if you two wants, I can reincarnate you two into a new world, or I can send you two where other spirits go after dying¡±.


    Azura¡¯s eyes glamoured as soon as she heard, that they could be reincarnated.


    ¡°What do you benefit from reincarnating us goddess,¡± asked Shin in a suspicious voice.


    ¡°Nothing just entertainment,¡± said the goddess with a grin.


    ¡°I¡¯ll accept your offer in one condition.¡±


    ¡°What is your condition.¡±


    ¡°You have to grant us each one wish, don¡¯t worry we won¡¯t ask for something outrageous, so do you accept our condition.¡±


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    ¡°Okay, I accept it, I will grant your wish if it¡¯s reasonable that is. Before that though, let me tell you a few things about the world you two will soon call your home.¡±


    Shin thought, I¡¯m surprised she accepted our condition, there must be a reason a literal goddess is complying demands of just some mortals.


    The goddess started explaining them about the new world.


    After about 30 minutes.


    Shin said, ¡°So basically what you are telling me that there¡¯s something in the world called Ray that can be used to do things like magic as we call it, and we will be reincarnated away from each other.¡±


    ¡°Yes, that basically sums up the highlights of what I told you.¡±


    ¡°Everything is fine, except us being far away when we get into the world,¡± said Shin.


    ¡°Shin is right! why can¡¯t you have us get there together, aren¡¯t you supposed to be a goddess,¡± Yelled out Azura.


    The goddess clarified, ¡°I am a goddess, but not of that world you know, I cannot just do what I want there.¡±


    Shin thought, I don¡¯t think she¡¯s lying, but how will we find each other in a world 100x the size of earth, wait didn¡¯t she say something about (Some sort of op school training).


    ¡°Well, if there¡¯s nothing you can do then, its fine.¡±


    ¡°But Shin!¡±


    The goddess said, ¡°So if that¡¯s clear, then what do you two want your wishes to be.¡±


    Shin asked Azura, ¡°So what are you going to ask for Azura.¡±


    ¡°Before that, what about us teleporting differently there. How will we meet in such a huge world.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I have a plan.¡±


    ¡°Okay then Shin, I trust you, and about the wish I don¡¯t know what about you.¡±


    ¡°I have thought of what I want.¡± As Shin said this he approached the goddess, faced her head on and said,


    ¡°Goddess, I want you to increase my learning rate to maximum.¡±


    ¡°Learning Rate?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I want you to make it so I learn everything as fast as possible.¡±


    Goddess exclaimed, ¡°That¡¯s a rather interesting wish, but its doable. Wish granted, well now girl its your turn what do you want be quick.¡±


    Azura thought, what I want, what I want is to be helpful to Shin, I want to stay with Shin FOREVERRRRR¡­... but I can¡¯t say that in front of Shin can I. Okay I know what I want.


    ¡°I want the power to be helpful to Shin,¡± said Azura.


    Goddess laughed, ¡°You two are really interesting, Wish granted.¡±


    ¡°You sure you want that Azura, ¡°asked Shin.


    ¡°Yes Shin, I¡¯m sure.¡±


    ¡°Well, whatever.¡±


    ¡°So, you two shall I reincarnate you now.¡±


    ¡°Wait 5 minutes,¡± said Shin.


    ¡°You know who is standing in front of you right, be a bit scared at least. Fine just 5 minutes though.¡± Said the goddess in an annoyed voice.


    Shin went close to Azura and told something to her in her ear.


    After about 5 minutes.


    ¡°Were done, you can reincarnate us now.¡±


    Azura nodded her head too, and came to stand close to Shin.


    ¡°So finally done you two, have fun in your new world.¡±


    As the goddess said this, she put a cut on her index finger with her thumb¡¯s nail and a drop of blood fell on the ground. Then a crimson red circle formed around Shin and Azura this shocked them


    Azura said to Shin, ¡°Be safe Shin.¡±


    As she said this both vanished along with the crimson red circle.


    After they both had vanished the goddess said something, ¡°So these were the kids Lyca talked about at the Banquet, I wonder what he saw in them to go as far as to disobey his orders.¡±


    .


    .


    .


    The crimson circle reappeared at the outskirts of a dense forest, with Shin standing on it. As Shin opened his eyes, he saw a forest in front of him, covered in lush green vines, behind him was a hill covered in hay colored grass. A light gust of wind stuck Shin from his left the scenery was truly calming.


    ¡°So, this is the new world, I wonder where Azura is.¡±


    As Shin said this suddenly, he heard a loud sound of an explosion, coming from the next side of the hill. Then suddenly a bunch of little leafless trees came walking from the forest behind him, the little trees were blackish brown in color, they had some sort of liquid oozing out from them which melted everything it met.


    He thought, what are these things, they are everywhere.


    Shin quickly ran towards the hill, and the little trees followed him when he reached the top of the hill, he saw something terrifying.


    Meanwhile in another place far away, Azura was laying down a flower bed, at a field of grass. As she opened her eyes, she quickly yelled out ¡°Shin!¡±


    A person came running to Azura as she said this, Azura couldn¡¯t make out their appearance, as her vision was blurry for some reason.


    All Azura could see was that the person had extremely long pitch-black hair, and a feminine appearance, she had an overcoat of sort on and a long black pointed hat she asked Azura, ¡°Hey, you awake girl.¡±


    Azura quickly got up and backed away, she asked the woman, ¡°Who are you!¡±


    The woman replied frankly, ¡°Don¡¯t worry little girl, I¡¯m not planning to hurt you or anything.¡±


    After hearing these words, Azura suddenly felt dizzy and her vision completely blacked out. She fell on her back on some grass and let out a faint voice saying, ¡°Shin...¡± She blacked out.

 New Acquaintances

    In front of the hill there was another tree, it too was alive and its appearance was almost identical to the one¡¯s those were following Shin, except its size. This tree was at least as tall a 20-story building, it had a sort of a face carved on it, which appeared as if it was screaming. The tree was fighting something, they were humans, 4 of them, 3 woman and a man.


    The man and a woman were close to the tree. The man was attacking the bottom of the tree with a long sword, the long sword was emitting out flames every time the he struck with it, he was running around from all sides swinging at its trunk, with no visible damage.


    The woman was swinging a scythe at the tree with flames emitting from it too, as she was attacking her whole body was swinging, and rotating with her scythe. The scythe was twice her body size, but she had no trouble leaping huge distances while wielding it.


    From just safe enough distance, 2 women were present holding staffs. One of them had a blue staff while the other had a red one. Both the women raised their staffs above their heads, and conjured up a huge orb of half fire and half water. They pointed the staff towards the tree, and shot the orb of half fire and half water at it.


    It struck the tree creating a huge explosion, water was released from that explosion, which soon turned into sharp blue spears and struck the tree. But there was no damage to the tree, suddenly the giant tree stuck the man holding the long sword with one of his branches, and he flung far away from the battlefield.


    The little trees were still following Shin from behind, so he had no choice but to run down the hill.


    He thought, what do I do, there¡¯s nowhere to run. Wait! Maybe I can try to copy the orb that those women were using, my learning rate was raised to the maximum by the goddess, so I might be able to do it.


    Shin ran as fast as he could to make some distance between him and the little trees. The women holding the blue staff noticed him. After he got far enough form the trees, he took a stiff stance, closed his eyes, and began thinking about the orb. He visualized even the little details of the orb like the way water flowed and how the flames were raging.


    Suddenly a large ball of fire pitch black in color appeared in front of him, it was even larger than the one conjured by the women before. The orb seemed to absorb everything it encountered, ¡°Okay, focus.¡± But he couldn¡¯t move it, so he raised his hand in front of his face and somehow he gained control of it.


    Everything from Shin taking a stiff stance, to him raising his came so naturally to Shin. As he had been training for it since birth.


    ¡°The little ones first.¡± After saying this he faced the little trees and black flame came out of the orb. As they struck them, they suddenly vanished into thin air. Not even their ashes remained, the giant tree¡¯s attention was now directed towards Shin. It started moving towards him.


    ¡°Now it¡¯s your turn.¡± He faced the tree and thought of gathering all the ray in the air. The Orb grew bigger and bigger, it was now more than twice its previous size. He shot a continuous stream of fire on the tree, but it too attacked Shin, a giant light green orb appeared on top of the tree, it was twice the size of Shin¡¯s orb. Then it directed the entire orb at Shin.


    As the fire met the green orb, the flow of flame from Shin¡¯s orb grew faster. All the light in the surrounding turned into darkness, the fire completely engulfed the green orb and was heading towards the giant tree. The woman with a scythe quickly backed away to the other two women.


    ¡°What is this Lapis?¡± she was baffled by the fire.


    ¡°I have no idea,¡± replied the woman she called Lapis.


    Shin started to tense his arms up, the entire orb was now moving towards the tree. It overpowered the green orb and absorbed it completely. It started spinning around the tree like a death spiral, loud terrifying screams were coming out from the tree. It was as if thousands of people were screaming in anguish, the tree attacked himself by conjuring a new orb to get rid of the fire. But it was of no use, the tree started disintegrating from the top and eventually was burnt completely not even leaving ashes behind.


    Shin let out a huge gasp and started breathing heavily, he was barely standing on his foot, the 3 women ran to Shin quickly.


    The woman with the scythe got to him first and supported him, ¡°Hey, you fine mister quick Lapis cast ray recovery.¡±


    ¡°On it,¡± replied Lapis as soon as she got there. She waved the staff on a circular motion around Shin and chanted, ¡°Ray Recovery.¡±


    Suddenly his heavy breathing stopped and he felt energized, it was like a miracle. Shin could stand on his own so he pulled away from the woman with the scythe.


    ¡°Thank you for your help, were really grateful.¡± said Lapis.


    ¡°I thank you too mister.¡± Said the woman with the scythe.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I forgot to introduce ourself, I am Lyra,¡± said the woman with the Scythe, she had a small stature and had long black hair. She held her scythe very firmly with a single hand, the scythe she was holding was twice or thrice her size. But she had no trouble holding it, she was wearing a black mini skirt reaching her thighs and black stockings. Also, she had a petite figure.


    ¡°I am Lapis,¡± said the girl who had the blue staff, she was wearing the same garments that Lyra was wearing, only difference was that her clothes were blue colored. Her hair was almost like Azura¡¯s, ocean blue, but not as bright of a shade as Azura¡¯s.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    Lapis called out the girl with the red staff, ¡°come here Flaine.¡±


    She came near and said hesitantly and a bit rudely, ¡°I¡¯m Flaine.¡± She too was wearing the same clothes just colored red. Her hair was red with the end of them being dyed bright orange.


    Shin said in a cautious voice, ¡°I¡¯m Shin Kite.¡±


    He has a surname, thought Flaine.


    Lapis asked Shin in a curious and intrigued voice, ¡°What was that ray that you used before, I¡¯ve never even heard of ray involving black flames.¡±


    Should I tell her, I don¡¯t really have a choice, thought Shin.


    ¡°I use the same Ray that you two were using.¡±


    Flaine¡¯s eyes widened upon hearing that. ¡°You used the same ray we were using, that¡¯s impossible it was something that my father taught me himself, no one else should know how to use that.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know how to use it before, I just copied what you two were doing.¡±


    ¡°Copied, hah like any one can do that.¡±


    Lyra intervened, ¡°that¡¯s enough Flaine shouldn¡¯t you be grateful that he saved our lives.¡±


    ¡°I agree with Lyra on this one,¡± said Lapis.


    Flaine looked away angry.


    The man who was flung away by the giant tree came running, he was wearing medieval looking armor and had short black hair.


    ¡°Hey what just happened there, what were those black flames.¡±


    Lapis said, ¡°Hey Kasogi, this is Shin Kite he was the one who defeated the tree.¡±


    Kasogi greeted Shin and thanked him for saving their lives.


    ¡°I am Kasogi, thanks for saving us.¡±


    Shin nodded his head.


    Lapis asked Shin, ¡°Shin what were you doing here, in the middle of nowhere.¡±


    ¡°I was travelling to the capital.¡± Replied Shin.


    ¡°To the capital, were going the same way if you want you could travel with us.¡±


    Travelling with them would be safer than going alone also, I need to know more about this world.


    Shin replied, ¡°I would be grateful if you would let me travel with you.¡±


    ¡°Well, its settled then you are coming with us to the capital, you guys don¡¯t mind do you.¡±


    ¡°No, not at all,¡± replied Kasogi.


    ¡°I too don¡¯t mind him travelling with us,¡± replied Lyra.


    ¡°I do mind that,¡± said Flaine.


    ¡°Well, Majority wins, so Shin will be travelling with us. Now let¡¯s collect the drops.¡±


    All of them went to where the giant tree had burned to crisp, there was a black circle engraved in ground there. Lapis went close to the black circle and said, ¡°Drop collect.¡±


    Suddenly 3 things fell to the ground one of them was a stone, with something engraved on it in green, the other was a Staff made of wood it had a green aura to it and the third thing was a bracelet it was different from the other things, it had a black color and an ominous aura radiating from it.


    ¡°Take any one of them, after all you were the one to kill the tree.¡±


    Shin thought, oh these must be the item drops that the goddess was talking about.


    ¡°What does these things do,¡± asked Shin.


    Lapis replied, ¡°Let¡¯s see, I think the rune stone increases your ray output when you use grass ray, the staff does the same but you need to have it on you at all times, and the bracelet should help with your ray manipulation skills.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll take the bracelet then.¡±


    Shin picked up the bracelet up from the ground and wore it on his left hand, the aura radiating from it stopped, but Shin didn¡¯t feel anything weird.


    Kasogi went over to the other two things and drew a circle, by using some purple powder and their size decreased.


    ¡°That¡¯s settled I think we should find a place to lay down for a bit, all of us are pretty tired after all.¡± Said Kasogi.


    ¡°I concur, then Kasogi you lead the way.¡± Said Lapis.


    In another place, in a room Azura was lying on a bed. There was a single bed on the room and a closet, there was a door on the front of the bed and a window on its back. There was another door in the room, which was closed.


    The woman who Azura saw before was on the other bed sitting with one of her legs on her lap, while looking out of the window. Azura couldn¡¯t see before but she had a tail which was wiggling to the beats of her humming, and also, she had hair like a cat which were possibly hidden under her hat before.


    Azura opened her eyes again, and tried to get up. The woman quickly notices and went to her, ¡°So, you feel better now girl.¡±


    Azura¡¯s vision was still blurry, but she was feeling better now. She got up quickly and stood cautiously.


    ¡°It¡¯s you again, where am I, and why did you bring me here.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t hurt you, I saved you two times you know, you can call me Norn, I¡¯m a cat woman.¡±


    She helped me, what should I do. Should I trust her, I don¡¯t know. For now, I should thank her for that.


    ¡°Thank you for saving me miss.¡±


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing.¡±


    Suddenly the closed door opened, and a little girl about 8-year-old came out of the door. She was wearing a brown skirt with a white blouse. She had black hair about the length of her shoulder, with her face was innocent wand gloomy.


    Norn went behind her back, grabbed her shoulders, and said, ¡°This is my little sister, Mira.¡±


    Azura introduced herself, ¡°Hii, Mira I am Azura.¡±


    Mira didn¡¯t reply, she walked to the bed and sat on it.


    ¡°I¡¯m going out, you two stays here. Azura take care of Mira for me would you.¡± Norn came close to Azura and whispered in her ear, ¡°She¡¯s a little shy, so be friendly with her would you.¡±


    Azura nodded her head in yes, and Norn went out of the room. After her leaving Azura laid down on the bed and glared around the room, where she saw some books laying on the floor. Her vision was still blurry but she could at least read their cover. It read, ¡®Fundamentals of elemental ray.¡¯


    She thought, I can read these books. Even though they are not written in my language, is that because the goddess did something to us.


    Azura got up and asked Mira in a friendly and calm tone, ¡°Hey Mira, could you tell me where the bathroom is.¡±


    Mira pointed towards the door she came from, ¡°Okay, thank you.¡± Azura then went inside the bathroom, it was small and just had a toilet and a bucket full of water. Azura got some water from the bucket and washed her face with it.


    I hope you are doing okay; Shin I¡¯ll try my best to meet you. But for now, I think I should ask for these people help.


    She came out of there soaked and asked Mira, for something to wipe her face with Mira pointed towards a towel and Azura wiped her face with it. Azura sat beside Mira and asked her, ¡°So Mira, you like reading.¡±


    ¡°Hmm.¡±


    ¡°What are you reading?¡±


    Mira replied in a faint voice, ¡°It¡¯s a book about history of the 7 lords.¡±


    ¡°It sounds interesting, you know I like reading about history too. Can I read it with you?¡±


    ¡°Yeah sure,¡± replied Mira in a slight cheerful voice.


    Meanwhile Norn was out in the wild, hiding in bushes tailing a giant spider, she was like a Lion hunting its prey. The spider was 3-4 times Norn¡¯s size, and Norn was taller than the average male, but she didn¡¯t have a hint of fear.


    The spider was black and had tiny hair all over her legs. It had bright red eyes and was scouting a stone with its legs.


    As soon as the spider stuck its first leg on the rock, Norn jumped at it with her long sharp frozen paws. It was over before the spider could even react; the spider was dead.


    Then Norn made her way up the top of the spider¡¯s body and sat there with her legs crossed, she murmured to herself, ¡°I hope that Mira¡¯s at least conversed with Azura, I¡¯m worried about her.¡±


    In the capital city far away, a man was watching a group of approximately 200 teenagers fighting each other, the man¡¯s face was not visible because of the darkness. All that was visible were his long red hair reaching his pelvis.


    The fight was fierce, there might even be some dead kids among them. The man noticed 7 of them dominating the fight, he said to himself, ¡°these 7 are actually not that bad, this year might be interesting.¡±

 Mentors

    The group of 5 people were walking on a poorly paved road, you couldn¡¯t even say the road was paved. The soil just had too many people walk on it that it seemed like a paved road.


    Kasogi was leading the group followed by Flaine, Lapis, Shin and finally Lyra.


    Kasogi had a large bag pack on his back, it was reaching his lower thighs and looked heavier than him. It might just be because Kasogi was just 5 feet tall.


    While walking Lapis asked Shin a lot of questions, some were about his race, some about his family and some about his love life. Shin answered some of them, but refused to answer more than half the questions. Lapis really reminded Shin of Azura, not only her appearance but her babbling too.


    ¡°Let me ask you something.¡±


    Lapis got excited at Shin taking the initiative to talk, ¡°Sure ask anything.¡±


    ¡°Do you know about the Persephone academy?"


    ¡°Persephone academy, why do you ask?¡±


    ¡°I want to get in.¡±


    At his response Lapis made a somewhat happy face and spoke excitedly .¡°Well, you are in the right hands. Because I also want to get in.¡±


    ***


    ¡®The Guild¡¯ was the sign written on the 2-story building which had a medieval architecture, it was old and was made from spruce wood. Norn entered the building holding fangs of the large spider she had killed.


    Interior of the guild was mostly made of wood, on one corner there were wooden table and chairs, and on the other corner there was a large wooden board hanging, with several things written on it.


    At the front of the hall, there were 3 women standing with in different sections, Norn went to the woman on the right and gave her the fangs.


    ¡°The task¡¯s done, hand over the rewards,¡± said Norn with confidence.


    ¡°Okay the 3-star monster ¡®low void spider¡¯ has been slain by Norn, here are the rewards.¡± Said the woman on the reception, while handing Norn 2 shiny silver coins.


    Norn grabbed the coins and went to the second floor of the hall; she was looking for someone. ¡°Ah, there you are,¡± she said as she saw the person.


    In the room where Azura was currently staying, she was reading a book alongside Mira. The girl who didn¡¯t even glance once at Azura before was now completely relaxed, and talking with her. Mira looked really happy reading her the book, since Azura still had couldn¡¯t see clearly.


    Azura was outstanding at understanding other¡¯s feelings and conversing with people. Although she did not care much about talking to people other than Shin, who never replied much.


    ¡°And then, the strongest of the lords rose up from his throne.¡± Mira read out to Azura.


    After a while Mira stopped reading, and kept the book aside to go to the bathroom. While there she said to herself with a smile, miss Azura is really nice.


    Mira returned after around 5 minutes, as she sat on the bed Azura asked her. ¡°Mira, do you know about the Persephone academy?¡±


    Mira replied normally, ¡°Umm yeah, there¡¯s nobody who doesn¡¯t but why do you ask miss Azura?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just because I want to get in the academy?¡±


    ¡°Really, but it¡¯s like super hard to get in-.¡± As Mira was speaking Norn loudly opened the door from outside.


    ***


    Lapis continued talking, ¡°Not only me Flaine also wants to get in.¡±


    Shin glanced at Flaine then asked Lapis,¡°Then you must know about how to get in.


    ¡±Lapis nodded her head happily. Then Shin spoke, ¡°Can you please help me get in too.¡±


    Lapis was surprised by Shin polite tone to speech, she replied, ¡°I will help you get in, but at one condition. You will have to be my student.¡±


    At her words Shin thought, she wants me to be her student, why? But this is a good opportunity to learn more about this world, and also to get in the academy.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.¡°I¡¯ll be your student,¡± replied Shin in a serious tone


    At Shin¡¯s words Lapis started smiling and got excited. Then the Lyra yelled out in a angry tone, ¡°You two, you don¡¯t plan on going together or what.¡±


    They had stopped walking after they started talking about the academy. Shin started walking and Lapis followed his trail.


    While walking Lapis spoke to Shin, ¡°Since you¡¯re my student, now you¡¯ll call me teacher.¡±


    Shin nodded not minding it, ¡°Why do you want to get in¡­ Teacher.¡±


    At Shin calling her teacher she made a satisfied face and answered, ¡°Me? I want to work as an instructor there, and if you are wondering Flaine there wants to study there because of her father.¡±


    Lyra¡¯s father she mentioned her when I used the orb. Thought Shin.


    Kasogi stopped walking and told the others; you guys we should rest by that hill and eat. There¡¯s a large tree there for shade too. Lyra yelled out ¡°Yess!¡± as she was tired of walking, and the others nodded too.


    As they settled down beneath the tree, Lapis and Lyra laid with their backs on the grass beneath the tree. Flaine said down with the support of the tree, Shin also sat down on the grass.


    Kasogi put his bag down and took out a grill of sort. He also took some cooking essentials out the bag and some meat; it was frozen and didn¡¯t look that appetizing.


    Shin was wondering if the grill fit in his back because of ray, as he was thinking Lapis got up from the ground and stood in front of him.


    ¡°Dear student, let¡¯s have our first lesson.¡±


    ***


    ¡°I¡¯m home girls,¡± said Norn with enthusiasm, Norn saw Azura and Mira sitting close together and a little smile appeared on her face.


    As Mira saw Norn, she made a bit of distance between her and Azura, as if she was embarrassed being seen like that.


    Behind Norn another woman was standing, wearing dark grey trousers of sort with a light grey shirt on. She had the same pointy hat on that Norn was wearing while she first saw Azura in the flower bed. The Woman was short, and had black hair tied to a ponytail.


    She spoke to Norn, ¡°She¡¯s the girl?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± replied Norn.


    The woman came closer to Azura and stared into her eyes, ¡°You really want to get in the Persephone academy.¡±


    Wait, how does she know about the academy. Thought Azura as she got a little nervous.


    ¡°Christina, please don¡¯t make Azura uncomfortable there,¡± spoke Norn from behind in a respectful tone unusual for her.


    The woman she called Christina backed up and went to sit beside Mira.


    ¡°Hi Miss Christina.¡±


    ¡°Hello to you too little Mira,¡± replied Christina.


    Norn came closer to Azura, ¡°Azura, this woman, she¡¯s called Christina."


    Azura greeted Christina then asked Norn in a cautious tone, ¡°But miss Norn how do you two know about me wanting to get into the Persephone academy?¡±


    ¡°Oh that, we beast people possess something called a third eye. It kind of allows us to see into others goals and ambitions of sort, it also helps up to see out fate with that person.¡±


    Azura asked ¡°Does that have to do with how you helped me back then?¡±


    Norn proudly nodded her head, the former looked at Christina and asked her, ¡°Excuse me miss, why did you ask if I wanted to get in the academy?¡±


    Norn replied in her stead, ¡°Azura that¡¯s because Christina was looking for a person to make her student.¡±


    ¡°Teach ray?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just as she said,¡± spoke Christina, ¡°I want a student to teach.¡±


    ¡°You want me to be your student miss Christina?¡±


    ¡°More specifically I want you to be my ¡®official student¡¯ and get you into the academy.¡±


    ¡°But why would you want that?¡±


    Norn spoke up, ¡°Ah, you don¡¯t know. For an instructor to teach in the academy, one of the requirements is a student in the


    academy should claim them as his teacher.¡±


    ¡°I get it.¡± She thought, so she wants me to be the student that will help her become an instructor there.


    Azura got up, stood in front of Christina and bowed down. ¡°I kindly accept your offer to be my teacher.¡±


    Christina spoke, ¡°Good, also I¡¯ll stop teaching you if you don¡¯t have any talent. I don¡¯t want to waste my time; it will be better to find a new student rather than teaching a talentless one.¡±


    ¡°I accept your conditions teacher.¡± Spoke Azura respectfully.


    ¡°Follow me, I¡¯ll see if you are fit to be my student.¡± As she said that Christina with a rapid pace walked out the room.


    ¡°Miss Norn, Mira, I¡¯ll go with her.¡± Saud Azura as she swiftly followed Christina. Norn yelled out, ¡°Have fun kiddo.¡±


    ***


    ¡°Where are we going?¡± asked Shin as Lapis was pulling on his hand while walking down the small hill they were at.


    ¡°We are going for our first lesson.¡± Lapis yelled out, ¡°Kasogi! We will be back in an hour.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t take more time than that,¡± Yelled out Kasogi in return.


    Lapis started rapidly running while holding Shin¡¯s arm with one of her hand, and her staff with other. Shin was quietly running along her thinking ¡®What¡¯s wrong with this woman.¡¯


    Eventually both reached the other side of the hill present in front of the giant tree, on the other side there was a small elevated plain.


    Lapis stopped there and spoke to Shin, ¡°Dear student, time to start with your training.¡±

 Ray

    After leaving the inn Azura and others were at, Christina¡¯s speed slowed down compared to how she walked out the room. Azura was following her from her back, they both were walking on the street.


    As they moved through the streets of the little town, Azura saw many portable shops on the surrounding. There were people sitting on the floor with just a mat, on which were various things like vegetables, utensils and weapons were present.


    Some vegetables were familiar to Azura like potatoes and onions. While most of them she had never seen before. There was also a small medieval merchant caravan selling weapons like staffs and swords. As Azura saw the various things selling on streets, she couldn¡¯t help but let out a little ¡®wow¡¯ sound from her throat.


    After walking for around 5 minutes, they were close to a large gate made of wood. The gate was connected to the large wooden fences in which the town was enclosed. The fences were almost twice as tall as an elephant.


    There were watchtowers every 200 meter of the fences.


    Two people were standing on the gate, guarding it. Before leaving the town, Christina said to Azura in a serious voice, ¡°From now on stay cautious of your surroundings, also try to stay by me. You get it girl.¡±


    ¡°Yes mam,¡± replied Azura in an obedient tone.


    They both went out of the town at the same time, they both were walking on a paved road, Christina at front and Azura closely following behind her.


    They were silently walking, and Azura was thinking ¡®I really need to learn ray from her so I can get enrolled in the academy, and see Shin again. Oh, Shin I wonder what you are doing right now.¡¯


    ***


    ¡°Dear student, time to start with your training.¡± As Lapis said this, Shin nodded his head.


    ¡°Before we start, tell me what you know about Ray my dear student.¡±


    Shin started speaking, ¡°Ray is the staple of this world, everything in this world is made from Ray. For a person to be able to use Ray, he needs to be able to manipulate the Ray present in the air.¡±


    Shin told some of the things told to him by the goddess.


    ¡°Is that everything you know Shin?¡± asked Lapis in a gentle voice.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡®There are some more things the goddess told me about ray, but those things might just be something not known to the general public, it will be safer to tell her just that. After all I can¡¯t fully trust her yet.¡¯ Thought Shin.


    ¡°You must be extremely talented to be able to use the orb just at a glance, too talented in fact only knowing this much about ray.¡±


    Shin just stood there, with a cold expression on Lapis saying that.


    Lapis was standing there thinking something, after about a minute she finally opened her mouth, ¡°Okay, even though you could copy the orb me and Flaine used. We will start from the basics.¡±


    On saying that Azura kept her staff down and raised both her hands to the front, suddenly a water orb size of her palm was floating on front of her. It was light blue in color and was translucent.


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    This orb was different from the one that Flaine, Lapis, and Shin had used before. It¡¯s appearance in front of the orb those three had used before was like comparing a housefly to a hornet.


    ¡°This is the 1-Star Ray called water ball.¡±


    Shin pretended to not know about how stars work and asked her, ¡°1-Star Ray?¡±


    ¡°Let me explain, there are 7 ranks on which the type of ray one uses is classified, from 1-Star to 7-Stars.¡±


    Shin asked her again, ¡°Then what was the star of the Ray I used on the tree.¡±


    ¡°That was a 4-Star Ray, it was a Ray made from combining my 3-Star blue night orb, and Flaine¡¯s 3-Starred sunset orb.¡±


    Lapis continued speaking. ¡°Another thing to keep in mind is one¡¯s manipulation level, there are 3 stages to it.Your ray manipulation skills determine the star of ray one can use. You know dear student you being able to use 4-Star ray is even more shocking, knowing that you were able to handle 4-Star ray while never having used ray before, right now your ray manipulation must be at initial stage.¡±


    ¡°Then what would have happened if I couldn¡¯t handle it?¡± asked Shin in an emotionless voice.


    ¡°There was a high chance that you would die, but thankfully it didn¡¯t happen. For now, don¡¯tusethat ray again.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Shin.


    Lapis then slightly raised her voice and said, ¡°Now dear student, now try to use the water ball ray.¡±


    ***


    The paved road Christina and Azura were walking on, was left behind. They had been walking for 10 minutes when Christina stopped in a slightly elevated plain, and spoke Azura, ¡°To begin your training, what ray can you use.¡±


    Azura replied in a slightly embarrassed and light voice, ¡°None.¡±


    ¡°Then look closely.¡± On saying this, Christina traversed her index and middle finger together through the air in a spiky motion. Causing a small white cloud, the size on one¡¯s face to form from seemingly nothing in front of her. ¡°This is the 1-Star Ray called light cloud, its one of the easiest ray to use. Try to use this by following the steps I did.¡±


    Azura slightly open her mouth seeing this, since this was the first time, she had magical things take place in front of her. She quickly closed her mouth and with a determined expression, did the same actions as Christina. Though nothing happened.


    ¡°It not going to happen in a single try, keep trying.¡± Said Christina as she sat on the ground in an elegant way the cloud she had summoned disappeared into thin air, Azura nodded and started trying again and again. Moving her index and middle finger in an spiky motion, for 5 minutes straight. Still there was no change.


    Christina slightly sighed and said, ¡°Do you even know how to manipulate Ray at a basic level?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t,¡± replied Azura with her head lowered.


    ¡°You could have told before girl.¡± Christina sighed again, ¡°now listen me closely, as you are moving your fingers through the air. Try to consciously gather the ray particles there, as you should know that ray is everyone and everything is made from it in this world. So by moving your hand in the air you collect the Ray present there.¡±


    ¡°The ray particle you collected is connected to the other ray particles, it causes a ripple effect causing some of the ray to be manipulated by you. The more Ray one can collect the higher star ray one can use. Also the more experienced you get at manipulating ray the better you get, now keeping these words in mind get to work.¡± Christina concluded her explanation.


    Azura said, ¡°I think I now understand teacher.¡±


    Azura again moved her fingers in a spiky motion, but this time she was thinking about gathering the ray present in the sky, rather just doing that motion. After trying for 2 times, finally on the third try she succeeded, and a cloud same as the one Christina had made, appeared in front of her face.


    The only difference between the two being that the one made by Azura was more transparent, then the one Christina had summoned.


    Christina was slightly surprised that Azura made a cloud appear on her third try, earlier she didn¡¯t know how to manipulate ray. But after learning that she did it on her third try, one might take a week or two just to manipulate ray, it was quite impressive that she learned that and used a ray in less than 10 minutes.


    ¡°Now try to have bolts of lightning appear from it, like this.¡±


    Saying this Christina made the cloud reappear, and then without her doing anything. A small lightning bolt came out the cloud, the lightning hit a rock located 5 meters away. Its size was as big as a football. But from her attack the small rock was broken into bits.


    Azura¡¯s face had a ¡®wow¡¯ expression on it. Christina kept explained, ¡°To make lightning bolts appear, try to imagine the cloud as another arm of yours. Then from this imaginary arm, think of throwing a dagger or knife at your target.¡±


    Azura was about to speak, but suddenly a voice devoid of any emotion spoke inside her head.


    [Initializing of the ???-Star ray ¡®Helpful¡¯ has been successfully completed.]

 I want to be Helpful to Shin

    ¡°Now dear student, try to use the water ball ray.¡±


    Shin nodded as lapis said this, and put his hands on his front just like her. He closed his eyes and visualized about using the water ball ray the same way he had used the orb against the tree, Lapis was looking at Shin with a smile.


    The water ball just like the one Lapis had conjured up was now floating in his hand. The water orb was translucent with a light blue color.


    ¡°Good job dear student, you did this too in a single try.¡± Lapis was not as surprised at Shin using this ray, compared to him copying the Orb before against the tree. It was because this was just a 1-Star ray, many talented individuals could learn it after a single try.


    ¡°Now dear student, try to shoot out water like this.¡±


    Lapis slightly moved her right hands finger, and aimed at a small tree nearby. A little water droplet shot out from the orb; it was as fast as a 9mm bullet shot by a pistol.


    It hit the tree without any sound, and pierced right through it.


    Lapis explained, ¡°Dear student, to shoot water droplets imagine the orb as a bag with a lot of pebbles. Then visualize throwing that pebble at your target.


    Shin faced the tree with his hands still in front of him, and visualized about throwing a pebble from a pouch full of them. Suddenly a water droplet shot out from the orb, it completely missed the tree and disappeared after 20 meters.


    Shin was slightly surprised seeing this, since water droplet shot, out in an instant, before he could aim. If shooting out water droplet bullets was compared to throwing a pebble, the water droplet shooting out was like the pebble slipping from your hand, just as you were about to throw it.


    Seeing this Lapis said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry dear student. Timing the water droplet takes a bit getting used to, keep on trying until you can hit three consecutive shots at the tree.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± replied Shin with a cold voice.


    ***


    [Initializing of the ???-Star ray ¡®Helpful¡¯ has been successfully completed.]


    These words were echoing on Azura¡¯s head. As it was happening Azura¡¯s vision got slightly more blurred. It Azura the world looked like looking through a car window covered with dense vapor.


    Not knowing Azura¡¯s condition, Christina spoke, ¡°Now, try to shoot the lightning bolt as I did.¡±


    Azura didn¡¯t hear Christina¡¯s words, she felt her vision blur even more and she went unconscious.


    .


    .


    .


    Azura was conscious again, in her surroundings she could not see anything. It was different from what you see when you close your eyes, what she saw was really nothing. If someone was to describe what seeing ¡®nothing¡¯ meant. It would be the same as looking through your toes, you really see nothing.


    There also was complete silence, all her senses seemed to not exist in this world.


    At this moment, she felt as if she was free and was not constricted by anything.


    All our lives, we are in contact with something. Be it a mobile phone, floor. Even your clothes, you are in contact with something all times of your life. Even if you were to be naked, you would still be in contact with the air.


    But at this moment, Azura was not in contact with nothing. Not even herself, this feeling of not touching anything. It was mildly euphoric!


    As humans we naturally have the desire to be free, maybe from the society or our family, friends and peers. We can gain freedom from these things, but there is always one thing you can¡¯t be free from, it¡¯s the feeling of being in contact with something.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    This was the reason she was feeling this feeling of euphoria ceasing through her, that she was not binded by anything


    .


    [What is happening, there was a voice in my head, and then¡­]


    Azura was still having the feeling of euphoria, but she was keeping it in control. A normal person, under this feeling would absolutely loose his sense of self.


    [Master Azura, this is your absolute realm.] A voice came from somewhere in the


    nothingness, it was the same one as before.


    Azura was startled by the sudden voice in absolute silence. But the euphoric feeling made her regain her cool. [Who are you, my Absolute realm?]


    [Master Azura, I am your ???-star Ray Helpful.]


    [Helpful?] Suddenly she recalled the time the goddess was granting her wish, and how she wished to become helpful to Shin.


    The voice replied, [Yes master, I am the skill bestowed upon you by the goddess.]


    Azura thought, it can read my mind! But she also felt at ease knowing this was the skill bestowed by the goddess. So, it should not hurt her, but it was not certain.


    The voice replied [Yes master, due to you not having your body in this world to speak. Only way to communicate is through thoughts, that¡¯s how me and you have been conversing all along.]


    Hearing this she suddenly realized, that she had not been talking this whole time, but just thinking.


    However, Azura was really worried about something, the feeling of Euphoria was still coursing through Azura¡¯s entire body. She was trying hard to suppress the feeling, yet she somehow knew if she gave onto this feeling. She would lose her sense of self, she needed to get out of here quick.


    [How do I get out of here? Also why, did you bring me here.]


    The emotionless voice replied, [Master Azura, the reason you got here is because I, your ???-Star Ray skill just completely manifested into you. The skill needs to stabilize, you will need to wait for at least an hour, according to Earth time until you can leave.]


    Hearing this Azura was worried, since it would too difficult to fight against the feeling of euphoria for even half an hour, let alone an hour.


    [Master, if you are worried about losing your sense of self, please don¡¯t worry. This is your Absolute realm, even if you lose your sense of self it will roam around here, and when you get out to the world outside. You will regain it.]


    Hearing this Azura was slightly relieved, but still she felt a bit at unease. Because she was scared to lose her sense of self, even if she would regain it. A person losing himself, would still be a terrifying feeling.


    But there was nothing she could do about it, so she moved on to know more about this mysterious skill.


    [Since you are my skill helpful, what is your use.]


    [As my name applies, I am helpful. I have knowledge on a lot of things in this world, I can also process things for you and can assist you with almost any task in this world. In earth terms you would call me ¡®Artificial Intelligence.¡¯]


    Azura was pleasantly shocked by this. What she asked the goddess was to be helpful to Shin, with this skill not only she would be extremely helpful. But also, it would be a lot easier to get into the Persephone Academy, so she could finally meet Shin.


    Suddenly Azura had a realization. [If I am here, then what is happening to my body!]


    ***


    After practicing for less than 5 minutes, Shin was now easily able to hit the water droplets with pinpoint precision. Lapis was not surprised by this, since she had already seen Shin do various extraordinary things.


    ¡°Now that you can hit the water droplets well. I think its time to teach you a 2-Star Ray.¡±


    Shin asked in a bland voice, ¡°Sudden jump from 1-Star to 2-Star?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, there is not much of a learning gap between 1-Star and 2-Star. But the gap widens enormously jumping from 2-Star to 3-Star, it keeps exponentially widening from there on. Normally it takes an average person 3-4 months, to be experienced enough to learn to manipulate enough ray to just be able to learn 2-Star Ray.¡±


    Lapis looked at Shin with a smile, ¡°But you dear student, you are extremely talented to be able to use 4-Star Ray with just a glance, so it won¡¯t matter if we jumped straight to 2-Star ray.¡±


    On saying this Lapis gazed at the clouds, they were not many clouds in the sky, just a few small ones. The few clouds at the sky were at their whitest, ¡°The 2-Star Ray you will learn first is, Water-Cloud.¡±

 The Absolute Realm

    ¡°The 2-Star Ray you will learn first is, Water-Cloud.¡±


    Lapis on saying this, grabbed her staff and slightly raised it. A small cloud made from water appeared on top of her staff, ¡°This is the 2-Star upgrade of Water-Ball ray, Water-Cloud ray.¡±


    Lapis explained, ¡°Upgrading a Ray can mean 2 things, first increasing a lower star ray¡¯s star level, this was done to Water-Ball ray. In the second case, it could mean changing the Ray¡¯s area of effect, its damage, needed ray manipulation and there are countless more things.¡±


    Lapis kept explaining. ¡°Dear student, to have water blobs come out the cloud manipulate the ray in your surroundings, then from the ray you manipulated, pour it into the cloud making these blobs come out as a result.¡±


    Azura did this by moving her staff slowly on a circular motion, with staff¡¯s head pointing horizontally towards the water cloud. One could not see but the ray in the surroundings started flowing like a vortex, with its centre being the water cloud. This caused a water blob to appear.


    Although one couldn¡¯t see it, Shin could sense the ray forming into a vortex. Comparing it to how Shin had manipulated ray, one could say that he requested the ray to move, while Azura commanded it.


    He was far from this level of ray manipulation, as of now.


    Lapis slashed her staff at the direction of the water blob that had come out. The blob then split into 2 tiny blobs.


    ¡°This ray is commonly used to create shields, from the blobs. Or you can make basic weapons out of it like a pole, but it is too hard to make something more complex like a bow or even a sword. Also, its impractical considering the blob will disappear as you stop manipulating the ray, causing your meticulously crafted weapon to disappear. And you will have to spend a great deal of time shaping it again. That¡¯s why this ray is one of the weaker 2-Star rays¡±


    Lapis kept talking, ¡°To make the water cloud appear, simply wave your hands vertically like I did with my staff. And then think of condensing the ray present into a water shape. Now dear student, your turn.¡±


    Shin was thinking, ¡®This can be an extremely useful ray at certain times.¡¯


    He then visualised condensing the ray in the air, as she raised his hands. He succeeded in his first attempt; the water cloud had appeared in front of him. He was glad he asked the goddess for increasing his learning speed.


    ¡®My learning speed being raised to the maximum by the goddess, is starting to show its benefits. It was worth it wishing for this.


    Shin suddenly recalled how Azura wished to be help to him. And maybe for the first time in his life, his lips slightly curled up to a smile.


    Lapis saw Shin¡¯s faint smile, and was surprised. Even though Lapis had just met Shin, she still knew that he was not a person who smiled a lot.


    ¡®Try to reach the academy without dying.¡¯ Thought Shin.


    ***


    [If I am here, then what is happening to my body!]


    Her skill answered. [Master the time in this world flows extremely slowly, so the time you spend in this world, should amount to less than a second on real world.]


    Azura was relieved hearing this, but she also was curious about this world, that her skill called her ¡®Absolute Realm.¡¯


    So, she asked it. [Earlier you told me that this is my absolute realm, but what is an Absolute Realm?]


    Her skill replied. [Master Azura, every alive being in this world has their own respective Absolute Realm. But they can¡¯t enter here without any special means, like how you got here due to me. This is a place where one¡¯s consciousness resides.]This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    [I see, but why does time flow so slow here.]


    [Master Azura, that is because of me.]


    [Of you?]


    [Yes, it is because I coexist with you inside your consciousness now, so instead of one. Now there are 2 beings who reside in your Absolute realm, this caused some instability causing time to distort.]


    After all her problems were solved, Azura decided to just give into the feeling of euphoria and get to the real world. Before that there was one last question, she needed to ask her skill.


    [Will you be talking to me, outside this place too?]


    [Yes.]


    After hearing the answer, she completely relaxed her mind. And just enjoyed the feeling, as her consciousness was fading. She wasn¡¯t thinking of anything, except one thing. It was Shin, even after the feeling of euphoria had made her loose herself and everything in this world. She was still thinking of Shin.


    Maybe it was her love for Shin, that even allowed her to remember him after losing herself. Or maybe it was an obsession. Whatever it was, it meant more to her than the feeling of freedom that every human consciously or subconsciously yearned for.


    In less than a minute, she went unconscious again.


    .


    .


    .


    After she regained her consciousness. She was leaning on a black fluffy cloud. As she opened her eyes; she was back in the real world.


    Christina spoke to Azura in a bland tone, ¡°What happened to you girl, you suddenly fell.¡±


    The voice spoke on Azura¡¯s head. [Master Azura, you are back on the real world.]


    Azura had now regained her senses. Her vision was still blurry. As she heard the voice of her skill, and she was glad.


    The feeling of euphoria had disappeared now, and she was feeling completely normal.


    Azura touched the fluffy cloud she was leaning on and then stood upright, ¡°Sorry master, I just felt a bit dizzy and fell.¡±


    Azura said as she was cuddling the fluffy black cloud, ¡°Did you summon this cloud master, thank you.¡±


    Christina nodded with a normal face. All the time Azura had spent on her Absolute Realm, amounted to less than a second in the real world.


    Christina sat on the grass with one of her knees up, and the other one stretched out, the cloud she had summoned disappeared as she sat down. ¡°If that¡¯s out of the way summon the light cloud again, and try to consecutively shoot 3 lightning bolts out.¡±


    ¡°Yes master.¡±


    As Azura was about to do the movements of her hands to summon the cloud, her skill helpful spoke out in her mind. [Master Azura Would you like assistance in using this ray.]


    Azura was curious about the functioning of her skill, so she commanded her skill.


    [Yes, assist me.]


    As she thought this, her hands started moving on their own. Making the spiky motion in elegance, unrivalled from even when Christina had used it before. In her making the spiky motion, there was not even a nanometre of useless movement.


    The cloud was then summoned again, this time it was just like the one Christina had conjured before, it was less transparent than the one summoned by Azura before.


    Although her arms were moving on their own, Azura still felt as they were in complete control of her. She was really happy with how useful her skill was.


    With the use of this skill, she would never have to trouble with learning a new ray again!


    [Master Azura, to choose where you want the lightning bolt to strike. Please think of the location you want to strike, and think to shooting a lightning bolt there. All the other actions are automated by me.]


    [Okay, I¡¯ll strike the rock there.]


    She glanced at a rock, the rock was the size of an average dog, she thought of striking the rock with lightning.


    Crack.


    A lightning bolt hit the rock and caused a big crack to appear on it.


    [Okay two more times.]


    Crack, Crack.


    The lightning bolt hit the rock two more times, causing it to be blown into bits.


    Azura spoke in a cheerful tone, ¡°Master I did it.¡± Azura was really into fantasy novels back on Earth, she also got quite happy when the goddess mentioned reincarnating them. It was natural for her to be excited after using something like magic.


    On Azura succeeding in shooting the lightning bolt 3 time consecutively, Christina was inwardly happy. Since now she found a talented student to teach, it would be easier for her to get in the academy as an instructor.


    Christina got up from the ground and got close to Azura, ¡°It¡¯s time for you first test.¡±


    ¡°Already?¡± Yelled out Azura in a normal, yet slightly nervous tone.


    ¡°Yes, already. For your first test, you will need to bring me 5 corpses of Little Black Saplings.¡±


    ***


    Shin after having summoned the water cloud, clapped his hands together, while thinking of grabbing all the ray in the surrounding. The ray then from both directions shot onto the water cloud. Causing a blob of water to come out from the cloud.


    Seeing this Lapis said, ¡°Neat way of collecting ray into the cloud dear student, it is the most efficient way. Since you don¡¯t have a staff like me, so making a vortex would not be very efficient.¡±


    Shin then chopped at the direction on the blob, causing it to be split onto 2 even halves, each half being the size of a teenage girl¡¯s torso.


    He got closer to the 2 water blobs, and grabbed them both. Even though these were made of water, he could hold them like they were solid. They were also light as feather, he figured that it was because of something related to ray.


    Lapis from where she was standing dispelled her water cloud and the blobs disappeared too, ¡°Dear student, we should head back to the others. We will pick up on this later, the food must be done too.¡±

 Learning a 3-Star Ray.

    A teenage girl, of age around 15 was sitting on a chair reading from a textbook. She was dressed in casuals, and had medium length-messy black hair. Her eyes were droopy, and tired with dark circles under them, she probably had not slept for atleast two days.


    The room she was in was quite average sized, with a bed and a mirror hanging on its wall. There was a closet beside the bed, and other then those things, the room was mostly empty.


    She closed the book and yawned. She got up from the table and jumped onto the bed with her stomach against it, and instantly fell asleep.


    After 4 hours, a woman-probably  in her 20s dressed in maid clothing entered the room. The woman had a smile on her face, with her dimples showing. She had average looks with a average body, the only striking feature about her being her neatly braided blonde hair.


    She held a pair of trousers with a simple white shirt on her arms, and kept them on one corner of the bed.


    The maid then turned towards the girl, who was still asleep, with drool coming out of her mouth.


    "Please wake up, lady Gigi. Mistress Elara is here to teach you." Said the maid to the girl sleeping.


    Even though the girl looked like she was in deep sleep, the instant the maid finished speaking the girl woke up.


    Gigi, got up from the bed, feeling well rested even after only sleeping for 4 hours and yawned, while streching her arms.


    "Mistress Elara is here?"


    "Yes milady, she just got here." Replied the maid.


    "Okay, get me dressed up for the training session."


    The maid nodded and picked up the clothes she had kept aside on the bed and took them to Gigi who was stripping out of her casuals. After she stripped off them, the maid helped the Gigi put on the trouser and the shirt.


    "Hurry it up, I don''t want to keep mistress waiting." Said Gigi in a annoyed voice.


    The maid quickened up her pace and buttoned up Gigi''s shirt. She them went on to Gigi''s messy hair, combed them and tied into a ponytail.


    "It''s all done, milady."This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Gigi, without saying anything hurriedly headed out her room.


    The difference between her room and the outside corridor was of heaven and earth, while her room was simple and bland, the rest of the house was luxury and lavish, with intricate carvings on every door she passed through with the floor made out of high quality dark colored planks.


    Gigi made her way outside the house to her garden, which was large. With water fountains and stone paved path.


    The weather was cloudy, and windy with no signs of sunlight seeping through the clouds.


    Gigi went to a corner of the garden, where a woman was sitting on a chair, sipping tea from a cup. The woman was probably in her 30s and was wearing  a simple white shirt, and trousers the same as the one''s wore by Gigi.


    She had short black hair, with a clear face. Her eyes were closed as she enjoyed her tea.


    "I''m here mistress Elara, sorry if I kept you waiting." Spoke Gigi in a respectful voice.


    Elara kept the cup of tea on the table in front of her and turned to Gigi. "You didn''t keep me waiting at all Gigi, now did you study the books on ray I told you to?"


    "Yes, mistress. I read them completely for the last 2 days."


    "That''s good, with that all the theoretical knowledge you could need for getting into the Persephone academy is completed. We will focus on the practical knowledge and training on using and learning ray now. Understand?"


    "Yes mistress."


    "Then, we''ll get started with you learning your first 3-star ray."


    On saying that, Elara pointed to the ground, and rotated her arm in a unpredictable motion which made the the area at she pointed distort, as if there was extreme amount of heat there.


    Only thing Gigi could do was to look with awe as something terrifying appeared in her vision.


    ***


    Shin and Lapis returned to the rest of the party. They were all standing around the grill Kasogi had set up earlier. The aroma around it was mouth watering.


    "We''re back guys, is the food done?" Yelled out Lapis as she ran to everyone, Shin followed behind her in a normal pace.


    "Yeah, you''ve come at the perfect time." Replied Kasogi as he was serving the meat to others on plates made out of some sort of wood. Lapis and Shin joined in and got the food.


    Lyra, Shin and Lapis were standing together. While Flaine was eating while sitting leaning against the large tree tree. Kasogi was still cooking.


    "Kasogi is a real good cook. Dig in dear student." Said Lapis as she took a bite of the meat.


    "Yeah, he cooks real good. Try it Shin." Lyra added in, as she took a bite as well.


    Shin too took a bite of it, he found the meat to have a different flavour than the one''s he ate in his previous world.


    It''s probably the meat of some new animal that doesn''t exist in my world, he thought as he ate it.


    Taste wise he found the meat to be average compared to what he ate normally, not as good as Lyra and Lapis described it.


    "So, how is it?" Asked Lyra, her face still stuffed with meat.


    "It''s quite alright." Replied Shin normally.


    "Alright huh, that''s a surprising response considering how good Kasogi''s cooking is."


    Kasogi came to them with more food and served them on their plates.   "We should enjoy the food for now, its rare to get such feasting time while traveling."


    Lapis finished her food and tossed away the plate, as soon as she did that the plate turned to dust. "Right, we need to pick up our pace to reach the next town quickly so we can participate in the acceptance exam. It''s gonna be our first step into getting in the academy dear Student."

 First step towards the Reunion

    "The acceptance exam?" Asked Shin.


    "I''ll tell you more about it as we travel, let''s finish eating first."


    After everyone finished eating, Kasogi made a circle around the grill with some white powder again, the same way he had done to the loot collected when they defeated the large tree.


    The grill and other things then shrunk down and Kasogi kept the belonging back in his bag.


    "Let''s continue our journey."


    ***


    "You want me to kill 5 little black saplings?" Asked Azura.


    "Exactly they aren''t that strong, and it should be perfect training for you to experience combat with ray"


    What even are little black trees. Thought Azura worried and confused about this new task.


    ***


    The five of them resumed their journey to the capital. With Kasogi at front followed by Flaine, Lapis and Shin then finally Lyra.


    "So now hear me well dear student, the acceptance exam is a exam that makes you eligible to participate in the official entrance exam conducted at the capital." Explained Lapis as she was walking beside Shin.


    "This exam basically tests if you have to aptitude to use ray, and your basic knowledge of Ray. The acceptance exam is held every year at a random time of that year. While the entrance exam to the academy are held every 5 years."


    Shin was listening quietly as he walked alongside Lapis.


    "The acceptance exam is held at almost every average sized town, so we''re heading to the nearest town which is Alnong. There is about a week left for the exam, and we should reach the town in under 2 days."


    "You said the exam tests my aptitude and basic knowledge on Ray, but what do you mean by those things?" Asked Shin.


    "Well the aptitude part is how talented you are in manipulating ray, so it should be a breeze for you to pass on that... But the basic knowledge part is a little concerning."


    There were hint of worry on Lapis''s tone at the end of her sentence.


    Shin caught that and said, "How basic exactly is the ''basic knowledge''."


    "Well... When considering how infinitely broad ray is, that''s basic knowledge. But people spend years just studying that basic knowledge to pass the test ."


    Oh dear student, please don''t get discouraged hearing that, I will somehow make you pass the test, even if just barely. We''re the thoughts Lapis had on her mind as she told Shin about the exam.


    "Do you have the content that I need to study for the exam?"


    "Yes, yes ofcourse I do. But before that I''ll explain some things you need to know before you study the books, so listen well." Lapis was glad that Shin wasn''t discouraged. Her explanation on basics of ray began.


    "They both seem to be getting along well." Said Kasogi to Flaine. "Tch, why do I care." Came a reply from the latter.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    Kasogi sighed, "Why are you mad at Shin? He helped us before, even if we could have killed the tree on our own, we came out of it without any injuries with his help. That''s more than enough reason to let him travel with us."


    "Even if I didn''t want him to travel with us, not like I''m trying to kick him out our party now. And for some reason big sis has made him her student and is taking care of him dearly."


    Flaine started getting angrier. "I just hate the way he casually said that he copied the ray that father taught me. It was his life''s work."


    "So that''s it, don''t get too worked up over it. Not like he knew"


    "Whatever..." Said Flaine with a pouting face.


    Kasogi lightly chuckled and put his hand on Flaine''s shoulder, though he was shorter than her, so he had to raise him arm slightly.


    "You should focus on the acceptance exam. It''s finally your time to get into the academy."


    "Yeah, I know."


    "And you even have a companion with you for the exam." Said Kasogi chuckling as he pointed towards Shin.


    "Don''t call him my companion." Said Flaine clearly displeased. "Even if he''s participating with me, I don''t want to associate him with me. Not like there is a chance for him to pass anyway."


    ***


    It was afternoon, the sun was just an hour away from setting. A girl was climbing up a small hill while holding some shriveled up twigs. She was panting, and covered in sweat as she made her way to a woman wearing a pointed hat.


    "I''m done teacher, here are the corpses of 5 little black saplings."


    "You got the corpses huh, not bad girl. Let''s go back to your inn, the sun''s about to set."


    "Yes, I understand!" Said Azura in a cheerful voice.


    Christina and Azura started heading back to the town in a slightly fast pace.


    The aptitude exam shouldn''t be hard for her to pass, the basic knowledge test will be troublesome. Thought Christina, while Azura oblivious to the acceptance exam was internally happy.


    That was extremely fun, I can''t believe fighting using ray is this fun. If things go this smooth it shouldn''t be too long until I meet you again Shin.


    [Master Azura, I suggest you absorb the corpses of the little black saplings.] The voice was only inside Azura''s mind.


    [Absorb them? What does that do?] Replied Azura to her skill ''Helpful''.


    [By absorbing them, you can boost the power of your attack when you use the ray of the same kind.]


    [Wait really! So since the little black trees wield grass type ray. When I use grass type ray, the power of my attack will be boosted?]


    [Yes it will, but only for the ray of the same star level as the entity you absorb.]


    [I see, what star level were the little trees? They shouldn''t be more than 1 star considering I was able to defeat them.]


    [Yes that''s true, they are 1 star level entities. So after absorbing them, one of your attack using a 1 star ray with grass speciality will be boosted. With the little black trees, your boost should be about 5%.]


    [5% huh, that''s actually quite huge considering they were only 1 star level monsters. Even though I won''t be absorbing them.]


    [?]


    [It''s because of master Christina, she has the corpses. She said she''ll collect the corpses and of monsters I kill, and use it to buy me gear over time. And I don''t have any excuse either which I can use to ask her for the corpses. Revealing you to others is not a good idea, since you''re a skill from the goddess. Also I don''t even know how to use a grass Ray, so it won''t be that useful anyway.]


    As she was talking with her skill, they had just reached the town''s gate. Which was guarded by 2 people in armor, they had bushy beard with both of them having fat and muscular physique.


    Azura along with Christina passed through the gate back into the town. Curious about the two man, Azura asked Christina.


    ¡°Are the gates open throughout the night?"


    "Of course not." Came a swift reply from Christina. "As the night falls the amount of monsters increases, just two guards won''t be able to handle the monsters. So the gates are closed after the sun set."


    Azura nodded, and they made their way back to the inn without taking much. At the door of the inn Christina said, "I''ll be here tomorrow morning an hour or so after sunrise so be ready, got it girl?"


    Azura nodded with a "Yes mam." And Christina went on her way through the streets.


    Azura made her way inside the inn and saw the place was quite crowded with tables being full of 3-4 people eating their food and chatting away. All of them being human unlike Norn.


    Azura saw the stairs at the right corner of the room which lead to a corridor with doors on left and right side of it. There were 3 rooms on each side of the corridor.


    The corridor was made with wooden flooring of low quality wood with the walls being made of something similar to concrete. The doors were all made of of slightly dark coloured wood.


    "Which one was is again." She muttered as she tried to remember the room in which Mira and Norn were staying. It was even harder to find them since the rooms did not have any numbers or anything else to differ them.


    After a minute or so she vaguely remembered that Christina led her outside through the last room from right.


    "I hope it''s the correct room." She went to the said door and opened it.

 No sleep while travelling

    Inside the room Azura found Norn sitting on the floor with her legs crossed and her hands on her feet. While Mira was on the bed, sitting with her legs bend, and a book on her thighs.


    Norn immediately noticed noticed Azura and raised her hand to greet her, "Hey you''re back? How was the first lesson with Christina?"


    "It was extremely fun, but also tiring." Came a reply from the former, the fact that the lecture was tiring could be deciphered from seeing Azura''s face with dry sweat, and her beautiful blue hair in a mess with dirt on them.


    "Christina is quite harsh on people, but she is good at teaching, just persevere through it."


    Azura nodded and went to sit at the bed beside Mira. A faint voice came from the little girl.


    "You''re back, Miss Azura."


    Azura replied in a cheerful voice, "Yes I am, what have you been up to."


    "Just reading, I don''t have much other things to do."


    Norn smiled seeing Mira talk to Azura,"Go and take a bath. You''re just as muddy as your clothes." She said in her casual tone while pointing to the bathroom.


    Azura was slightly embarassed about her muddy appearance, but then nodded as she got up from the bed and towards the bathroom door.


    "Umm... Miss Norn, I don''t have anything to change into."


    Norn got up, "I''ll set some clothes from the inn. They allow borrowing them if I remember correctly."


    Azura nodded with a "thankyou", and went inside for the bath.


    ***


    The sun was just minutes away from setting beyond the horizon. Shin and others were still travelling. Kasogi stopped and turned to the group. "We''ve covered enough distance for today, let''s set up camp for the night, it''s getting late."


    Others agreed, Lyra came up to the front her scythe still on her hand. "I''ll look for somewhere to set-up camp." With that she dashed off straight ahead with speed almost too fast to follow with the naked eye.


    "What do you look for while searching a place for staying the night?" Asked Shin to Lapis.


    "It depends on the geographical conditions of the area. For these hilly plains, she''ll look for some place like under a large mount, or at a corner of some hill so there is cover from one or two side." Came a reply from Lapis.


    Kasogi turned to Shin, "Is this your first time travelling Shin?"


    Shin nodded, and spoke in his usual bland tone. "I have travelled, but not far enough for the need to set up camp." Shin came up for a excuse to not get suspicious or act too oblivious about this new world.


    Lyra returned about 5-10 minutes later.


    "I found a mound, it''s at the corner of a hill so we have cover from two directions. It should be the perfect place."If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    The party then went to the place Lyra had mentioned and set up a small camp with nothing but some sleeping bags of sorts for all of them, except one.


    "We have them for everyone except Shin." Said Kasogi as he rummaged through his bag. "We''ll have to rotate the sleeping bags of the person who keeps guard with Shin."


    "That''s fine by me." Said Shin.


    Kasogi nodded, "I''m currently staying up guard so you can sleep in mine, next is Flaine and after that Lyra. So you''ll have to wake up everytime the guard switches. Just bear with it for a day or so, we''ll get you one at the next town."


    Everyone got into the sleeping bags close to the mound, with Kasogi sitting down against the mound with his sword struck in the ground, focused on his surroundings.


    My sleep will be interrupted several times tonight, so it''s better to just stay awake and study for the acceptance exam. Thought Shin.


    So he slightly adjusted himself against the mound, taking his body out the sleeping bag, upto his chest. He then turned to Lapis, to ask her for the books she was about to give him.


    All he saw was her peaceful sleeping form with her face covered with the sleeping bag upto her eyes.


    I guess she''s a heavy sleeper. He thought.


    Lyra saw the exchange and said to Shin, "Lapis is always like that, sleeping as soon as she gets in and not waking up easily. That''s also why we don''t have her up for guard duty, since she might just doze off any instant. You wanted something from her?" Lyra asked curiously.


    "The books she was about to give me to study for the acceptance exam." Replied Shin in a normal voice.


    "Oh, you could ask Kasogi for them if you know what books they were, since he keeps all the stuff with him."


    "I don''t, all I know is they were on basics of ray. But she said she''d give me specific books so I could just pass the exam in the short time I have."


    "You could ask Flaine for the name, she must know it but... I don''t think she would answer if you asked her. I''ll ask her for it, don''t worry." Said Lyra happily for some reason.


    Flaine was laying beside Lapis, who was beside Lyra. So Lyra leaned over Lapis, her petite body on top of the blue haired sleeping beauty. "Flaine, you got any idea on what books Shin should study for the acceptance exam?" Lyra asked Flaine with a expectant face


    "Just tell him to study the book with number 32 written on it''s cover in bold letters with the background being bright red." She didn''t love to answer, but did so anyway.


    "Thanks, you''re a big help Flaine." Lyra said in a friendly manner as she patted Flaine''s legs through the sleeping bag.


    She retreated back to her position getting up from Lapis''s sleeping form.


    "She said book with number 32 written on it''s cover, with a red background."


    "Thank you." Said Shin without much expressions.


    Flaine smiled in return and covered herself with the sleeping bag. "I''ll sleep then, I have to wake up for guard duty later. Good night Shin."


    Shin turned to Kasogi who heard their conversation, "you want the book? I''ll get it for you."


    He rummaged through the huge bag which was kept just beside him, and found the book, though it was in miniscule form. The book grew in size when he dusted some chalk that was on it, which he then handed over to Shin.


    It''s not that large, probably around 50-60 thousand words. I can complete it by tonight. Thought Shin as he began his studying. Though the night was dark, he was able to read with the light that was emanated from the ring he got from the large tree he had killed before.


    ***


    Azura was pouring water over her naked form. Her clothes were lying on the ground getting wet along her, and only her undergarments were kept on top of a closet of sorts at the corner.


    The bathroom was quite small, with a tub full of cold water, and a bucket beside it both made out of wood.


    "I hate cold baths, though it''s quite refreshing after how tiring today was." She mumbled to herself.


    "Hey Azura, I''ve got the clothes for ya." Came a voice from outside the bathroom.


    Azura went over to the door and slightly opened the door so only her hand could pass through, "Thanks miss Norn, please hand them to me."


    She got the clothes along with a towel, and closed the door. The clothes were a simple white shirt, with black trousers. They both were perfect fit for Azura. She put them away along her undergarments and continue her bath.


    Azura went over to the tub and rinsed her hair with the cold water, washing off all the dust and grime from her hair.


    After that she grabbed the towel and wiped her slender wet body with it, then wrapped it around her wet hair.


    "I''ll get dressed up then."

 Arrival and Departure

    Shin was sitting in chair, in a  kitchen, eating breakfast comprised of some eggs, toast and bacon. There was a window at the opposite side of him, through which sunlight was seeping into the kitchen making the morning serene and peaceful.


    At the chair front of him, Azura was seated enjoying her breakfast as well, comprised of the same food Shin was eating. As she was eating she shot a glance at Shin, prompting a returning smile at her.


    Although they both were enjoying their breakfast as if just some friends eating, the rest of the kitchen wasn''t befitting of their attitude.


    There were corpses piled up around the kitchen floor, being of childrens around the age of 8. There were  more than 10 corpses, from which the blood was flowing our staining the white kitchen floor.


    "How do you like the breakfast today Shin? I cooked it myself." Said Azura smiling as if the corpses didn''t exist.


    "It is quite good. Although something seems off."


    "About the breakfast?"


    "No, something else. Maybe it is-"


    Shin''s words were cut off as the scene around them disappeared and Azura opened her eyes.


    "Nooo, I was dreaming about Shin today. Why did it have to end so soon." Whined Azura as she got up from her lying position in bed. The sunlight was seeping through the closed windows, giving out a serene atmosphere at the room.


    It had been 3 days since she arrived at this new world. She had gotten quite used to living with Mira and Norn already. Both the previous days, Christina had arrived at the room early morning to take Azura for training.


    Currently it haf been about an hour or so since the sun rose, which means Christina should be about to arrive, but she did not. The reason being that she was already done with teaching Azura about the practical uses of Ray needed for the exam.


    Throughout the 3 days of training, Azura had been a terrific learner, having learner 5, 2-star rays and a dozen or so 1-star rays. Christina had a-rare-pleased expression with Azura learning speed.


    Ofcourse it was thanks to her skill ''Helpful'' though, which helped her learn these rays. For these low star rays, only a glance or two of them being used were needed for the skill to analyse and learn these rays.


    [Master Azura, the dream you had wasn''t a mentally healthy one. The dead bodies could be a sign of the trauma you had from that day.]


    Rembering about that day, had Azura form a sad look on her face. Since it was the day Shin got badly hurt and died but she replied to her skill.


    [Sign of trauma? It doesn''t matter really, i dreamt of Shin tonight! I am extremely happy about that to bother with trauma.]


    There were no further reply from her skill. Azura turned her head to the bed beside her, in which Norn and Mira were fast asleep. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Teacher said I should be okay with the practical knowledge for the acceptance exam. And I should start studying the theory more. So she won''t be returning here until 1 day before the exam." She mumbled as she went towards the bathroom to freshen up for the day.


    Christina had told Azura about the acceptance exam on the second day of their training. She told her the difficulty of this exam with the meagre time they have to study. Thought Azura was not worried because of a certain skill she had-''Helpful''.


    With the help of her skill all she had to do was skim through the information once, and she would be set for the written examination. Though this did not mean she understood and absorbed the information. All it ment was that it would be like having mental cheat sheets. Thus she still had to study to become better at using ray. Though the skill still could be used to pass the exam.


    ***


    Shin and the group had arrived at the town yesterday when sun was high up in the sky. He and the party were tired from the journey so they went to bed early yesternight.


    They had booked two rooms at a inn, one for Kasogi and Shin with two bed. And another room for Lapis, Flaine and Lyra with three beds. They had only booked 2 rooms for two reasons. One  being to save some money. And the other being how it was not safe to sleep alone at a random inn. Since there had been cases of attacks and such with travellers, and their stories were spread wide in the world.


    It was around 8 am, so everyone from the party were awake, everyone except two individuals them being Shin and Lapis. Lapis was a rather heavy sleeper, so the party were aware of her sleep antics.


    "What should we do about them?" Asked Kasogi to Lyra and Flaine, all three were standing outside their room in front of the doors, their rooms were beside each other.


    "Shin has not slept for 2 whole nights, so we should let him catch up on sleep. As for Lapis... I''ll wake her up." Replied Lyra with a grin on her face as she hurried inside the room Lapis was sleeping at.


    "What are your plans for today?" Kasogi turned to Flaine.


    "I''ll check around the area the exam is being held, and explore around the town." Came a reply Flaine. Her angry and annoyed demeanor had gone and there was a faint hint of happiness in her voice."What about you?"


    "I''m thinking to explore around the town too, and selling some items we collected in our journey at the guild." Replied Kasogi with a smile.


    He thought, She seems excited for the exam.


    The door to the room Lapis  was asleep in opened revealing her disheveled form, dressed in simple trousers and a shirt.


    "Good morning guys." She said as she yawned and looked around. "Where''s Shin?"


    "He''s still asleep." Replied Lyra and she came out from the door. "We were all about to head out, so you should go to your ''dear student''s'' room."


    "You all are heading out? Sure, I''ll go to his room then. See you all." Lapis waved her hand and entered the room Shin was sleeping in. Sleepiness clearly evident in her stride.


    The rest of the party headed out too each off to their own ways.


    ***


    Gigi was seated inside a carriage with the blonde maids in the seat front of her. The carriage was tied to two horses, with all of their features black.


    A woman was was talking to Gigi, the doors of the carriage were open. The woman had short black hair like Gigi and a dignified and elegant look to her.


    "Gigi, stay safe on your journey to Alnong town."


    "Don''t worry mother, I will go Alonong, ace the acceptance exam, and be right back under a week." Replied Gigi with a smile.


    Gigi''s mother spoke, "you can always take the exam here dear, you really don''t have to go the next town over."


    "I told you countless times mother, I want to meet new people who''ll be taking the exam with me. Everyone who might take the exam are familiar with me here, the exam won''t be fun at all here."


    Her mother sighed, "I understand dear. But be safe okay, it''s your first time travelling out your town." Gigi''s mother''s gaze turned to the blonde maid. "Make sure to take good care of Gigi, understand Ester."


    Ester got up and slightly curtsied, "I understand milady."


    "Okay, I''ll depart now." Said Gigi as she wanted her mother goodbye and gestured Ester to close the door.


    "Stay safe dear." As Gigi''s mother said this the doors to the carriage closed and the driver of the carriage-a rough looking man with a long beard-made the horses start pulling away the carriage .