《The Prince Of Niflheim》


 Prologue - Ariel Lost

    In a dark alleyway amongst the trash laid a motionless body of a man in a puddle of his own blood. There were sounds of shooting and shouting in the background yet for the man it was all just some incomprehensive noise.


    How did this man end up in this situation? Let¡¯s start from the beginning. The man¡¯s name is Ariel Lost, an orphan from America.


    He was born in year 1987 on 16th of September and this year had reached the age of 27. Arial didn¡¯t know who his parents were from the very beginning of this childhood, but he didn¡¯t even care, from young age he was a child who rarely showed emotions, maybe part of the reason was because of his sickly body he was born with.


    Just running for a few minutes would make him close to fainting. That was the reason he couldn¡¯t make very much friends. Since children at the orphanage would always play active games, which required a lot of stamina and energy, Ariel couldn''t partake in them and was left out..


    However one thing you should remember is that life is always fair. Physical capability that was taken from him was exchanged into a genius mind. Ariel¡¯s intelligence and maturity was comparable to any adults, which made him stand out from the rest of the kids.


    Unfortunately his expressionless face made him unattractive to parents who wanted a cute child. This resulted in him not being adopted all the way until he had to go out to live on his own.


    His school life, apart from his high grades, could be called ordinary. He didn¡¯t have many people he could call friends yet he didn¡¯t have any lack of admirers, Ariel was of average height but his face would be called handsome by any woman, he had short black hair and piercing, cold blue eyes, his entire constitution was feminine and his snow white skin didn¡¯t help.


    Still, towards women his heart was like a block of ice that couldn¡¯t be melted by any fire. Ariel didn¡¯t take interest in any woman, no matter how pretty she was, although he would always decline politely, making sure the other party wouldn¡¯t be too down. So all they could do was to only watch and admire from the side like one does with a beautiful painting.


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    When he finished school, because of certain events he turned to the life of crime. One of the first people he met starting out was Georg Byse. Best way to describe him would be the opposite of Ariel. He had a well built body, go lucky attitude and much experience in theft. His only problem was his lack of planning in his crimes, which actually lead to both of them making a partnership.


    Soon they became S-rank criminals due to their successful thefts. Name given to them was Phantom Duo, it originated from them never being seen during a heist, except of several facts which proved there were two of them.


    But good things don¡¯t last forever. On one of their heists, when Georg returned to the hideout they soon found out that he was tracked, Georg regretted not being careful but it was already too late. The building was surrounded by the police and swat, leaving the only way out of the building the back door.


    They managed to escape easily, but their luck soon ran out. While they were running trough an alleyway the police intercepted them, blocking off the only way they could go. To save his friend, who immediately had a gun pointed at him, Ariel jumped into the way of the bullet, which unfortunately went right trough his heart.


    That¡¯s how we return to the current predicament as Ariel was feeling how his life was slowly draining out of his body and the grim reapers scythe hung above his head. He slowly lost vision, and then only darkness remained.


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    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 1 - New life

    In a dark place surrounded by nothingness Ariel suddenly felt his consciousness return. Unfortunately when he opened his eyes, all he could see was blackness and the only thing he could feel using his other senses was that he was surrounded by something warm while also hearing something like a drum beating in the background. But he didn¡¯t even pay attention to where he was, the only thing his mind was thinking about was how he was not dead. ¡®Didn¡¯t I get shot, is this the after life?¡¯ He thought.


    Well no one could answer his question so the only thing he could do was let his mind wander and listen to the soft drum beats, while waiting and hoping that something happens which would explain what actually happened.


    After an unknown amount of time he felt the walls around him close in almost like trying to push him out somewhere, and with no control of his body he wasn¡¯t able to resist it in any way. All he could do was to stay calm and let it do what it wanted to.


    Soon he was blinded by a bright light and felt the uncomfortable pain that was like having thousands of needles prick you skin. It was definitely not the most pleasant moment of his life, but before he got the time to think about it, he heard a woman''s voice. ¡°It¡¯s a boy, my lord¡±


    Ariel of course was confused, but almost immediately he felt his body being lifted up and in his sight he saw a pretty young girl with both brown hair and eyes. At that moment he didn¡¯t understand two things, first one was, why was the girl so giant that she could lift him up like this, and the second one was, why was she in a maid outfit?


    He felt like this scenario was very familiar to him, but he wasn¡¯t able to put a finger on it. Right at that moment he was turned to face a different side by the girl where saw a middle aged man with a handsome face, green eyes and blond hair. Furthermore, looking at his strange and tight clothes made Ariel feel like the man had a very trained body.


    Yet the expression on his face seemed to be that of disappointment. Ariel still didn¡¯t understand what was happening until another woman¡¯s voice was heard in the room. ¡°Please give me my child.¡± As soon as the voice rang out, the girl in a maid outfit quickly went near the bed where Ariel could now see a beautiful woman with blond hair and blues eyes different from the middle aged mans. Her beauty couldn¡¯t be hidden even byher scattered hair over her sweat drenched face.


    As soon as Ariel was handed to her she embraced him with a smile on her face. Geetin some time to thing, instantly his mind cleared up and he remembered why this felt so familiar. It was like one of those eastern novels about reincarnation he has read before.


    That would mean that the middle aged man and this beautiful woman were his parents while he was just a baby. It would explain why everyone was so big. The only questions left in his mind were how did he get reincarnated and where is this place? The first question was impossible to answer, but the second one was worth looking into, although it was not possible right now.


    As soon as Ariel came to that conclusion he heard his new mother''s words. ¡°He is so cute, but it is a shame that he won¡¯t be able to become strong.¡± She said in a sad tone. ¡°Yes.¡± After saying only a single word his father turned around and started walking towards the door. Before he left he turned around once more to speak. ¡°Have some rest.¡± He said before leaving.


    His his father seemed to be a cold man at first glance, but maybe he is able to show his care only to people important to him.


    After father left, his mother turned to face him once more. She smiled and opened her mouth. ¡°You must be hungry come here.¡± She gently drew him closer into her embrace and let him feed on her milk. After eating Arial felt fatigue washing over him and soon he went to the land of dreams.


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    After a couple of weeks Ariel has gotten used to his new life, his new name was Ariel Whitestone. He didn¡¯t know if it was a coincidence or fate that he had the same name as in his previous life, but it didn¡¯t matter to him as long as it was easier to ge used to. In the past few weeks he found out some more interesting information about his situation. At first he had concluded two options, first one was that he got reincarnated into some old country side place on earth where technology level was extremely low, second one was that he got reincarnated into a whole new world that was similar to medieval times on earth.


    Soon enough his questions were answered, when two maids who were cleaning his room spoke about a monster attack in some village. Monsters weren¡¯t something that existed on earth, so the only conclusion left was that he was now on a different world.


    That wasn¡¯t the only thing that caught his attention. One time a maid in his room lit a candle by just pointing a finger at it and shooting out a small flame. It didn¡¯t take genius to understand what that was, magic, Something almost every person dreamed of experiencing on earth, but those dreams only stayed dreams for them. Yet now Ariel has a chance to witness actual magic which made him feel a sense of excitement for the unknown diferent to his usual emotions.


    Besides the maids, the only people that were ever in his room was first, his mother who would always come to eaither feed him or play with him. She would tell stories and legends to him about all kind of things that would make any fantasy fan drool. The second one was a middle aged butler with black hair and eyes, he wasn¡¯t handsome, but had a good body build and a reliable feel to him.


    The butler was always in charge of looking after him and attending to his needs. He seemed to be one of his mother¡¯s personal servants. And Ariel was glad to have him. He seems strong, also Ariel found out that he is part of some kind of noble family. From the last life he learned that influential people are usually the ones in most danger even if to ohters it didn''t seem like that, so he immediately began thinking about how to avoid this danger..


    While spending the days in his room he at the same time came to know his mother¡¯s and butler¡¯s names. His mother¡¯s name was Julie Whitestone while the butler only had the first name Derek. One of the stories he was told by his mother was actually about Derek¡¯s past. He seems to have used to be an elite assassin who under misfortunate circumstances ended up captured by bandits and made into a slave.


    Those very same bandits attacked his mother¡¯s carriage while she was traveling to the capital and after the bandits were slaughtered by her guards they found Derek chained up in their hideout. When he was asked about his origins he answered without pause not hiding any of his secrets. Ariel¡¯s mother wanted to release him, but he told her that he wanted to stay a slave and serve her as gratitude for saving his life. She didn¡¯t see a problem with it so she let him serve her, and that is how he stayed with her for almost 10 years.


    Now it looks like his ownership was transferred to Arial. Anyways, besides listening to these people he didn¡¯t do very much else, since he wasn¡¯t even able to do anything with this weak, baby body.


    And so, time slowly passed.

 Chapter 2 - One step at a time

    In a well decorated bedroom fit for only the highest class people was a baby smiling excitedly on a king sized bed. That baby of course was Ariel.


    It has been a bit over a year since he had come to this new world, in the mean while, the only problem that he faced was his inablity to move and all he could do was tlay on the bed day after day with nothing interesting ever happening.


    Fortunately those days have just reached theie end, because today is the day that he finally succeeded in crawling. Ariel wasn not even able to count the times he tried but failed to crawl due to his small chubby body.


    ¡®Finally I don¡¯t need to sleep on the bed like a doll all day.¡¯ While thinking that he started climbing down from the bed to the ground, but his strength was still that of a newborn so he almost immediately lost his grip over the wooden rim of the bed, which resulted in him falling down straight on his back. Thankfully this room was specifically prepared for a baby to grow up in and not get hurt. ¡®I have to praise my parents that they made this bed so low to the ground and laid a soft carpet on the floor. Or I probably wouldn¡¯t have gotten of that lightly¡¯


    He got up with some difficulty and then looked around the room, besides the bed at the far side of the room there was a window next to its end, as well as a mirror at the opposite corner of it. Apart from these things there was also a work desk besides the bed and a bookcase near the door to the hallway.


    Ariel suddenly remembered the disappointing look his father gave him when he was born and it was probably the reason he hasn¡¯t seen him since. ¡®Could I be extremely ugly?¡¯ Because of this reason he decided to make the mirror his first objective.


    When he finally managed get to the mirror he understood instantly what was the reason for his father''s disapproval. Before him was a baby with golden hair and the same piercing, cold blue eyes he had in his previous life, together with that nostalgic expressionless face. After that, one would notice how cute the child was, and how in the future he would be an astonishingly handsome man, maybe even more handsome that he was before.


    However what made him frustrated was that same sickly constitution, with snow white skin and small stature that unfortunately stayed the same as in his last life. He now understood why his father was disappointed. ¡®In this world Ariel found out that strength was everything, without it he would never achieve something worth of mention.¡¯ At this moment in Ariel¡¯s cold eyes appeared a sliver of sadness, what would he do now? He thought he could live an exiting life in this new world where he wasn¡¯t an orphan and has even been born in a prestigious noble family. But the world has quickly beaten him down from his dreams.


    While he was thinking about his terrible fate, the door to his room slowly opened and through it came in his beautiful mother. When he noticed it, it was too late to hide and he froze instantly. ¡®This is bad, what if it is abnormal for a baby to crawl when he is just a bit over one year old? What would they do to me?¡¯ In his previous life he didn¡¯t have much interaction with babies so he didn¡¯t know anything about how they grow.


    His mother upon seeing him froze just like he had, which unnerved him even more. Few seconds later his fright was dispelled when his mother made an extremely happy expression and without waiting a second more ran up to him and hugged him closely to her chest. ¡°My little Sweety has started to crawl! I can¡¯t believe it! You¡¯re so cute and wonderful.¡± She said while smothering him. ¡°You were even faster at it than James¡±


    When his mother started praising him he felt relieved and slightly proud, but when she mentioned the name James his face slightly camped. James was his older brother that he got to know of and met in the year¡¯s time he had lived so far.


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    Someone said before that a person is never born evil, but if he had seen James he would have to eat those words of his. His brother had golden hair just like his own but what made his looks different was his green eyes and arrogant look in his expression, any person would say that he also had cute looks, but they were far beneath his own.


    As you have already guessed his problem with James lies in his arrogant character, and aggressive nature. James age was a whole year above his own, so he has been able to move for quite some time already, which he exercised by bullying him in every way possible.


    This has already made Ariel mark him as an enemy in the future. Still, that discomfort quickly faded as his mother lifted him up and looked towards his face with an attractive smile. ¡°You are growing up so fast I wonder when, are you going to start speaking.¡±


    Usually a parent would first expect their older child to start speaking first, but he has already noticed that his mother always seems to pay more attention to him than to James. Why it was like this, he didn¡¯t know. Ariel had racked his brain about it for a couple days when he had noticed this, but later on when he couldn¡¯t find any answers, he decided to stop thinking about it. Maybe he would find out when he was older, and if not, he wasn¡¯t really that curious about it anyways.


    Soon his mother spoke again. ¡°I guess we will need someone to look after you the entire time from now on.¡± These words instantly ruined his mood. He turned to face right side from the doors viewpoint, where there stood a bookcase full to the brim with books. Books would contain important information about this world and it was the main motivation for him learning how to crawl.


    Now he could only cast a regretful look at the books, as it would be impossible to escape another person¡¯s notice in this small room. ¡®I should have been more careful, I don¡¯t even know how much time I will have to wait until I can read them without any suspicion.¡¯ All he knew about this world¡¯s technology progress is only what he heard from the maids while they were cleaning his room. One of the things he heard was that books for most peaople were a luxury and even the rich wouldn¡¯t let a baby touch them, because every one of them was a hand written original and each of them was important.


    While, Ariel was casting a longing look towards the bookcase his mother had noticed it. ¡°Are you interested in books sweaty?¡± She asked with a smile. Not even expecting or waiting for him to answer she walked towards the bookcase and took out a book, much to Ariel''s excitement.


    She then walked towards the bed and sat down on it, while putting Ariel down on her lap. ¡°Books are a very important source of information so you must be careful with them.¡± After she finished warning him, she opened the book and started reading it out loud. ¡°So the language is the same, yet the writing is different, I guess I will have to learn from listening and comparing the words¡± All of the letters in the book were different from English ones he is used to. It seemed to be a story book, but every bit of information was important to Ariel, that is why he immediately started to carefully listen.


    Seeing Ariel so interested and listening attentively his mother laughed out loud before speaking out words that made him unbelievably happy. ¡°I guess we will have to start reading books for you all the time now so that it would help your growth.¡± Hearing those words, Ariel¡¯s excitement could be clearly seen in his eyes, but soon he went back to carefully listening to his mother¡¯s every word.


    Like this reading became part of they¡¯re regular routine.

 Chapter 3 - The path of magic

    Several weeks later


    By listening to his mother''s reading, Ariel in an amazingly short period of time managed to learn the writing of this new world. He didn¡¯t know why it was so easy, but he credited it to the brain of a newborn.


    From the books that were read to him he learned an abundance of information. At first his mother would only read him story and adventure books, but later on when she was picking ,which books to read she started reading their names out loud. This gave him a perfect opportunity.


    Ariel needed to only show some kind of reaction when she read the names and then his mother would pick the book to read it to him.


    Using this method he managed to learn the very basics of this world. Still the books didn¡¯t have anything too specific, only the most essential knowledge.


    First thing he learned was the name of this world, Saria. Just like Ariel has guessed, this was a fantasy world full of magic, fighting and abnormal things that you couldn¡¯t find on earth, like monsters.


    This world had 5 different continents, the biggest one was the eastern continent which currently is completely unexplored and unnamed, so there is not much information about it.


    The other four continents all have their own race ruling over it. The continent in the center was as big as the other three habitable continents combined, second only to the eastern continent. The race which is ruling over this continent is of course the humans, who created kingdoms and empires spanning vast territories. They don¡¯t have any unique capabilities but, are the ones with the largest population and the most adaptive.


    The southern, or also known as the dragon continent, just as you have already guessed from the name is being ruled over by dragons and dragon kin. Dragons is the most powerful race which usually doesn''t interfere with the ruling and are more like the continent''s protectors, while dragon kin are outwardly almost like humans who have horns, but their strength couldn¡¯t be compared. Their capabilities lie in a powerful constitution and inherited strength which could easily overpower most humans. They form clans who each follow a dragon instead of kingdoms like the humans do.


    The western continent is ruled over by the beautiful elves. Mostly they keep to themselves and no one knows much about them, except that they excel in magic and aren''t too kind to outsiders.


    The northern continent is the last one, and is ruled over by demons. Demons seem to all be born with unique abilities, which correspond with their linage. They can be separated into species and usually tend to stay around their own kind, but they do have demon lords and demon kings who rule over them, and all they have to have to be one is strength to keep the title. Another interesting fact is that the northern continent has the largest amount of dungeons comparingly to all the other continents.


    Yes the same fantasy dungeons that you hear about everywhere on eaeth. Further more it looks like there is an adventurer¡¯s guild, but Ariel didn¡¯t hear anything specific.


    Back to the topic, even tough the demon continent has much more dungeons it seem to be less dangerous than the dragon continent because of the monster power scale, that is much higher in the southern continent.


    If you are interested, the danger rank goes like this:


    Eastern continent > Dragon continent > Demon continent > Human continent.


    The western continent is unranked because not many people go there. Over all each continent is connected by the ancient gate ways on the human continent''s four sides that people are free to use, except the on going to the elves continent which they took over and they allow only certain people through it.


    He didn¡¯t hear anything about his family but that was to be expected, to find out about that he would need to read some kind of archives, it is unlikely that random people would write about their family.


    But there was something Ariel heard about that was very important, the power ratings of this world. It looks like. as far as he knows, there are 7 ranks which furthermore each have 3 levels.


    Ranks go like this:


    Acolyte < Disciple < Elite < Master < Grandmaster < King < Emperor.


    These ranks also each have early, middle and late levels. All of them also need a breakthrough to be able to reach them. Ranks are naturally more difficult to breakthrough than levels. However it also largely depends on luck.


    While listening to his mother he heard how warriors become stronger, he found out that they cultivate something called Inner Aura and the more they cultivate it, the stronger they get. When Ariel heard this he became exhilarated because he might actually get stronger in this world, but his dreams were instantly shattered when he heard his mother tell him that they first needed to have a powerful vessel.


    Next subject however had once again ignited his hopes, as it was about mages. Mages relied solely on absorbing Mana and they had to train not their bodies, but their minds. So at that moment Ariel understood that the only way for him to achieve some kind of level of power in this world was to solely concentrate on magic.


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    Unfortunately, unlike being a warrior, magic was something picked by chance, and it seems not everyone is capable of it. It meant that he couldn¡¯t know if he had talent for magic until he was quite a bit older.


    Right now Ariel was racking his brain about how to increase his Mana, if he did have talent for magic, before finding out about it, and realized that he wasted all this time, since absorbing Mana didn¡¯t actually have anything to do with casting magic.


    The problem was that the only thing that is known to him is that to absorb Mana, mages meditate. Yet he didn¡¯t truly understand that completely, since warriors also meditate to increase their own Inner Aura, just like mages, but there are no books specifically about magic in his bedrooms bookcase.


    When he was thinking about this, his mother continued reading a book, and conveniently enough she was reading about a mage meditating. Ariel, shaking out of his thoughts quickly pointed at the word meditating, in hopes of attracting his mothers attention.


    Luckily his mother saw that and in a surprised voice asked. ¡°Are you interested about meditation of mages?¡± Once again not expecting him to reply she continued. ¡°Mages meditate to absorb raw Mana, they are born with a small Mana core inside their bodies which each have an affinity that specifies what magic they could use. That is also the reason why they can only use their own Mana and not all the abundant raw Mana in the air. When they meditate they should be able to sense the Mana in the air and slowly lead it trough their body to the Mana core which absorbs it. Warriors are quite different, but it seems to be the time for you to go to sleep, good night Sweety I¡¯ll see you tomorrow.¡± After explaining to him about meditation his mother tucked him in and slowly left the room.


    Unknown to her, Ariel was too exited to even try to sleep. He hurriedly sat up and tried meditating like his mother described it. Nevertheless he failed to feel anything inside or outside of his body which largely disappointed him.


    After a month of trying he still couldn¡¯t feel anything when he tried to meditate. On one of the nights, he had once again failed to find anything and could do nothing but sigh. ¡®I can¡¯t feel anything. Maybe I really don¡¯t have any talent for being a mage.¡¯ Slowly, unspeakable sadness appeared in his eyes, he was always weak in his previous life. The only good thing about him was his brain, yet everytime he met a situation where he needed power, Ariel would feel completely helpless. In this new world he had hoped that maybe he finally could get rid of that feeling by learning magic, but his hopes are being crushed every second that passes.


    Once more sighing Ariel looked out of his bedroom''s window. On the other side he could see a beautiful full moon that seemed to take up almost the entire sky. This was another thing he discovered, this world''s moon was the most wonderful thing he has ever seen. Cold and detached like himself, always far away, yet people can¡¯t stop themselves from being attracted to it.


    He closed his eyes forgetting all his troubles for a moment, while feeling the moonlight on his skin and listening to the night critters through the open window. Right at that time he felt his consciousness slip away. When he came too it was completely black around him and he could barely distinguish it as his inner mind from simple instinct. Suddenly he slightly shook, as before him he could see a small little dot, almost unnoticeable, but for Ariel currently it was the most important thing in the world, his Mana core. It looked just like described in books, apart from its cold blue color.


    Unfortunately, the excitement broke his concentration and he woke up, but that didn¡¯t matter to him because he knew that someday he could use magic and that already made him satisfied. Ariel didn¡¯t know, but the reason he wasn¡¯t able to enter meditation before was because of his anxiety of fearing about himself not having talent. Now that those fears disappeared he wouldn¡¯t have such a problem any longer.


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    For the next several weeks Ariel has been trying to move on to the next step and succeed in feeling Mana, but once again he met a wall and only after few more weeks something finally happened.


    One day he was once again trying to feel Mana. ¡®There is nothing here. I don¡¯t understand what, do I have to do.¡¯ He was very frustrated because of the lack of progress. Fortunately at that moment he caught a sight of something at the corner of his eye. ¡®What is that?¡¯ Having that thought he slowly came closer, and as he did that, a happy feeling started going through his heart. No matter from which side he looked at it, It could only be a particle of raw Mana, the thing Ariel has tried to find for so long, without any luck.


    He quickly tried to lead it into his body, but it was quite difficult, unlike he previously had thought, and it took a few hours to achieve. When the particle finally came close to his tiny core it started to be sucked in to it on it''s own volition and Ariel could clearly feel how his core changed for the better as it''s size slightly increased. Coming out from meditation he had a happy look in his eyes. From now on he had something to strive for while still being a baby, that is besides listening to his mother reading books.

 Chapter 4 - The knowledge

    A lot of time has passed, since Ariel learned about meditation. Right now he is 5 years old and about 4 years have passed since that night. In this time he has progressed, a reasonable amount in several different aspects. One of his bigger ones was when he spoke his first words to his mother, being 2 and half years old.


    It is unneeded to say that his mother was delighted about it, and has almost hugged him to death on that day, because of it. There was also the instance when he took his first steps, which also ended in a similar scenario. However, his most important progress was in his Mana core. He has been meditating every day to increase his Mana, and as time went by, his Mana core grew larger and larger.


    Presently the Mana core in his body is comparable to a grown up man¡¯s fist, this would surprise any of the older mages, if they knew about it. Still, he didn¡¯t know anything about the norms of this world, so he couldn¡¯t tell if it was a lot or not at all. Aside from this he has found another thing to do with Mana, at first he just wanted to try taking his own Mana out of the core, which succeeded in a few times of trying. But later on, he decided to experiment, if he could make it travel trough his entire body. It started out slow, however, after few weeks of doing it he noticed that it was slowly becoming faster and faster, that is why he determined to continued doing this exercise while also absorbing Mana at other times, hoping that it would be useful in the future.


    This is the rough break down of what happened in the past several years of his new life. Thankfully for him, he didn¡¯t waste his time like a normal baby, which will help him in the future as he will soon find out.


    After he was done recollecting about what he has done in the past few years, he heard a knock on his door and also a person¡¯s voice speaking from the other side of it. ¡°Young master I have come to wake you up, as well as to tell you, that you have been given permission for what you have asked¡± The one who has come to his door was Derek, the butler who was given to Ariel as a servant from his mother. ¡°Understood¡± Ariel answered, while getting up from his bed. ¡®It seems that, I can finally answer myself some questions¡¯ He taught as he was putting on his clothes.


    Nobles of this world or at least of this Kingdom have a tradition of not letting children out of they¡¯re rooms until they were 5 years old. Ariel could finally leave his room, only a month ago, however he still had to get permission to go to some peculiar places in the family mansion. That was why he was brimming with expectations, about the place he was going to today.


    When he finally got ready, Ariel went to the mirror at the corner. In the reflection he could see a handsome boy with average height in correlation to a normal 5 year old child. After the all these years his golden hair and cold, blue eyes were the same, as well as the sickly complexion, tough he wasn¡¯t so aggravated by it anymore.


    Clothes that he now wore were mainly a mix of blue and white together with some gold. Apart from the main shirt, he had a coat over it as well as long trousers, with boots. This was quite standard, but it made Ariel look even more majestic.


    People in this world usually wore the same clothes every day, only having several pairs of them. However, sometimes they would put on something new like on celebrations, or when they wanted to change they¡¯re attire entirely.


    After checking if anything was wrong he walked out of his room, to only see a middle aged butler standing outside, who didn¡¯t show any reaction to his presence. At the mansion there were still people who were unnerved by this young master¡¯s lack of emotions, but most of them have already got used to his expressionless face and short answers.


    As Ariel went out of the room, he didn¡¯t even stop before immediately turning right and going down the corridor. Hearing the butler¡¯s footsteps, he turned to look at his surroundings. All of the walls were nicely decorated by paintings and other expensive ornaments, worthy of a nobleman, while the ground was laid down with carpets. Ariel still couldn¡¯t get used to such rich halls, but soon stopped himself from paying attention to them


    Coming to an intersection he once more went right, which lead to a grand door at the very end of the corridor. This was the place Ariel decided to go to, and also the place he dreamed of visiting for a long time.


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    He slowly opened the big door and walked into a very spacious room, which had a distinctive smell of books and ink. This was his family¡¯s library, and the place where he could at last get some answers about magic.


    Ariel¡¯s only problem was, that he didn¡¯t know where to start in such a large room. While he was thinking about his dilemma, he noticed that the bookshelves had signs, and were arranged by subjects. ¡®I guess this will be easier than I taught.¡¯ After letting out a relieved sigh, he quickly started looking for the section about magic.


    Fortunately, he has found the section about magic with little difficulty, and spent several hours looking trough the basic books on magic, which he found very satisfying.


    To summarize it, magic affinities were divided into six elements Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Light and Darkness. Generally each mage had a single element, but there are rare occurrences where a mage has more that one element, and are very desired by influential powers.


    Double affinities aren¡¯t the only rare mages in this world. There are also variants, like holy magic, which one can gain from cultivating specific, light magic scriptures, which are heavily guarded by each church. However those are only cultivated variants, the most powerful ones are inborn ones. They are basically double affinity mages who had they¡¯re affinities merge while they were in they¡¯re mothers womb. Double affinity mages, might be able to control two elements but it is impossible for them to combine them together.


    The reason being is that, Mages use Mana from they¡¯re own cores to cast spells, but can¡¯t use raw Mana for the same spells. It is possible in theory to merge Mana of two different elements, but just merging a small amount would take a long time, just like when absorbing raw Mana, and making it you¡¯re own, so it would be too impractical. On the other hand, people who mere born with such a gift would be capable of generating the unique Mana as easily as a normal mage could they¡¯re own.


    Besides this, he has also found a way to test his own magic affinity. It is not as convenient as using an affinity stone and also required a decent amount of Mana, but at least it was something.


    The way to do it was by expelling a large amount of Mana from you hands, it is also know as a basic magic technique, Mana manipulation, but is not very popular, because there is little use for it in actual combat.


    Ariel while sitting down, slowly gathered as much Mana in his hands as possible and in a single motion, expelled it into the air. Yet nothing happened, which made Ariel¡¯s face freeze. Usually there would be something like a small flame or drops of water on one¡¯s hand. However there was nothing for Ariel.


    He was at a loss of what to do. ¡®Do I rally have so little talent? O is my Mana not enough?¡¯ Just as he was getting depressed he heard Derek¡¯s voice on the other side of the library door. ¡°Young master Ariel it is time for breakfast.¡± ¡°I¡¯m coming¡± Ariel answered before letting loose a sigh and walking to the exit.


    While moving, he tried to dispel the negativity in his heart as he looked at Derek standing at the entrance. Only family members or important people are given permission to enter the library so a butler like Derek had to wait outside. Right after Ariel went outside Derek seems to have became, worried. ¡°Are you alright young master? You seem to be cold.¡± He asked while kneeling down and taking a hold of Ariel¡¯s hand.


    ¡°I am?¡± didn¡¯t understand what Derek meant so he put his hand close to his face, and several moments of pondering he became very, exited. His hands were ice cold. This unusual event could only be done by one thing in the library, magic. That would mean his affinity test was successful and also it is an unknown element to him, which could only be a variant.


    This was truly worthy of celebration, but soon he calmed down. ¡°It¡¯s fine let¡¯s go eat breakfast.¡± He said while heading to the dine room. He would have plenty of time to explore him magic later.


    Right now he wanted to just be done with all the annoying things.


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    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 5 - Future destination

    Walking down the hall, Ariel lightly turned his head to the right, to look trough the window. Behind it, he could see a beautiful backyard filled with all kind of plants, flowers and even some harmless wild life, which made this scene, so perfect and lively. This was Ariel¡¯s favorite place to come to, after he was able to leave his room, and would always visit it at least once a day, as it always makes him relaxed and happy being there.


    Unfortunately, his mood quickly dissipated when he taught about how he has to have dinner with his family. He cares deeply about his mother, but the other two, are people that he dislikes to the very bone.


    They are his brother James, as well as his father, whose name he found out just recently, Mark Whitestone. His father always was indifferent to him, and even to his brother, to some degree, but the reason he actually dislikes him, was because of how he carries himself, in other words, he was too arrogant. Looking down on everyone he meets, who is not of noble birth.


    Still, in all honesty his father was someone Ariel could deal with, but James, was a completely different matter. Since he started, his bullying tendencies have been growing only stronger and, not any weaker. Recently it started to become less physical, and more verbal. Ariel also knows the reason why.


    The reason was, that James has fallen in love with Ariel¡®s fianc¨¦e, Erna Alasia. Ariel himself has not seen her in his life, but heard that even being a 5 year old girl, she was a stunningly cute. On top of that, she seems to be a double elemental mage of wind and light, furthermore she was talented in swordsmanship as well. This has made everyone wild at the time, when they found out about it.


    They haven¡®t met yet, since Ariel was out of his room only for a short while, but he has already hear plenty about her. The place, his brother met Erna, was actually in a party for congratulating the start of her training, which no one can disturb and will make it hard for them to meet in a long time.


    Going on another subject, Erna¡®s father seems to be an Arch Duke, when Ariel heard this, he used the moment to inquire what title, did they¡®re family hold. Like he found out, that Whitestone, is a Duke household of Gelath Kingdom, which is at the very south of the central continent, he was told that the only reason his father was able to arrange a marriage between him and Erna, is because he was friends with the Arch Duke, and also the Arch Duke had a great desire for uniting their two family¡®s by marriage at the same time.


    Anyway, back to his brother, James is very talented in swordsmanship, and also has light magic affinity fit for transforming into the holy affinity. It seems like his father was planning on training him into a holy knight of the church.


    Ariel was already told that his body was too weak to practice swordsmanship, and he was told that they checked for light affinity in his body when he was born, yet didn¡¯t find any. Hearing this Ariel asked about, if he had other affinities. The answer he got, is that Whitestone bloodline has a specific constitution, they had a chance to be born with powerful bodies and light affinity, but there has not been a single other element mage in their entire history.


    Finishing his line of taught Ariel has already reached the dinning room¡¯s door. After his coming was proclaimed by the servants he walked into the lavish dinning room with a giant table full of food in the middle.


    While coming in he could see that his whole family was already there, his father was at the end of the table dressed in green, noble like clothes, James was on his right clothed in ridiculous blue and red garments and his mother was on the left wearing a suiting sky blue dress.


    Ariel respectfully came near the table and sat next to his mother. ¡°It seems you finally came.¡± His father said with the same indifferent look on his face. ¡°Yes, it took some time getting here.¡± Ariel answered. ¡°I hope you¡¯re trip to the library was an eventful one¡± After saying this, his father didn¡¯t speak another word before starting to eat.


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    ¡°Here Sweety, have some food¡± His mother said having a bright smile on her face. ¡°Thank you mother¡± Ariel gratefully took the plate, before quickly starting to eat as fast as possible, so he could be done with it.


    However, it didn¡¯t seem like it would end so easily today. Before he could leave after eating his fill, his father spoke again. ¡°James has great talent in fighting and magic, when he is fourteen he should easily be able to get into The Blue Sky Academy. Ariel you are incapable of fighting so you have to work hard on studying to get into the academy as well.¡±


    Hearing this Ariel felt some puzzlement for this unknown place. ¡°I understand father, but I am not clear about what The Blue Sky Academy is.¡± He spoke, while trying to remember anything about it.


    Thankfully, his mother answered without beating around the bush. ¡°The Blue Sky Academy is a school on neutral grounds, where they teach warriors, mages and also officials. Officials might be the least important there, but it is still better than nothing Sweety.¡± Ariel quickly understood, generally it is like a place of learning and practice for warriors and mages, while officials are just some side students that were allowed in just to earn some income.


    Right at that moment Ariel heard the annoying voice that belonged to his brother. ¡°This failure probably won¡¯t be able to even get into the officials class.¡± He raised his head and looked at the arrogant brat on the other side of the table. It would be a lie if he said that he wasn¡¯t angry, but he has long since learned to stay calm under these situations.


    Also he could satisfy himself thinking in his mind about his brother¡¯s jealousy for his more handsome looks, or how he once went to they¡¯re father to ask for breakage in the engagement, between Arial and Erna and to instead engage her to him. However they¡¯re father said at that time, that promises must never be broken, so James wish was refused.


    Before having to listen to more of James bullshit, Ariel stood up and after excusing himself, left the dinning room. In the back, he heard his mother scolding James in an angry tone, which made Ariel¡¯s heart slightly warm.


    With Derek in tow he raced to go out to the yard, in hopes of starting his practice for magic. Walking out into the courtyard, he found a big tree to sit under and practice, while Derek was left at the door to wait for him, as he told him to do.


    After sitting down in a comfortable position, he held out his hand, and once again, like in the library, tried to gather Mana into it, but this time only into a single one. When he finished guiding it, in a single moment, he had his Mana burst out from his hand, this time in much greater quantity.


    Unlike last time, it had more visible results. His entire hand was covered in frost, which unknowingly brought a small smile to his cold face. He has always dreamed of wielding magic, and now it is right there, in his hands. The only other time he had such an expression, was when thinking about the care shown by his mother for him, although even now he doesn¡¯t notice his changes.


    ¡°I¡¯m finally able to use magic, soon I will show that bastard, but it is still not the time for it¡± Ariel always had a certain pride to him, and who ever tried to touch it always regretted it. However, what is important right now, is that Ariel has finally moved up further in his path, and found a goal to reach for.


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 Chapter 6 - The water stone

    On a clear and sunny day, in a giant garden full of life, there sat a young boy under a big tree. Light seemed to reflect of his golden hair as he sat there, with his eyes closed and hands reached out in front of him.


    That boy is Ariel, who has been training for the past whole month. Soon something began to change and from Ariel¡¯s hand, a small ice crystal started to condense into something slightly bigger, after some time, what came out was a beautiful ice lotus, which could make anyone enamored with it. Unknown to others, who would think what he did was amazing, Ariel was feeling frustrated.


    For a whole month he was making ice flowers each more beautiful than the last, but he still hasn¡¯t broken trough to the Acolyte rank, which made him a little depressed. One time he had enough of it and went to go look trough the library, where he found out that Mana quantity and control weren¡¯t the only things needed to advance.


    On top of those, he had to improve his mental strength, his familiarity with his element and also his understanding of his own affinity. Considering he was a variant, he couldn¡¯t find out anything about his peculiar affinity in the library, which left him stumped, since he would have to look for a bigger library to find anything new. This was impossible right now and unless he tried to explore his affinity on his own volition, he won¡¯t advance in that respect..


    He has also found out that the amount of Mana he had, was really large for him, but only for an unranked, since it makes it hard for him to collect Mana quickly. If he broke trough, his Mana would instantly skyrocket.


    ¡®Sigh I really have to break trough as soon as possible, or with the difficulty of advancing for a variant, and not having a proper meditation technique, I will fall behind really quickly.¡¯ Ariel sighed while thinking about his problem. There were few meditation ways in the library, but not one truly fit for him, he could only hope there will be some in the academy.


    ¡®Maybe I should go look through the library again, there might be some more books I haven¡¯t read.¡¯ With that taught in mind, Ariel with a quick pace, walked down the corridors until he reached the library. Walking inside, he right away went to the magic section and started looking trough the books searching for something that may help him.


    Suddenly, he noticed a little green book, which¡¯s title said ¡°Magic stones¡±. It wasn¡¯t exactly what he was looking for, but it didn¡¯t hurt to check. After reading trough the little book in less than an hour, he mostly understood what it was about.


    Magic stones were basically, Mana stones, which stayed in a certain environments for a long period of time, where there was an abundance of elemental Mana, like inside earth or a fire. These stones were used in many places, for example to fuel magic items, alchemy, blacksmithing and uncountable other places. One of their use, which Ariel was very interested in, was they¡¯re ability to increase elemental familiarity. It is one of the ways to advance his rank and maybe, it would be enough.


    ¡®But where could I get some, it is probably impossible to get an ice one, I can only hope water ones will be able to help, to some degree. From what I read, there should be a river in the forest, behind the mansion, but there will be some danger, it is not very deep but also is not very close. There is a chance I could meet a monster, on top of that, I have to get away from Derek. I don¡¯t want others to know about my capabilities, and he would never let me go without protection. If they found out I want magic stones, they might get suspicious for what I need them for. So I can only go there in secret.¡¯ After evaluating his pros and cons he came out of the library, where Derek was like always, waiting for him. ¡°Lets go I want to get some rest, in my room.¡±


    Like this Ariel went to sleep, and get ready for tomorrows expedition. That is certain to be an eventful one.


    The next day, after breakfast, he like always went to the courtyard, but when he finally reached his place of meditation, he made a turn and started heading straight to the forest. After hopping the small wall, barely few meters away form it he could already see the forest. Like all forests it had giant trees full of leaves and that distinct forest smell.


    Entering the forest he could hear the sounds of countless forest critters, which slightly unnerved him as it was hard to recognize all of them. From his memory the river could be found walking straight from the mansion, so he shouldn¡¯t have to look too hard. Still, walking trough a lone forest was a bit uncomfortable, every tree seemed to be slightly intimidating and the never ending labyrinth of plants made quite a sight.


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    Right as he was felling spooked, he heard a rustle from the bush on his right. He was already ready to run as fast as possible, when a creature jumped out giving Ariel quite a fright, only for him to find out that it was just a horned rabbit, a harmless critter commonly found around the whole continent. ¡®This damn fur ball, it is asking for it.¡¯ While narrowing his eyes Ariel let out an annoyed sound. If he was capable of outrunning it, he would probably really have given it a few smacks on the nose.


    After a few moments, the rabbit once more returned to the shrubbery like he was never there in the first place. Soon, while letting out a sigh Ariel continued looking for his goal. It took him thirty minutes to finally hear the rivers noise, which helped him be motivated to pick up his pace.


    When he got out into the clearing, he could see a small river full of clear, running water together with the trees in the background and animal drinking out of it. Several seconds passed, while he was admiring the scene, before remembering his true purpose of coming here. He ran up to the edge of the river and started searching for any magic stones, at the bottom.


    This proved to be quite difficult, since even if it was clear water, it was running making it quite hard to see to the very bottom.


    Unfortunately, even after a whole hour of searching along the shores, Ariel still wasn¡¯t able to locate even a single one of them. Water magic stones are blue in color and are usually found at the bottom of lakes, rivers and other water deposits.


    This clearly meant that there was a chance of finding it here. The only problem is that, Ariel seems to be really unlucky today.


    The only option left for him now, was to continue moving up the river, in hopes of stumbling upon a magic stone.


    Some time passed with Ariel not having any luck at all, when he finally found something new, a waterfall. Deciding to take a closer look around here, Ariel started to hunt for it once more. ¡®Again there doesn¡¯t seem to be anything in even close resemblance to it, I am about to give up¡¯ Failing to find anything again, he was almost about to move on, when he notice something unusual about he water fall.


    There seemed to be something behind it. Going in for a closer inspection, Arial found out that there was a spacious cavern behind it. ¡®Well it is worth a look¡¯ There was a chance he could find a magic stone there so he still wanted to give it a look.


    The inside of the cavern was wet from drops of water, and because of that, the walls reflected the light coming from the outside, while giving the cave an ethereal look.


    Ariel for a second time taught if it was a good idea, there could be a dangerous monster living inside of here, but the hope reaching the Acolyte rank was too much of a temptation.


    Pushing out doubts from his mind he started going deeper into the cave. It was not long before Ariel reached an open room with nothing but a lake in the middle. This place was one of the most beautiful places he has been to, apart from the ethereal lights on the walls, the lake in the middle had almost fully transparent water and at the bottom you could see an unimaginable amount of glowing blue stones, crating a wonderful lightshow.


    A lot of time passed until Arial finished appreciating this picture, but right after that excitement appeared in his cold eyes, and once again a rare smile broke out on his face. He didn¡¯t think he would be able to find so much of them in a single day, but he didn¡¯t have time to dream, he took one of them and decided to return for the day. Since he knew where this was he could always come to get some more, there was no need for impatience.


    Walking out from under the waterfall, he once again cast his eyes onto the water stone in his hands. While thinking about reaching the Acolyte rank, he let down his guard, and unfortunately his moment of luck, finally ran out. As suddenly, he heard a ferocious growl behind his back


    ._______________________________________________________________________________


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 Chapter 7 - Chase with the monster

    Ariel broke out in cold sweat and without any hesitation, hugged the ground. Overhead, he could feel something jumping over him with great force. He raised his head and saw a wolf, double in size of any that he has ever seen on earth, it was adorned with grey fur that had a metallic luster as well as razor sharp fangs, which seemed to be able to bite through steel.


    From the encyclopedia he has read, he could indentify it being an iron hide wolf, a monster which usually lives in packs at the deeper parts of the forests. They are infamous for killing countless beginner travelers and adventurers, because of their inexperience.


    Individually, fully matured iron hide wolves are usually only mid Acolyte rank of strength and end up different, only if it is a variant. The one standing in front of Ariel, from its sized should be one that matured not to long ago and went out to hunt solo.


    When they are alone an iron hide wolf is no problem for adventurers and other fighting profession, since they are still relatively weak. Unfortunately, for unranked people like Ariel even the weakest monster is a nightmare, especially when considering that unranked mages are weaker than unranked warriors.


    Without a doubt the only thing Ariel could do was run, but monsters, unlike animals, had some form of intelligence. Trying to calm down Ariel slowly got up while putting the water stone into his chest pocket, as well as picking up a rock from the ground and hiding it in his sleeve.


    When his eyes finally met with the ones belonging to the wolf, Ariel noticed that they had cruel, sadistic light in them. Ariel now understood that the wolf was planning on playing with him until he slowly died, but that might be this filthy dogs undoing.


    Taking the opportunity that the wolf seems to be planning to prolong this hunt, Ariel started running down the river with all his strength. It didn¡¯t take long until he heard the wolf¡¯s growls right behind him, silently, sending chill down his spine.


    The problem was that Ariel¡¯s weak body was already screaming in pain, the only reason he was able to keep going was trough his sheer willpower. Thankfully, the place he came out from to the river wasn¡¯t too far away from the waterfall.


    After reaching the location, Ariel took one deep breath, knowing that he couldn¡¯t make a single mistake, or his life would end just like that. He turned around to look at the wolf, which had a cruel expression in its eyes. Breathing heavily Ariel seemed like he wasn¡¯t able to run a second more. And that is what he wanted to look like, so the wolf would attack him. The iron hide wolf easily took the bait and lunged at him, wanting to pin him down to the ground, but at that critical moment, Ariel jumped to the side as far as he could, and at the same time threw the rock he had in his sleeve at the wolf¡¯s face.


    Not expecting it, the wolf got hit in the eye, without much difficulty, however, it didn¡¯t really do any significant damage, but it was enough to throw him off balance in the air, which resulted in him falling into the river.


    Knowing that this wouldn¡¯t delay it for long, Ariel with all of his leftover stamina started running towards the mansion as quickly as his legs carried him. Few moments having pasted, the wolf climbed out of the river, his fur being completely soaked in water. Furious from having been humiliated, he let out and angry howl and started running after him once more.


    Ariel hearing the howl was really depressed. ¡®You don¡¯t know when to give up do you¡¯ Putting even more efforts into running, Ariel manage to once again raise his speed by a tiny amount.


    Thankfully, the wolf¡¯s fur now was wet, which slightly reduced its speed, but it was not enough and soon the wolf was once again on Ariel¡¯s heels. When he was already close to the mansion, suddenly Ariel felt something coming at him from the back, and he barely, thanks to his instincts, managed to step to the side, dodging the wolf¡¯s attack.


    Only now, the wolf was blocking his way, and he could barely stand at the same time. Not knowing what to do, he slowly started walking backwards, to only stumble over a root and fall down. The wolf took that opportunity and jumped at its defenseless pray, wanting to finish Ariel as fast as possible.


    Seeing the approaching doom, the time for Ariel stopped and couldn¡¯t think of any way out of this. He wanted to do much in this world, but lie this, he will soon end up dying a meaningless death. But what could he do, he was just an unranked mage with zero spell he could use, suddenly a thought hit him. ¡®If I am going to die, I might as well die trying.¡¯ Extending his hands he gathered as much Mana as possible, more than he ever had, and tried to form the first thing that came to mind when thinking of ice. For him it was an icicle, only a bigger and stronger than a normal one.


    When he started to form it he noticed that he lacked a lot of Mana for it, so once again he tried extracting even more of it from his core, every little bit he could find, yet it was still not enough. What he chose to do next was to actually gather it from the outside, and quickly refine it, and use it. This action brought him unbearable pain, which was not a surprise when trying such a crazy thing, but he didn¡¯t stop and continued greedily taking Mana from around himself and pumping it into the icicle. Still, it was not fast enough and at this rate, he would soon fail achieving his desired result.


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    At that instance, unexpectedly, he felt like something broke inside of him, like a damn holding a large amount of water got let loose. In this case, the water was Mana, and thankfully, more than enough to finish what he wanted. When the wolf was only centimeters away from him, he let his icicle fly out hitting the not expecting wolf right in its chest.


    The icicle pierced the hide of the wolf, with some difficulty, at the same moment braking several of its ribs, until finally it barely reached the heart, quickly ending the wolf¡¯s life.


    Seeing the wolf getting hit and falling down, Ariel didn¡¯t have time to feel happy, as his vision has started becoming dizzy and he could barely keep his consciousness together, but he had to get back home, before anyone noticed that he was missing.


    Walking at a snail¡¯s pace towards the garden like a drunkard, Ariel managed to only reach his favorite tree of meditation, when his vision went black, leaving his body to fall to the ground..


    Waking up, Ariel could feel himself sleeping on a soft bed, instead of the hard ground he has fallen down on. Sitting up on the bed, his mind was jumbled as he tried to recall what happened, remembering his chase with the wolf as well as the encounters ending.


    Then he recollected about the unusual quantity of Mana he gained at that time. Ariel quickly went into meditation to see what has actually changed and understand what happened. What he saw, was that his Mana density increased by a very large amount, which made him extremely exited, since the only way such a big increase of Mana could happen, was only if he advanced a level.


    In all, that means that right now, he was an early level Disciple, and only 5 years old one at that. ¡®Now I took the first important step in becoming stronger. People are called geniuses if they reach this level before ten. I wonder what, am I then?¡¯ Before he had time to finish his taught he felt something moving near him, that he didn¡¯t pay attention to before. Turning his head to the side, he could see a beautiful, blond haired woman sleeping in a chair with her head resting on his bed.


    It was actually his mother, who seemed to have stayed by his side for quite some time. Seeing this even the coldhearted Ariel couldn¡¯t stop himself from feeling warm inside. At this moment, his mother seemed to have woken up.


    When she raised her head and saw that Ariel woke up, she immediately rose up and hugged, him not saying anything. After several seconds she let him go and started berating him with words. ¡°Do you know how worried I was? We couldn¡¯t find you for a long time and when we finally did, you laid dirty and unconscious on the hard ground. Since then, you have been asleep for two entire days, straight.¡± Ariel could see the bags under his mother¡¯s eyes, which made him have a guilty feeling, knowing that she probably stayed with him the entire time, ignoring all of her work and rest.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry mother I just over exerted my body. I will make sure it never happens again¡± After apologizing, he saw his mother freeze and look at him slightly abnormally, which he wasn¡¯t able to understand, however, it didn¡¯t last long and soon she once more hugged him and spoke. ¡°Its fine, just be careful in the future and get ready to go for breakfast, you haven¡¯t eaten anything for two days¡± After she finished talking, Ariel heard a rumble coming from his mothers stomach, indicating that he wasn¡¯t the only one who hasn¡¯t eaten for a long time.


    ¡°Please hurry, I will be waiting for you there.¡± With her beautiful face completely red, she quickly left the room in a fast pace. At this moment, Ariel¡¯s mood was very light, due to the joy of advancing his strength as well as the warmth he was feeling from interacting with his mother.


    After getting out of bed, he notice how dirty he was and went straight to the bathroom to clean up. When he returned to put on his clothes, he noticed his dirty ones from before, which still haven¡¯t been washed. He got near them and took out the water stone from his jackets pocket, to only find it to already have turned gray and to have lost its luster. ¡°So it was indeed this magic stone that helped me in that critical moment.¡¯ Thinking for a moment, he unknowingly let out a small smile. ¡®Maybe I wasn¡¯t so unlucky after all.¡¯


    Putting down the stone on his work desk Ariel left the room for breakfast, still thinking about what his future.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


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 Chapter 8 - Julie Whitestone

    POV. Julie Whitestone


    My name is Julie Whitestone, but in the past I was called Julie Manora. I was born as a count¡¯s daughter of the Manora family in the eastern side of the kingdom. From young age I was talented in many things, except swordsmanship, but besides it, even advanced magic was not out of my reach, only that my father thought it was unneeded for a woman like me to learn to battle.


    I lived my entire childhood like most of noblewoman, attending many etiquette classes and other lesson meant to impress influential men so they would marry them. Sometimes I would also have some free time to enjoy myself with my friends. However, what I desired was to change my life a little and experience something exiting. Once I finally asked my father to let me travel a bit in the outside world. Only after a long time of though did he finally agree to my request, but he then quickly said that I had to take a large amount of guards with me.


    I was a bit annoyed by that, but I never regretted it. That journey was probably the most interesting thing I had experienced in my entire life. I saw a great deal of things and went to many unique places, meeting all kind of interesting people. The most important instance however, was probably when we found Derek, and I have gained my most loyal servant.


    When I returned, there was not much change in my life for quite a while, that is until my father was unexpectedly assassinated. You see when I was only three and I didn¡¯t have any siblings, my father also didn¡¯t have any so he was my only family. When he died I didn¡¯t know what to do, I just cried for several weeks in my room until Derek reminded that I had to continue fathers work and not let it all go to waste.


    Only a year after taking up my fathers responsibilities, I went to a dance party for nobles in the capital. There I met Mark Whitestone and fell in love with him at first sight, he also too took a fancy in me when we had our first dance.


    Soon we got married and I had become part of the Whitestone family. After two years we had our first child, who we named James after my husband¡¯s father. James seemed to be very talented, so the one who did most of the teaching was Mark, and in all, I had a bit too little interaction with him, which made me quite depressed.


    Thankfully, we soon had another child who we called Ariel, unfortunately or maybe fortunately he was born with a sickly body not fit for combat, that is why Mark was slightly indifferent to him and I could take care of him all by myself.


    Ariel was a very cute child, I thought, James would grow up handsome, but Ariel was on another level. The only problem was how quite and expressionless he was, the maids responsible for him were quite unnerved by it, however I am his mother, there might be some problems with him, but I will help him in any way possible to solve them.


    Soon some time passed, most of my time was spent on either working, or taking care of Ariel. James was now completely looked after by Mark. What I am regretful about is that he gained that arrogant personality while still being so young. It was truly the only thing I didn¡¯t like about Mark.


    One day, about a year after Ariel¡¯s birth, I was coming into his room to keep him company, when I saw him on all four in front of the mirror. For a moment I froze, not understanding what was happening, but soon excitement filled my soul, as I came to realize that my son learned to crawl all on his own, and even so early. I only heard later on when James stated crawling and felt disappointed as a mother, for not witnessing my son¡¯s precious moments in person, however this time I finally did.


    I quickly ran up and hugged him to my chest, like he was some kind of priceless treasure, for several moments. After that, when I was happily watching his emotionless face, I notice he was looking towards the bookcase in his room, with something unusual in his eyes.


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    It didn¡¯t take me long to go there and take out a book to read for him. Most of the time when I was with him I couldn¡¯t get much of a reaction out of him, but when I started reading he seemed very interested, which since then propelled me to read for him right up to the later years of his life.


    That wasn¡¯t the only happy occasion I had, you could say there was a happier one when he spoke his first word, which was, mama, that made me almost faint from happiness. There was also the instance when he learned to walk that too I have also witnessed myself. Tough it was strange that he learned to talk before walking, but it didn¡¯t really matter to me.


    I was really happy in seeing all of his progress myself, of course I regret not being able to give more attention to James, but his father was adamant about teaching him alone. Because of that we drifted apart, before I would bring him to be with Ariel but he would always start bullying him, so I had to separate them.


    Over all I felt satisfied remembering about rearing Ariel, only I am sad that he hasn¡¯t ever smiled and even when he talks he does it in short sentences. Nevertheless I feel like he always pays more attention to me than other people, which truly elates me.


    Unfortunately, now I am at my wits end because my baby has disappeared. He was not seen for the entire day, since morning. I looked trough everywhere and had all the servants searching every single place possible. Thankfully, it wasn¡¯t long before someone found Ariel in the garden.


    When I go there I saw him lying on the ground in dirty clothes. Faster than any one else, I grabbed and carried him to his room, while ordering for a doctor to come in. I finished tucking him into the bed when the doctor finally came, after the checkup, he said that Ariel was only overexerted and had to rest for some time.


    The doctor told me not to worry, but how couldn¡¯t I worry, maybe I shouldn¡¯t be saying this as a mother of two children but Ariel is the most important person to me in the world who I raised by my own hands and was always there to witness his most important steps.


    For two whole nights I didn¡¯t move from Ariel¡¯s bed, when I woke up one morning I saw Ariel sitting up on the bed and without any warning I hugged him as hard as I could. Right after that I started berating him about making me worry, unexpectedly he actually apologized to me, I thought he would answer in one of his short sentences, or not at all, but I saw the sincerity in his words, an actual emotion . However, that wasn¡¯t what made me so surprised, it was the slight smile on his face.


    This was the most beautiful smile I had ever seen, more so to my mother¡¯s heart who longed seeing the expressionless Ariel smile. Once again without waiting, I hugged him. I never heard that he smiled to anyone else, except to me, right now.


    Even if I felt like he usually cared about me more than the others, I still would sometimes think if he even saw me as his mother.


    Now without a doubt I truly know he does, since in his smile, I saw the feelings of regret for making me worry and also the love for his mother which are so common for children. It truly made me happy as a mother, and swore that I won¡¯t let anyone bring harm to my child not now and not ever.


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    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 9 - The celebration party

    In an expensive dressing room, there stood a young boy, around 8-9 years of old, wearing almost completely white clothes, from his boots to his coat. The only thing that wasn¡¯t white, were the golden buttons on his shirt.


    On most people it would look a bit strange, but on this boy it made together an unusual picture of elegance, and not in any way was it bad looking, his golden hair and cold blue eyes with his handsome face only made it even more surreal. ¡®I guess this will do.¡¯


    It is unneeded to say, that this boy was Ariel. Right now he was already 9 of age and 4 years passed since that day, when he has broken through his bottleneck and finally became an Acolyte. Since then, his training speed has increased several levels, not only because of his talent and breaking through to Acolyte rank, but also because of the water stones, that he continuously went to gather.


    All the other times, after the first one, he wasn¡¯t that unlucky and almost always had no difficulty getting them. Only sometimes did he meet a low rank monster, but even then he was able to deal with them more easily than with the wolf.


    Magic stones can be used to slightly increase elemental familiarity, in Arial¡¯s case it was even less, since water was only a part of his elemental affinity, but it was better than nothing. Most people would have to do it slowly, cultivating they¡¯re own magic until it increased in an unknown amount of time. A lot probably don¡¯t even know this method, since it is so unconventional and expensive, so it is unlikely that somehow will figure it out. Considering that the price for using of raw magic stones directly, outweighs the gains by quite a lot. Of course, Ariel at first only wanted to use it to breakthrough, however because he found so many of them, he decided to continue using them without telling anyone about it.


    Also for those who don¡¯t know what element familiarity is, it is basically resistance towards the magic elements, however a lot of mages at first think that they will be immune to other people magic if they increase it, but that is wrong, you will only be immune to natural elements and your own. The reason why it is like that is because Mana of different people automatically rejects each other and can harm each other no matter what. This is a law of magic that can¡¯t be defied and the only exception, are spell¡¯s specialized in healing and support, which are unable to injure other people.


    Back to the topic, Ariel¡¯s familiarity has increased by a large amount and it helped him train his other aspects of magic. Currently he is in Mid Acolyte rank, and very close to Late Acolyte, which is very remarkable.


    ¡°Young master its time to go to the party¡± hearing Derek say this, Ariel turned away from the mirror and walked towards the door. You are probably confused why he has dressed up like this tonight. Well, it is actually a party for his bother, breaking through to the Early Acolyte rank, while being only 10 years old.


    Although Ariel broke through when he was only 5, he didn¡¯t tell anyone about it, also breaking through when being 10 or younger is actually considered being a genius so it is not surprising. His own fianc¨¦e has broken through a year ago. She was 8 at the time, so it is clear that she is even a bigger genius than James, which at the time caused a huge commotion.


    Evan tough Ariel has broken through when he was 5 years old, it doesn¡¯t mean that his progress will continue being so monstrous, since a large part of the reason why he was able to improve so quickly was his talent in Mana manipulation, his experience from his past life and the magic stones he found. Unfortunately, he doesn¡¯t have a meditation method fit for him, as well as he doesn¡¯t have any spell to use apart his own created ones. So, maybe, at first he will train quickly, but if there won¡¯t be any of these things in the academy, then his training will start stagnating.


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    While thinking about this, Ariel was quickly walking down the corridors towards the main hall. It is unlikely that he will see anything interesting apart from the many nobles, each with they¡¯re own agenda, but he was asked by his mother and he could never say no to her.


    Coming in through the back door, where he wouldn¡¯t attract too much attention, he looked around the hall. Most of the people are yet to arrive and it was relatively empty. Finding a good place to sit next to a window, he let out a sigh and engrossed himself in watching the lonely and beautiful moon. Next to him, Derek stood like a statue making this scene look like a painting of subtle beauty that no one could express.


    Many guests would cast a look in his direction, once in a while, wondering who he might be, but no one wanted to come up and ruin this wonderful picture. However, Ariel didn¡¯t pay them any attention and just enjoyed this short and peaceful moment, before the party starts.


    Coming closer to the appointed time, more and more people started arriving at the hall. They mingled together, talking and laughing, either showing off about something or praising they¡¯re own children. Even the kids were doing something similar like they¡¯re parents, only Ariel still sat at that window, motionless, which continued drawing glances from even more people around him.


    However, this soon was noticed by his mother, who, with large steps and a smile on her face, came to stand near him. ¡°Are you not enjoying the party Sweety?¡± She asked him, clearly desiring that he would go play with the kids his age, or something. ¡°Mother you know that I don¡¯t like these kinds of things.¡± Ariel answered his mother, with a softer tone, than most of the time. ¡°I see but please have some fun. You have to make some friends or you will be lonely in the future.¡± She said in a worried voice. ¡°I understand¡± After hearing this, his mother retuned to greeting the guests.


    But this conversation didn¡¯t escape the ears of the people around them. Soon they started talking among themselves. ¡°Is he also the son of the duke?¡± ¡°I know who he is, he is The Frozen Prince.¡±


    ¡°So he is the one who doesn¡¯t have any talent.¡± He quickly became one of the focuses of they¡¯re discussions.


    The Frozen Prince was a nickname he was given by people who had visited his father in these past years. It is thanks to his unbelievably handsome looks and cold atmosphere around him, that he was given such a grand name. Ariel always thought it was ironic, considering what his magic was, and sometimes he had a suspicion that maybe someone secretly saw him using magic before. But it didn¡¯t seem like the people knew he could use magic, so he didn¡¯t really care how they called him.


    As time passed, soon almost all of the people arrived at the hall and because of that their chatting, only increased. Thankfully, no one came to bother Ariel all this time, due to his rejecting aura. This made him happy, since his emotionless face was actually useful for once, and he hoped no one will bother him until the end of the party. Unfortunately for him, there are always exceptions.


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 Chapter 10 - Royal twins

    Through the whole party no one besides his mother came to talk with him, which made him content, but after some time, he felt two people standing close to him. Ariel tried to just ignore them, hoping that they would just leave him alone. Unfortunately, he soon heard the voice of a young boy. ¡°Greetings it is nice to meet you Ariel Whitestone.¡± He has already greeted him, this closed off all of the exits, since if he continued to ignore him like this it would end up as a breach of etiquette.


    Ariel sighed and turned around to greet his two new guests. What he saw was that both of them seemed to be children of similar age to him, around 8-9 years old. They stood out quite a bit, because they had an aura of leadership around them, which made them look approachable, yet elegant at the same time.


    The one who greeted him was a young boy with short aqua blue hair and eyes, as well as a handsome face. He was dressed in expensive blue clothes with golden accents at some places. His face had a playful smile on it that further increased his charisma.


    The second person was a girl, very similar to the boy standing next to her. Their age seemed to be the same and she had the same aqua blue eyes and hair just like her companions, except her hair reached all the way down until her waist. However, her looks were truly stunning and anyone could see that when she grows up, her beauty will be heavenly enough to start wars between empires. She was wearing a beautiful, light blue dress that reached all the way to her ankles.


    Even a stupid person would notice that they had close blood relations, most probably siblings or maybe even... Just as Ariel started thinking about they¡¯re blood ties, the boy spoke again. ¡°You probably are guessing how we are related. Well if you guessed that we are twins, you guessed correctly.¡± Hearing the boys amused words, Ariel¡¯s questions instantly cleared up. ¡®So it really was like that.¡¯


    Not giving time for Ariel to enjoy his correct guess, the boy continued. ¡°My name is Brendon Gleevoria and this is my sister Sarah Gleevoria. I am honored to meet you Ariel Whitestone, you won¡¯t believe for how long I wanted to meet The Frozen Prince in person. I am very glad the rumors didn¡¯t lie about you.¡±


    From the last name Gleevoria and the unusual aqua blue hair and eyes, Ariel easily came to the conclusion to who they were. These two things could only be connected with the royal family of the Gelath kingdom. And the two before him must be the crown prince and princess. They are both very famous for being extremely talented in water magic. This made Ariel freeze for a while and unable to respond. They were royalty, if he didn¡¯t if they took offence about something Ariel did, it could end up badly for his whole family.


    Thankfully, just at the right time the beautiful princess Sarah spoke for the first time, in a melodious voice. ¡°Greetings Ariel, I have also wanted to meet Erna¡¯s fianc¨¦ for quite some. I think that she got really lucky, with getting you.¡±


    After hearing this Ariel quickly drew to the conclusion that Erna and the princess are acquaintances. They also seemed to be quite close ones from the way she spoke, but right now he didn¡¯t think further about it and was just grateful for being able cover up his reaction. Feeling that it won¡¯t become awkward from him speaking now, he finally opened his mouth. ¡°Greetings prince Brendon and princess Sarah my name is Ariel Whitestone, as you already know. How could I be of service to you?¡±


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    Ariel said that with a graceful bow that made him look elegant and refined, instantly making princess Sarah, lose her focus.


    ¡°Well we just wanted to meet and talk with you a little. There is no reason for you to be so polite so feel free to call us by our first names.¡± Seeing Ariel bow, Brendon quickly said that with a friendly smile.


    Not knowing how to reject the offer, all Ariel could do was just to accept it. ¡®Okay, then please feel free to just use my first name as well.¡¯ Finishing the sentence, Ariel returned to his previous standing pose.


    Only after hearing her brother¡¯s and Ariel¡¯s words, was Sarah finally able to get her bearings back together. Blushing up to her ears from her actions, all she could do was turn her head to the side hoping Ariel didn¡¯t see it. Peeking out from the corner of her eyes she noticed that while bowing, he had lightly closed his eyes, and only now he had slowly opened them.


    Letting out a sigh, her appearance returned to the previous one of maturity, that didn¡¯t correspond to her age. However her heart and mind were still in turmoil, this was the first time she felt like this. Usually she was a mature girl who liked to tease other people in any way possible, but since she first laid her eyes on Ariel¡¯s handsome face as well as his cool looks, while sitting by the window. She felt her heart beats quicken whenever she casts  a glance at him, which was completely new to her.


    Ariel hasn¡¯t notice this, but it was easy for Brandon to see his sisters, reaction, while standing right next to her. The Amused smile on his face has only grown larger, as he once again got ready to speak. ¡°Back to the topic my sister has mentioned, I am so jealous you get to marry Erna, she is no less beautiful than my own sister. I wish I could marry someone as beautiful as her.¡±


    Sarah¡¯s polite smile she usually wears, instantly tuned rigid from her brother¡¯s words. It was like kicking her and then telling her that she could never be the one to marry Ariel.


    Ariel saw this, but didn¡¯t pay much attention to it. He decided to respond politely and truthfully to not appear indifferent. ¡°I have never met my fianc¨¦e so I don¡¯t know much about her, but if she is indeed as gorgeous as Sarah, then she will definitely be the second most beautiful girl I had ever met.¡± Hearing this answer Brandon felt impressed, while Sarah once more felt her face burning and feeling much happier than from her brother¡¯s previous comment.


    This time Ariel had notice Sarah¡¯s bashfulness, but he didn¡¯t think much about it, in his previous world it was natural for a girl to be embarrassed from a compliment, said by a handsome boy. Only people who were close to her would argue that it was unusual for her. However what Ariel said was indeed true, Sarah might not be up to the level of his mother or other beautiful women, but when she grows up, she will truly be like a goddess.


    After this instance Ariel continued to converse with the twins in a less tense mood for some time, and he even started to enjoy it a bit. Unfortunately, they suddenly heard an annoying fit of laughter coming near them from the side. Of course Ariel instantly knew who it was. The bug that never knows what is good for him.


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 Chapter 11 - Bastard No. 1

    Coming towards them through the crowd was a kid, who seemed to be around 10-11 years old. He has a handsome face with blond hair and green eyes with a pride look in them, unfortunately, an arrogant expression was on his face, twisting his looks.


    Behind him, there was a group of noble kids from different families, who were following him, like dogs follow their master. Obviously, they only wanted to get on the good side of the arrogant child, to gain some favor, even if they had to sacrifice their own dignity.


    For Ariel, the green eyed boy was very familiar, maybe too familiar. He would give anything to never have to meet him again, like he had to for the past few years, day after day. And as you have already guessed, that person is Ariel¡¯s brother, James.


    Coming near them, he once again let out that annoying, haughty, laugh. It rang in Ariel¡¯s ears, which made him feel like he had an irritating bug, buzzing inside his head. After Ariel failed to block out that sound, he looked over his brother¡¯s clothes, his brother today wore even more ridiculous clothes than he usually does, they had mixed colors of red, blue, green, yellow and several others. If his brother¡¯s clothes continue increasing in colors like that as he grows, Ariel wasn¡¯t so sure if he will be able to hold himself, from always thinking about James as a rooster.


    Not even paying mind to Ariel¡¯s scrutinizing gaze, that looking over his clothes, James spoke his first words after coming here. ¡°Lord Brendon and Lady Sarah, greetings, it is an honor to meet you two. You should have looked for me sooner. I would have made sure to entertain you.¡± He might have been saying polite words, but in the mean time, his eyes were looking over Sarah¡¯s entire body, which had undisguised lust, burning inside them.


    Brendon felt a little ticked off at how James was ogling his sister as if she was his, so he decided to speak up. ¡°Mr. James, we came here just as the representatives of the royal family. However we didn¡¯t really have any interest in meeting you, I am very sorry about that.¡± Hearing Brendon speak James retracted his gaze from Sarah¡¯s body and looked back at him.


    Brendon¡¯s words might have appeared polite, but in reality they were a straight forward insult, that James easily managed to pick up. ¡°Mr. Brendon, did I mishear you? Or are saying I have less worth in meeting than this waste?¡± Only now, did James finally take look at Ariel standing at the side of the twins, while giving him a furious look at him.


    Seeing James becoming angry, a small smile of satisfaction appeared on Brendon¡¯s face, as he continued to talk. ¡°That is correct, I find Ariel to be, a much more interesting person to talk to, rather than one like you.¡± The first sentence only irritated him a little, but the second one was already pushing James buttons.


    ¡°Fine have fun talking to this waste. I hope you won¡¯t regret paying attention to this worthless person.¡± James spat out these words in angry tone, that he was unable to hide, the people behind him glared at the three as if making a point.


    Turning to face Sarah, James continued to speak, but in a much lighter tone. ¡°Mrs. Sarah, mind joining me for a dance, I think someone as refined as you should waste you¡¯re time with speaking to trash.¡± Hearing these words made Brandon clearly annoyed, but he already knew his sister better than anyone else.


    ¡°Mr. James, haven¡¯t you heard my brother? We have no interest in speaking with arrogant people like you, please keep you¡¯re eyes to yourself and leave.¡± Unlike how she looked, Sarah spoke in blunt words that couldn¡¯t be mistaken for anything else. James face turned crimson from anger, but it was still possible for him to endure it and hold in his anger, as these two children were royalty and were untouchable.


    However, when he saw Sarah sneaking glance at Ariel, he couldn¡¯t hold his anger anymore. James had fallen in love with Erna, but later found out that she was Ariel¡¯s fianc¨¦e and no matter how he tried he couldn¡¯t break off the engagement. Now he lost himself when first saw Sarah, but once again it seemed like Ariel took away her attention, which made him burn in unbearable jealousy.


    He lost all of his reason and all his caution left his mind. When he was about to step over to Sarah to take an unknown action, Ariel spoke for the first time, in this entire exchange. ¡°James, you never know what is good for you, think before doing anything, or you will regret it.¡±


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    Hearing his threat, James felt a chill go down his back. Others might think he wouldn¡¯t dare to do anything to James and did not know Ariel¡¯s true nature, but he did know. It might be fine to insult sometimes, however, James tried to never go past the line of no return that he learned of through these years, ending in making Ariel angry.


    Because several time he did, unfortunate accidents would occur, which caused him unspeakable amount of pain, yet no one could explain them, but all of them happened, after he angered Ariel, and James wasn¡¯t a stupid person to not understand his involvement in the accidents.


    Remembering all of this, James stepped back, trying to stop himself from shaking. Then he casted the last look of anger towards Ariel, as if in defiance to his statement, even tough he wasn¡¯t brave enough to speak it out loud. After that, he took another look at Sarah, before turning around and leaving.


    This caused quite a bit of shock to the siblings. Not many could see James face at the time, but they clearly saw a slight expression of fear for that single moment, when Ariel spoke. Of course this made them question why were his circumstances so unique, however they both gave it a rest, not wanting to pry into other people¡¯s business.


    After a moment of silence, Brendon once again started to speak in a joyful mood. ¡°Finally that annoyance is gone, now that I have time to speak I would like to ask you, if you are planning on going to The Blue Sky Academy?¡± From his face it was clear to see that he was expecting something, but Ariel didn¡¯t really know what. However, for this question Ariel didn¡¯t have to think long and gave a quick nod to confirm.


    Before Brendon could continue, his sister Sarah chimed in. ¡°What classes are you planning to go to?¡± Her voice was monotone as she was asking, but her eyes betrayed her excitement.


    ¡°I don¡¯t really know, but I am planning on taking the officer exam, since I am not proficient in sword or magic.¡± These words made the two siblings let out a chuckle with amused expressions, before Brandon explained it to him. ¡°No matter which exam you take, you can pick any of the classes, even if you want to take ones about magic or fighting.¡±


    This instantly made Ariel interested. He wanted to learn about magic, but didn¡¯t want to reveal that he was a variation too soon, so he was planning on learning from the library. However, this changes everything.


    After a slight amount of thinking, he gave them his answer. ¡°If it is like that, I could probably take same lessons one of you two will be taking, I have already learned most of the stuff needed for officials to know, and I am quite interested in magic.¡± Even tough he didn¡¯t know them too well, but Ariel knew that these two excelled in magic, so most likely, they will pick lesson that he would want to go to.


    Without a pause for thinking, Sarah has already held up her hand. ¡°Please come to my classes I am sure you will love them. They are all about different kinds of magic.¡± The excitement in her voice was impossible to hide, which soon turned to embarrassment after she noticed Ariel and her brother staring at her, soon she turned red till the ears, while casting her gaze downwards as if trying to hide he thoughts.


    ¡°Well if you say so, I am sure I won¡¯t be disappointed.¡± With a helpless look he could only agree to Sarah, because he felt like she wouldn¡¯t take no for an answer. Also he couldn¡¯t make himself ruin her happiness, it is possible the she didn¡¯t have many friends growing up and was excited to befriend Ariel.


    Mean while, Brendon watched from the side, not saying anything on the matter at hand, before continuing their conversation about other things after Sarah calmed down a bit. This talk continued all the way to the end of the party, until they had to say their good byes.


    When everything ended, and Ariel was finally in his cozy bed, he couldn¡¯t stop himself from thinking about his emotions when he was with the twins. It was not an unfamiliar emotion. He felt it before, in his previous life, the feeling of friendship. With those thoughts sleep slowly crept over him, sending him to the land of dreams.


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 Chapter 12 - The "falling star"

    Deep In the night, after the party, Ariel was suddenly woken up from his sweet sleep by an unusual feeling coursing through his body. It was not pain, but just slight discomfort, like when you needed to do something, but didn¡¯t remember anything about it. ¡°What is wrong with me, I don¡¯t usually have sleepless nights, much less being kept awake by something.¡±


    No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn¡¯t fall asleep. He only ended up lying there, fully awake. Letting out a sigh he decided to look at the moon for a while, to clear his thoughts, however, just as he cast his look outside the window, he saw something akin to a falling star quickly approaching the horizon. At least that is what it looked like, until Ariel noticed, that it had fallen down straight into the forest, behind his home, while letting out a bright light.


    The feeling of discomfort has grown even stronger in his heart, as he watched the unnatural phenomena. Soon he heard many bone chilling howl echo¡¯s through the forest, which seemed to originate from some kind of monsters that were fighting against each other.


    After several minutes of thought, Ariel ended up at the conclusion that the feeling in his heart was connected with the unknown object, which has fallen from the sky, since it is the only possible conclusion, even if it sounded, a bit ridiculous.


    However, no matter how rational Ariel appeared to other people, but the main way he acts when dealing with the unknown is by listening to his intuition. Quickly putting on his clothes which comfortable for going around the forest, Ariel sneaked out through the back of the courtyard.


    Many of the guest that stayed after the party as well as the people who worked in the mansion, have fallen asleep as soon as they reached a bed, so it was easy for him to go unnoticed and enter the wilderness to look for answers.


    While traveling through the familiar forest, Ariel still felt nervous, even tough he has went by here, many times, since he has never been here after sundown. The trees and sounds of wild life were even creepier in the night than in the day, as many nocturnal creatures have woken up. This only made him move with even more caution than before, which by all rights is always a good decision.


    While sneaking through the forest, Ariel was thinking up ways how he will deal with all of the monsters that could pop out at any time. He will inevitably meet some and has to be ready for them, if he¡¯s not, he may not live, to see tomorrow.


    He might be a Middle level Acolyte, but his spell arsenal is quite pathetic. The only magic spells that he actually has, are the first spell he has ever used, that he dubbed Ice Spear and another spell he has created by a stroke luck Ice shield, which just like the name entails makes a kite shield out of ice that will hover in front of him.


    This is Ariel¡¯s biggest disadvantage from having a variation. He doesn¡¯t have any books and people that could teach him, unless, he revealed it to public, which could also bring a lot of problems right now. However, it is already impressive that he was able to create even these two, basic spells, at such a young age. Making a magic spell is like programming, where every little detail has to work together, and as you perfect it further, it will continue becoming more powerful and more unique.


    Of course this makes it not all bad, the spells that he can use might be little, but he can cast them instantly, without chanting. Over all, usually beginners never create their very own spells, and use chants to utilize the spells created from long ago, but chanting is once again comparable to using a program, where you have limitation to what it can actually achieve, while capability for casting spells without chants comes only when you understand the programming itself and can change it, as well as modify it at will.


    Ariel knows these spells inside out, and he can continue perfecting them and utilize them in any way he wants. This can be a huge advantage against other mages that have to chant already known spells, which lack flexibility.


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    While thinking how to best approach the problem of the lack of spells, the roars and howls of the beasts only intensified as he got closer to the general area, where the ¡°Fallen Star¡± fell.


    After about 10 minutes of walking, suddenly, a monster resembling a boar jumped out into his path from the shrubs. It had red fur and bloodshot eyes, although it did look intimidated, but Ariel already knew that this monster called crimson boar is only a Low level Acolyte level.


    The boar appeared to be furious while casting a look at Ariel, with eyes that seemed to have lost all reason. The next instance it charged with great speed, trying to bash into Ariel¡¯s body.


    Unfortunately for it, his attack was too predictable. Ariel has casted an Ice shield, which quickly appeared protecting his body. Not having enough time to stop, the crimson boar crashed into it at full force, resulting in his long tusks braking off, as well as receiving some damage to his head.


    Unluckily for it, Ariel wouldn¡¯t miss this chance to finish it off, while not showing any mercy. He has long since understood to never take chances, because this day it might be him who was the winner, but the next day, it might be the boar that was piercing through his heart.


    Before the boar could snap out of the confusion, Ariel easily stabbed through its neck with an Ice spear he manifested, almost instantaneously, leaving the monster only as a freezing corpse on the ground.


    ¡®This boar seems to have been running away from several, more powerful monsters¡¯ Ariel thought, while kneeling down and examining several different claw and bite marks on its body.


    ¡®I guess I really need to find out what that thing is to make all of these monsters react this way, even if I have to pay a price for it¡¯ While steeling his mind, he once again continued to move through the lonely forest, going towards the direct, where all of the commotion is being hear from.


    It didn¡¯t take long before Ariel saw a clearing right in front of him. Walking out of the woods, he found a convenient rock close to him, and hid behind it as fast as possible, before sticking out his head, to take a look.


    The whole surrounding area has become a crater, all of the trees around it were destroyed, and all of the clearing was a huge mess, from what seems to have been a strong impact. However, this was the least disturbing thing in the picture, as the whole ground was covered by monster corpses and rivers of blood.


    The monsters that were still alive looked to be quite powerful, and way out of Ariel¡¯s league. On the other hand, they all were heavily injured and had their eyes on each others every move, not paying any attention to what was happening around them.


    In all, there were three of them, a wolf that seemed to be a variation of an iron hide wolf, next there was a night panther, which when grown up to its full potential, usually reaches Early Disciple rank. The last one was a silver scaled viper that unlike the other two, which appeared to be of the same strength, was only at Late Acolyte rank.


    However, the silver scaled viper cannot be underestimated, because it was part of a very rare species of snakes that have unique, extremely potent poison, which could lead to it becoming, the actual winner.


    Knowing that it still wasn¡¯t his time, Ariel stayed in the shadows of the rock he hid behind, while observing the fierce battle that is soon to come.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


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 Chapter 13 - Mysterious artifact

    Chapter 13


    Deep in a forest shrouded by the night, three powerful beasts were confronting one another. The reason for this was a bright blue glow radiating from the core of the crater they were currently in, which was left by the very same object.


    Not far from them, Ariel was hiding behind a big rock, waiting for the right time to strike, if such time actually comes. However, if the last remaining monster is not exhausted enough to lower its strength, he will only be able to leave and give up on acquiring that item, since he knew his own level of power well enough to understand his limits.


    While Ariel was thinking about the possible outcomes of this battle, the monsters made their move, first one to attack was the night panther. It quickly came in for a swipe at the iron hide wolf¡¯s neck, trying to finish it in a single blow but unfortunately for it, the wolf dodged to the side, making the panthers claws, to only lightly graze his side, leaving little actual damage, thanks to its toughness.


    The wolf instantly retaliated by trying to bite into the panther, widely openings its mouth, almost as if wanting to eat it. When its fangs were almost close enough to bite down on its enemy¡¯s flesh, the panther moved back in lightning speed, leaving the wolf biting into its afterimage. This time it was the wolf¡¯s lose, but it didn¡¯t take long for them to once again go at each others neck, forgetting the silver scaled viper that was still so close to them.


    It seems that these two monsters were old time rivals and hated each other to the bone. This is not that abnormal, since the stronger a monster is the more intelligence it has, which can lead to them having personalities. However, it was definitely a mistake of theirs to not pay any attention to the poisonous snake, right next to them.


    Just as another confrontation between the two beasts ended, the viper in a fast manner bit into the wolf¡¯s, back leg when it just close enough for the snake to reach. It was so fast that the wolf didn¡¯t even have any time to react, and when he finally noticed it, and wanted to strike back, the viper has already backed off a decent distance out of the wolfs reach.


    Seeing this, the wolf was extremely furious. The flesh wound itself was not that important, but he could feel that the poison, which came with it, was very deadly.


    The wolf soon went into frenzy, knowing that even if it was the last one standing, it still wouldn¡¯t take long for it to die. Strangely enough, the first one it attacked was not the viper that brought its doom, but the panther which was the wolf¡¯s long time rival, as if it wanted to drag it down to hell, together with itself.


    Soon they engaged in a battle to the death, which will put an end to their long lasting conflict. The biting and clawing of the struggle between the two, left numeral wounds on each of their bodies, furthermore, some of them were quite deep. Luckily for the panther, the poison injected in its opponents body, circulated even faster thanks to it moving around so much, which lead to the wolf suddenly losing all of its strength to defend, and letting a lethal strike hit its body, that ended up finishing him off.


    When the first of the three monsters died, the viper once more sprang into action aiming to kill the panther in its moment of weakness. However, it has already learned from its past mistakes of when it ignored that snake, so when the viper has already gotten extremely close to it, the panther managed to dodge its attack and in return bite down on the snakes long body.


    The panthers fangs easily ripped through the vipers scales, thanks to its higher rank of power, but the viper was not so weak, and it instantly reacted by swinging its tail towards its head. Not having time to react to this sudden attack, the panther was sent flying towards a tree, but not before gnawing off a piece of the vipers flesh.


    With fury in its eyes, the snake quickly coiled around the beast, taking the chance before it snapped out of the daze, it tore through the panther¡¯s neck. With such a heavy wound as well as the vipers poison, the night panther soon breathed its last, and the battle ended with an unexpected lower rank victor.


    Thankfully, the silver scaled viper has also received very heavy injury, which even for a resistant snake, were painful to the extreme. At that time, Ariel¡¯s eyes, who was hiding behind a rock, lit up with determination, which was much stronger, than any time in the, past.


    However, even this weakened monster still possesses a high level of danger towards him, because of how weak and inexperienced he is, but he can¡¯t let go of this chance of acquiring that unusual treasure, which is sure to be precious.


    Manifesting a single ice spear, he carefully aimed it at the snakes wound, which was left by the panther, since it was the only place he was sure, that the ice spear could pierce as well as do enough damage to increase his chance of winning. After aiming it he started waiting for the right time to strike, because Ariel didn¡¯t have any room for mistakes, or he would die.


    When the silver scaled viper finished its rest after the battle it finally moved claim the prize. Casting its eyes towards the core of the crater, a look of desire appeared in its eyes, as it instinctively knew that the object had magnificent power, worth risking its life for. At this time, the snake let down its guard just for a mere second.


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    Unluckily for it, that single moment was all that was needed for Ariel to take action, as he let loose his spell towards it. The ice spear travelled at very fast speed, when the viper actually noticed what was happening, it was already too late, and the spear had already pierced into its wound coming out the other side.


    A painful hiss rang through the night, making all of the small animals around, run away. Being ambushed by Ariel, the snake was critically injured, reducing its ability by a large amount and making it hard for him to actually lose now.


    The infuriated snake, blinded by its anger, charged towards Ariel who had already gone out of hiding and casted an ice shield, which was currently protecting his body. The viper head butted the icy shield shattering it into peaces, but still resulting in several cracked scales on its head, as well as being pushed back a little.


    Ariel took this opportunity to manifest another ice spear and stab through the monsters right eye, trying to quickly finish it, before the viper could compose itself. This attack made the snake let out another ear piercing sound of agony, proving that it took serious damage.


    When he had thought it might be over, the snake once more, just like against the panther, used its tail to attack Ariel in its last desperate struggle to live.


    Being caught by surprise, he barely was able to put up an ice shield in time, and even then he was sent flying a small distance until he hit a tree. Only now, the silver scaled viper finally breathed its last breath, as the life inside its eyes faded and it fell down on the hard ground.


    Seeing this, Ariel could barely stand up with his trembling body and look towards the corpse, with slight fear in his eyes. He was injured too much in that last hit, as it will probably hurt for the whole week, but thinking about how he almost died because of a small mistake, made horror squeeze into his heart. Thankfully it was only painful for him, and nothing happened to his bones or inner organs.


    After some time of trying to calm down, Ariel finally got his mind together and raced to get whatever it was inside the crater, which he fought for with so much difficulty. He wanted to get it quickly and run back home, since his Mana was already at its limits.


    When he got closer to the source, he noticed that the glow emitted from a small, icy blue orb that was hovering slightly above the ground. ¡®Is this what landed from the sky, and also made all of these monsters kill each other for it?¡¯ With slight hesitation, he finally resolved himself and went to pick it up.


    Suddenly, the orb charged towards him, and before he could do anything, pierced into his left eye. This turn of events left him completely dumfounded.


    He didn¡¯t understand what happened just now, but soon, an unbearable pain started to be felt in his head. Ariel fell to the ground gripping his left side of the face, and wiling for some time, before losing his consciousness. It was the most agonizing pain he had ever experienced, as it was so painful, that even his strong will couldn¡¯t take it.


    _______________________________________________________________________________


    When Ariel woke up, a large amount of time has already passed, indicated by the descending moon, it took a while for him to put all of his memories together and remember what happened.


    As soon as he finished recalling it, he realized that the sun will be coming up soon, forcing him to run back home as fast as possible, before even trying to understand the previous event.


    Getting back into his room on time, Ariel let out a sigh of relief as he remembered his dangerous adventure, while also being glad that he made it in time before warranting some suspicion. He decided to take a quick bath, before going to meditate for a while, to search for any clues, which might tell him what did that blue marble, do to him.


    After few minutes of inspecting his body, he still couldn¡¯t come up with any answers of what happened to that marble. However, form his instincts he knew that something had happened to his body, which he is yet to notice.


    He didn¡¯t know what that something was, but he had a feeling that it will help him in the future. Also, he will probably learn about his changes, as time passes, so there is no reason to rush it. Making up his mind, he started observing the moon outside his window, as it is his favorite pass time.


    Unknown to him as he was relaxing by watching the moo, in the reflection of him in the mirror, you could see Ariel¡¯s left eye was glowing blue, and had a strange symbol, which emanated power. However, this will stay unknown for him, for quite some time in the future.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


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 Chapter 14 - Leaving home

    Five years have passed after Ariel obtained the mysterious item. Since then, not much else happened, and time just continued to slowly tick away. Until finally, the fateful day has came for him.


    The weather was clear of any storms or even clouds, and the bright sun was high in the sky, covering the earth with its warm rays of light. On this lovely day, something unusual was happening at the large mansion, situated in the countryside.


    This was of course the noble house of, the illustrious Whitestone family. However, unlike most mornings when everything was quite calm and everyone was doing their own job, today most of the residents were standing in front of the gate, each of them experiencing different emotions.


    As you have probably already guessed, today was one of Ariel¡¯s most important days, since today he will finally leave his home for the first time, to join The Blue Sky Academy.


    Through the years, all of the servants got quite attached to him because of how well he treated them, never shouting or hitting any of them over small mistakes, or even some more serious ones. James on the other hand, unlike Ariel would always abuse the poor servants whenever he got a chance, sometimes even just for his own enjoyment, making Ariel¡¯s temperament, stand out even more.


    Due to this, many of the mansions workers have come to say good bye with heavy feeling in their hearts, knowing that Ariel will be gone for quite some time. The only people that weren¡¯t here were his father and bother, for reasons that everyone already knows.


    Ariel¡¯s mother was currently saying her last words, before he leaves on his journey. ¡°Remember that you must always take care of your health and be careful of strangers, if someone bullies you quickly write a letter to me I will¡­¡± His mother continued talking without stopping, as her eyes started dampening and the sadness was becoming clearly visible on her face.


    Seeing his mother like this, Ariel simply couldn¡¯t take it. He came closer and embraced her in a hug before starting to speak. ¡°Mother, don¡¯t worry I will always send letters and come back on holydays to see you so that you wouldn¡¯t be sad.¡± After finishing speaking, Ariel could feel his mother¡¯s body relax a bit from hearing his words.


    This was the first time he hugged her on his own accord, so when he looked up, he wasn¡¯t surprised to see his mother in a wearing a happy expression, instead of the sad one she had previously. Although soon she go her act back together, and put on her usual, beautiful smile, as if telling him that she was okay now, while inwardly regretting that she made Ariel worry.


    It didn¡¯t take long for her to respond with a slightly more relaxed expression. ¡°Thank you, I hope you will make many friends there and have a great time.¡± After saying this, she stopped speaking and just stood there with a reassuring smile directed to Ariel.


    After seeing that his mother¡¯s mood improved, he nodded his head to the servants that were saying their good byes and cast the last look at his mother, before turning around and entering an expensively decorated carriage.


    When he got in, he could see that the seats were much more comfortable than the ones you would usually find in the common ones, what is more is that there were two windows on either sided he could look out of.


    When he finished evaluating his travel conditions, he didn¡¯t hesitate in the slightest and sat down in an appropriate position.


    Soon he heard the horses neigh and felt the carriage starting to move. Watching the moving scenery through the window Ariel let out a sigh and started thinking in a more relaxed manner. ¡®This is the first time I¡¯m going on a journey like this, it will probably be quite some time until I can visit.¡¯ Remembering his mothers face, a small pain started to be felt from his chest.


    He knew that his mother will be sad and lonely, but he didn¡¯t have a choice, he had to make progress on his path, Ariel could only hope that they will meet again as soon as possible.


    While trying to hold back thoughts about his mother, he went back to thinking about his objective. ¡®The Academy is situated north from the capital city of Valeria. Thankfully, his family¡¯s mansion is only about a three day journey away from it. Soon I will finally take my first true step in this new world¡¯ Ariel has already learned about the kingdoms geography for quite a while, so it was not surprising for him to know the distances and time needed to travel them.


    ¡®However, I feel like I will encounter a bunch of trouble there, considering all of the noble brats that are attending it. Though, this school is actually one of the several neutral Academies that exist on the human continent, so even if there are some troubles, I will probably not get killed even if I ¡°teach¡± some worthless people their place.¡¯


    He was a person who will not go out of his way to make trouble for someone, but if it is the opposite party which tries pushing his buttons, they should be prepared to pay the price.


    After making his resolve to not accept humiliation from anybody, Ariel looked out the window, where one would usually see a large amount of peaceful greenery and harmless wildlife. However, what he saw was a completely different sight, as all of the scenery had some kind of small unnoticeable aura, all around it. Ariel has long since found out that this was actually raw Mana.


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    This was one of the benefits that the mysterious marble has given him. Usually, only the more powerful species like elves, dragon kin or demons can see Mana, but it seems like, that orb was capable of giving him, this ability. He of course, gained not only this, but also an increase in his understanding of the world itself and magic, which made his training speed increase by a tremendous amount.


    Although Ariel was sure that these weren¡¯t the only benefits that the mysterious item could provide, however, he didn¡¯t have the capability to understand anything more about it.


    He tried looking for some information on it, but the family library is quite small and had nothing about it, there were a lot of books about other legendary items, however none of them had any resemblance to the orb. Ariel soon gave up, and just added it as another thing, to look into at The Academy.


    Looking away from the window and the colourful picture of nature, he closed his eyes and decided to spend his time meditating, instead of wasting these three whole days of travel.


    _______________________________________________________________________________


    After the three days of journeying, Ariel just like he expected, finally reached the neutral city of Lenara, where The Blue Sky Academy is built in.


    While entering the city, he saw a bunch of guards at the gates, checking who everyone was before they could go into the city. Thankfully the driver managed to finish this job quickly without wasting too much time and so they could enter the city faster than most. It was quite obvious that he has already been here many times before, which made Ariel relieved that they will most likely, won¡¯t be getting lost.


    Riding through the stone streets, Ariel took his time to observe the residents. Most seemed to live in simple, crude houses, well that¡¯s if you compare them to the ones, he has seen in his old world. Although in this world these kinds of houses are most likely on the general level of this world architecture.


    When he went by a populated place, a lot of people would glace at his carriage with a bit of curiosity, but soon they would lose their interest and stop paying attention, Ariel wasn¡¯t, surprised, since there would definitely be many nobles coming to The Academy and most likely they are common sight here.


    Also, there seemed to be a whole bunch of other class people walking through the streets like, knights, mages, adventurers, merchants, and not to mention a lot of young people, wearing light blue uniforms, who Ariel guessed were students of The Blue Sky Academy. With such a variation of professions, seeing a noble¡¯s carriage wasn¡¯t that strange at all.


    As Ariel took notice of all the different people, he got quite excited, since he had wanted to explore the city a bit, but didn¡¯t have time, furthermore, he didn¡¯t know if the students were allowed to wander outside The Academy. That¡¯s why he was a bit saddened before, but now he is extremely glad he saw those students.


    While he continued looking around, this time paying more attention to structures, he saw many shops, statues, buildings, workshops and other places he would like to visit someday, although sometimes while looking at something people around the carriage would see his looks, and would end up standing completely frozen.


    There wasn¡¯t time to mention it before, but since when he became 10 years old, he went into a growth spurt. Although his height was still quite average, but his looks only continued becoming more perfect by the day, to the point that most women couldn¡¯t even look straight at him anymore.


    Unfortunately, Ariel didn¡¯t really care about the looks he was given, and just kept leisurely looking around the streets he was travelling through. Until he finally, reached the destination of his, relatively long journey.


    When Ariel noticed that the carriage stopped, he soon heard the driver¡¯s voice. ¡°Young master we have arrived at The Academy.¡± As the driver spoke as he opened the carriages door.


    Stepping out, Ariel could see a giant complex of buildings made from pure white marble, while having sapphire blue roofs making them quite classy.


    Finished examining the Academy¡¯s exterior, Ariel turned around and spoke. ¡°Wait at the carriage station and after I get accepted they should tell you where to bring my stuff, when you¡¯re done with that you can go home.¡± As Ariel finished instructing him, the driver gave a respectful bow and rode out to complete his given task.


    Turning around once more to look at The Academy, Ariel¡¯s eyes displayed pure excitement for the unknown, as he started walking towards the giant front gate.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


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 Chapter 15 - The exam

    Chapter 15


    As Ariel got closer to the gate, he could see two giant statues sanding on each side of it. From the books he has read, it was easy for him to identify them as stone golems.


    Golems are artificial creatures created by using only raw Mana and earthly materials, making them immortal unless they run out of Mana or are completely annihilated. Their draw backs are that they can only follow relatively simple instructions like protect or kill and anything more will just confuse them, which might make them end up being useless.


    He didn¡¯t know what, was the purpose of these golems, but it is unlikely that they would just attack him out of nowhere, since a lot of problems would occur if someone of high status was attacked by golems at The Academy for no reason. That is why he continued walking without a care.


    Just as he had though, when Ariel came closer and passed them as he was entering through the gate, they didn¡¯t seem to move, even a little from their spots. However, this made him even more curious about their purpose, but he didn¡¯t have time to think about it and just went forward.


    Like this, he put the matter about the golems at the back of his mind and concentrated more on what was in front of him.


    Behind the gate, there was a peaceful courtyard filled with all kind of nature like flowers and trees that seemed to be quite well taken care of and there was also a stone path going straight through it, to what seemed to be the main hall of The Academy.


    Following the road Ariel soon reached the school building, as he got closer, he started hearing many voices inside talking about all manner of things. When he finally went in, he could see a lot of adult people there seemingly waiting for something. He quickly understood from their conversations, that they were most likely people who brought in children to take the exam and now they are talking, while waiting for the results.


    Just as Ariel started walking towards the receptionist who seemed to be an elderly man in his 50¡¯s, he attracted quite a bit of attention from the surrounding people. It is not surprising considering his looks and expensive clothes and noble air around him. He has given up before he even started trying to hide his identity.


    Nearing closer to the counter while ignoring the gazes, he instantly greeted the elderly man. ¡°Hello I¡¯m here to take the officer exam.¡± He said in a polite manner.


    The old man seemed to be slightly caught off guard, by his polite way of speaking. It was unusual for the noble kids to show any respect to commoners so only after a little while did he start to speak with a small smile on his face. ¡°Please tell me your name, and give me some kind of identification to prove who you are.¡±


    Ariel nodded before speaking. ¡°My name is Ariel and I am from the Whitestone family.¡± He said this while handing the elderly man a crest, which had a large white stone with some black markings pictured on it. This was his houses crest that represented his and his whole family.


    Looking at the crest, the elderly man gave a small nod and started speaking again. ¡°Everything has already been registered by someone, take this please and head towards your designated exam class. Please hurry it will be starting soon.¡± He said while giving him a white token.


    Casting a look at it, Ariel could see 74 etched in black ink on it. He gave the man a small nod as a goodbye and headed down, the hallway which he was directed to.


    While walking through the hall, Ariel was quite happy seeing The Academy have such a relaxing atmosphere. He could see plenty of vegetation on the other side of the windows, and everywhere inside was also completely clean, without a smallest amount of dirt. This was just the type of environment he liked.


    Enjoying the moment, he quickly reached the classroom which had his number written near it, and where he had to take his exam. He entered only to see a spacious auditorium that could hold about 30 young people in it, but most of the seats were already taken.


    Ariel looked around trying see, if he was able to find the twins, but soon stopped when he noticed that they weren¡¯t here. Soon after that he walked up to one of the further, empty seats and sat down.


    When he entered the classroom, he had obviously already drawn the gazes of every single person in the room. The girls couldn¡¯t take their eyes off him and watched him with dazed looks, while boys sent the usual looks of jealousy and hate towards him.


    Such things commonly happened to him even in his previous life, so he has long since learned to deal with it and just ignore most of them.


    At the time everyone was watching Ariel, each with different thought in their mind, the door to the classroom opened and through it came a beautiful and graceful woman, who seemed to be in her late twenties, having a stunning body figure, as well as long black hair and charming violet eyes, coupled with a very pretty face.


    If he had to compare, Ariel would say that this person was as beautiful as his mother without a doubt. While he was doing the comparison, all of the rest of the boy were drooling over her, like dogs in heat.


    Obviously the person in question disliked it and soon her expression turned into an angry frown, as she started shouting. ¡°I advise you all to refrain from angering me. My name is Mithra Werental and I will be the person responsible for the exam of this class!¡±


    As she said that, she released a suffocating pressure, instantly making all the people, in the room, calm down. This wasn¡¯t actually something amazing, every single person is capable doing it, but it is only able to effect people weaker than you, so in fights against equal level opponents it is almost useless.


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    However, the pressure released by the teacher was extremely strong, proving the power difference between her and the students. Even Ariel was afflicted by it, but thanks to the two lives he spent learning to control his expression and emotions, he managed to hide his moment of weakness.


    While Ariel was surprised by her power, teacher Mithra once again spoke in a loud voice, that everyone could hear her. ¡°All of you get to your proper seats, after that I will give out the exam, and I don¡¯t suggest trying to cheat, or I will make sure to make you regret it through the rest of your life.¡±


    Hearing her, all of the students got back to their seats in a fearful manner. When all of them were seated, teacher Mithra started handing out the papers.


    As Ariel looked at the paper sheet he was given, he was very disappointed seeing how easy the questions were. He understood that the level of education in this world was low and didn¡¯t expect it to be too hard, but still, to him this was barely considered as an idiot test.


    Even this worlds geography and history, which were foreign to him before had way too little requirements.


    Letting out a sigh, he finished the exam papers in an extremely short amount of time. The three hour test for most people was done by him under a mere hour, which made Ariel slightly look down on the teachers responsible for the common subjects.


    Soon Ariel came down and gave the teacher his papers, she seemed to be quite perplexed at this before asking. ¡°Is the test so hard for you that you gave up?¡± Mithra has already noticed Ariel before, and even she was shocked by his looks, but most importantly his conduct. She had though that he was very well educated and would definitely pass, so she felt conflicted about him giving up.


    But shockingly for her, Ariel shook his head sideways as he spoke. ¡°I haven¡¯t given up its just that I have already completed it.¡± Ariel answered as if it was obvious.


    The unexpected words made Mithra freeze for several seconds, before she suddenly stood up from her seat in a forceful manner and shouted ¡°WHAT!? THAT¡¯S IMPOSSIBLE!¡± She snatched the papers from his hand and quickly looked them over. Soon her face became slightly pale, as she started mumbling something in a low tone.


    However, she was a professional teacher, and she soon got her bearings back together. Turning to face Ariel, she gave a slightly forced smile before speaking. ¡°I see, that was a bit unexpected, since you have finished, you are free to go wander around until the results come up.¡±


    Some teacher might have thought he was cheating, and would have made him rewrite it, but Mithra had full confidence in noticing someone doing anything suspicious, so she was sure that he didn¡¯t cheat. She also didn¡¯t want to loose face by trying to make sure about the 0,01% chance he did manage to cheat. .


    Hearing her words, Ariel gave a polite bow, before leaving through the door while at the same tome hearing a sigh coming from behind him. As he entered the hallway, he decided to go find a place to rest in the courtyard and also wait for the end of the exam.


    As he was walking down the corridor, he suddenly almost hit an old man passing by him from one of the different hallways. Thankfully, Ariel had decent reflexes and managed to stop himself before crashing into him.


    Just when he let out a breath of relief, the old man addressed him. ¡°Ah I¡¯m sorry young man, this old me is already too senile and didn¡¯t notice you walking by.¡± Looking towards the elder, he first noticed a respectably aged man with white hair and blue eyes, his face probably was quite handsome it the past, but not anymore, as it had many wrinkles on it and his body was already very feeble.


    However Ariel quickly put up his guard, since thanks to the artifact that merged with him he could see other peoples Mana, and the old man had a frightening amount of it. Unfortunately Ariel is still not capable enough to identify other people affinities, which would help him in battles. Although even without seeing the old mans Mana, Ariel had noticed his majestic air and eyes full of wisdom, which represent how powerful he is.


    As he was looking the old man over the opposite was doing the same, Soon the elderly man smiled before speaking. ¡°It seems, this year, we have a very promising young mage.¡± After saying this, he laughed and went passed him.


    When Ariel understood the meaning of his words, he quickly turned around to make sure he didn¡¯t hear wrong, but the old man has disappeared into nothingness.


    Ariel forcefully calmed down his beating heart, by believing that the old man must have been an incredible person to notice his secret and wouldn¡¯t simply publicise it. He also didn¡¯t think there was a reason to hide it anymore, since from what he heard The Academy always protect their students, so there is no reason to fear other worldly powers and their assassins.


    Deciding to forget about it for now he resumed his journey to find a place to rest. He soon left the building and entered a giant courtyard, where he started looking for a suitable location.


    It didn¡¯t take him long to find a comfortable tree at the far side of the garden, where not many people would come by.


    Thinking about his future plans at The Academy and the old man, he thought to take a nap in this great weather. He didn¡¯t have even a bit of fear that he wouldn¡¯t pass the exam.


    Since such a test, for him was a mere joke.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


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 Chapter 16 - Number one examinee

    After some time passed since the start of Ariel¡¯s rest, he was woken up by a melodious, young voice. ¡°Ariel get up, the results are already in.¡±


    Opening his eyes, he was surprised to see the familiar Sarah and Brendon standing in front of him who he hasn¡¯t seen for the past week. Although he wasn¡¯t hiding, but he went to quite a hard place to find, so he hadn¡¯t been expecting to be woken up by other people.


    Ariel slowly got up as he opened his mouth and asked in a slightly interested voice. ¡°How did you two find me?¡± Hearing his question, Sarah only made a proud expression, before speaking. ¡°Of course because I know you like desolate places like these, how many years do you think we have known each other for?¡° Even saying this she didn¡¯t take her eyes off Ariel, who had a very cute sleepy, look on his face.


    This time Ariel was even more surprised, only now he remembered that they had already spent a lot of time together without him realizing, he felt that time went by very quickly. Even the best friend of his last life didn¡¯t spend that much more time with him than these two.


    Thinking about how well these two understood him, made his chest warm a little as he spoke again. ¡°I see. So what were you saying before?¡± Not wanting to get too emotional, he decided to change the subject.


    Looking at him for several moments, in a dazed look, Sarah didn¡¯t respond. Thankfully Brendon quickly continued her words. ¡°The results are in, don¡¯t you want to go look at your score?¡±


    Hearing his words, Ariel only shrugged his shoulders, before replying. ¡°I passed, haven¡¯t I? What is the point in going to look?¡± Ariel was already perfectly sure that he has passed, so he didn¡¯t see the reason to go waste his time.


    Hearing his answer, Brendon only smiled together with Sarah, who has just snapped out of her daze and was turning completely red. After a few moment of calming down, Sarah started to speak again. ¡°Its just like you to be so confident that you have already passed. However, the whole school is in an uproar, not because you just passed, but also got a perfect score!¡±


    Ariel was slightly surprised, but this wasn¡¯t out of his expectations, considering the easiness of the test the only mistakes he could have made were that of carelessness, but talking about it here is little annoying, so he spoke out once more. ¡°Let¡¯s, maybe go somewhere more comfortable, standing here is a bit tiring.¡±


    Nodding at his words Brendon spoke. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the cafeteria, we can get something to eat while we talk.¡± Ariel agreed and when he gave his confirmation, the twins lead him through the winding corridors to a wide door, which had a smell of food coming from it.


    Walking inside, he could see that the cafeteria was very spacious, and had a tranquil atmosphere. A lot of seat weren¡¯t taken, since many students have most likely went to check out their living quarters, as well as classrooms


    When the three of them went up to take something to eat, Ariel decided to take something sweet and light, because he didn¡¯t feel like overeating. Sarah and Brendon also seemed to have been thinking the same thing, since they only took some, light food.


    Sitting back a little further inwards, Brendon, finally started on the topic. ¡°So Ariel, how did you actually get, a damn perfect score?¡± As he spoke, it seemed as if his eyes were slightly sparkling.


    Ariel wasn¡¯t so proud of it, and just told them the truth. ¡°For me, it really didn¡¯t seem that hard, I would even say it was quite easy.¡± His answer left, even the composed Brendon open mouthed, as he didn¡¯t know what to say. Usually you would think he was just bluffing, but Brendon knew from long time ago, that Ariel didn¡¯t joke about these, type of things.


    From his side, his sister Sarah began praising Ariel in an excited voice. ¡°You¡¯re truly amazing. I can¡¯t believe your father thinks you are useless, I think he might actually be blind.¡± When praising or talking about Ariel, Sarah most of the time became this childish girl lacking all of her usual maturity. Worst of all, Ariel never knows how to deal with her, when she is like this, most of the times he can only give up.


    After some time, Brendon coughed while finally speaking out again. ¡°Well enough about that, we always knew you were smart, only, not this smart. Anyways, maybe you want to ask something? We have been here few times with our father, so if anything caught your interest, we can try to explain it.¡± Trying to end this topic, Brendon brought up a subject about the school, which was completely fine with Ariel.


    He started to think if there was anything he wanted to ask. Suddenly recalling the sight he has seen entering The Academy, he spoke out. ¡°If you¡¯re offering to teach me, then I will definitely accept it. I actually only have a single question I want to be answered. What is the job of the golems outside?¡± This was something that interested him a bit, since Brendon offered he decided to ask away.


    Brendon seemed to be in though for a bit before exclaiming. ¡°Oh those, they are for protection.¡± He answered as if a matter of fact.


    It seemed simple, but it made Ariel a bit confused. ¡°How do they actually determine which people are dangerous?¡± He asked.


    Looking at Ariel for a while in surprise he soon remembered something, before starting to talk again. ¡°I forgot they were quite new, so it is not strange if you don¡¯t know about them. Those golems are actually remote controlled ones, have you heard anything?¡± Listening to Brendon¡¯s words, he came to a realization.


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    The remote controlled golems were created not so long ago. They let people use them as their own bodies, letting the golems be of more use and be capable of being controlled to do any tasks a human could. However, it also comes with an extra weakness. To receive the information, the golem has to have a core, and if that core is destroyed, the golem is basically dead.


    Remember the information about it, Ariel responded. ¡°I know about them, but I didn¡¯t think that The Academy would use such expensive things, so it escaped my mind.¡± The new technology is always expensive. Currently it is less costly to just hire a normal powerful person to guard the school than station a golem. Although, the golems do have their own perks.


    As they finished their dialogue, Sarah started speaking on a subject quite close to the previous one. ¡°I heard that the Hevorin family has been doing strange things, including buying a whole bunch of those remote controlled golems.¡±


    Hearing what she said, Ariel lost himself in thought. ¡®From what he has learned before, Hevorin family is a duke household just like the Whitestone house, but they are much more ambitious, and have been trying to reach the archduke level for decades.


    Unfortunately for them, they could achieve that only if one of the already existing archduke households gets destroyed or if they make a tremendous contribution to the kingdom. They have not accomplished either of these two conditions yet, but from what he was hearing right now, the Hevorin family does seem to be trying to.¡±


    While Ariel was thinking, Brendon started commenting on the subject at hand. ¡°They are probably planning something big, and most likely it won¡¯t be anything good. Maybe we should tell father to look into it a little.¡± Hearing her brother¡¯s words, Sarah simply nodded in agreement.


    When the twins took this outlook on the topic, Ariel felt that he didn¡¯t have to worry that much about it anymore. Soon they started speaking about other less serious things which they have experienced since their last meeting. Although later on, it was mostly the twins telling Ariel about all of the gossip around the capital.


    Like this they spent several hours in the cafeteria until they finally ran out of things to speak about. Since the talk came to a close, he decided to take the opportunity to suggest going back for a rest, because even after the afternoon nap he was still slightly tired from the long journey. ¡°I think we should go back to our rooms for the day, tomorrow will quite a difficult one.¡±


    Sarah and Brendon, hearing his words quickly agreed, since they too were a bit tired and wanted some rest before tomorrow.


    Going out of the main building, Ariel and his friends went down the road, leading to the dorms. The boy and girl dormitory were quite giant, from what he heard both of them were 4 story high, separated into 4 levels, each for their respective year, it also gets more exquisite the higher you go.


    Both dormitories are built facing opposite of each other, so they could be considered quite close. When they reached the intersection, Sarah spoke with somewhat lonely expression, while looking straight at Ariel. ¡°It seems like we have to separate here, have a nice rest, although I will be quite lonely by myself.¡±


    Brendon, while listening to his sisters words, and seeing her expression, started laughing out loud, before speaking in a joking manner. ¡°From what I see, it seems you will only be missing Ariel.¡± From Brendon¡¯s, provoking words, Sarah instantly turned red as she turned around and started running towards her dorm, while shouting something incomprehensible towards them.


    Acting as if he hasn¡¯t seen any of this, Ariel turned around and went to the boy dorm. At the same time, Brendon finally stopped laughing and caught up to him.


    As they entered the receptionist area, they went in front of the work desk and asked for their key, while stating their names. The middle aged man quickly complied and gave them their room keys.


    As Ariel looked at both of their numbers, he was surprised to see that they were the same, before casting Brendon a scrutinizing gaze. Brendon looked back before saying. ¡°What? What is the problem with using a bit of influence, to be roommates with by best friend?¡±


    Although, he was slightly pondering if a royalty should use their authority for such petty things, but he was still happy that Brendon took the effort to get them the same room.


    Quickly coming up to their room 309, the two of them opened it and saw a simple, but quite comfortable room, which was at the level of what a low rank noble would use. However for Ariel it was perfect, since he didn¡¯t have much of a need for more lavish rooms.


    Thinking that they should go to bed soon, both of them took baths in turn and went to sleep on the comfy beds, having many expectations for tomorrow.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


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 Chapter 17 - Erna Alasia

    Waking up early in the morning, Ariel saw an unfamiliar ceiling and recalled about, how yesterday he finally joined The Academy.


    Getting up to do his usual routine, he remembered that he will have to modify it a little, since he had a roommate now. Thinking for a while, he then took the school uniform, which was given to him yesterday, and wore it.


    Looking at himself in the mirror he didn¡¯t have many complaints, to him, these clothes seemed to match him quite well in all honesty. So after tidying his hair and a few other places, he finished his check up and went to look at his schedule.


    Since he has told Sarah that he was fine with what she would pick, this was the first time he saw what the will be attending, and he wasn¡¯t disappointed in it. Besides the common subjects that were required, he would attend these extra lessons, magic theory class, water magic training, familiar taming class as well as magic comprehension class.


    He wasn¡¯t against going against any of them and he even liked them very much. Today he will be going to the magic theory lesson and after that all the common stuff.. Each extra class was held once a day at different times, but it was strict in that you could go only to the one you were signed up to. Also it seems only one extra class was arranged for each day.


    As Ariel was preparing to leave through the door after confirming where he had to go today, Brendon stirred from his sleep and just when he opened his eyes, he saw Ariel ready to leave somewhere.


    Sitting up alarmingly, he looked at him with eyes wide open before speaking up. ¡°Where are you going so early, clearly there are still a few more hours until class aren¡¯t there?¡±


    People would probably be shocked to see the usual calm and graceful Brendon speak with such a sleepy expression. Only Ariel and other people close to him knew that he was an extremely laid back person and sometimes also a bit of a lazy one, too.


    Ariel didn¡¯t want to ruin his sleep, so he tried being as quite as possible, but sometimes Brendon¡¯s instincts are sharper than they needed to be. ¡°I¡¯m used to taking walks early in the morning, so I thought to go out for some fresh air before the lessons, so don¡¯t worry about me, you should go back to sleep and we can meet at the first lesson since it is the same for both of us it seems.¡±


    ¡°Oh, okay see you later.¡± Hearing Ariel¡¯s words Brendon replied and once again went back to sleep in a lazy manner, not continuing to press the issue at hand any longer.


    Seeing his friend being so carefree, Ariel could only sigh and leave through the door. After walking down the stairs, he left the dorm and continued walking through the desolate Academy.


    The reason he went out was actually because he wanted to meditate, but didn¡¯t want to reveal his capabilities just yet, so he decided to go and train besides the tree he slept under yesterday.


    Finding the place in question wasn¡¯t hard and as he sat down, Ariel started his daily training. That continued for several hours.


    Later that morning, Ariel finally finished his training. Looking up at the sky, he determined that class should be starting soon, so he got up while dusting off his pants and started walking towards the main building.


    There were already a lot more people than earlier, who were conversing and laughing with their friends while enjoying the weather. Just as Ariel was about to enter inside The Academy, a mesmerising voice suddenly called out to him from the side. ¡°Good morning, may I ask you if your name is Ariel?¡± Ariel stopped moving and turned around to see who was looking for him.


    What he saw was a stunningly beautiful girl who seemed to be even slightly higher level of a beauty than Sarah. She had long golden hair comparable to the sun and ocean blue eyes that seemed to draw you in. her figure was quite developed for her age, and the large amount of elegance exuded from her coupled with the angelic and innocent face which always had a radiant smile on it, made her desirable to any man.


    Unfortunately, even tough Ariel could appreciate beauty and found it pleasing to the eyes, but he wasn¡¯t very affected by such things on an external level and replied without hesitation. ¡°You are correct, my full name is Ariel Whitestone, may I ask who you are, and for what reason you were looking for me?¡±


    The girls smile became slightly brighter as she spoke. ¡°My name is Erna Alasia, and as you already probably know, I am your fianc¨¦e. Today I just came because I wanted to meet my future husband.¡± She said while still maintaining a calm expression, but inwardly she was evaluating him and was impressed that he wasn¡¯t stunned by her beauty, this hasn¡¯t ever happened before, while meeting a young man.


    Hearing her words, Ariel was a bit taken back, he has heard plenty about his fianc¨¦e before, but he never met her. Who knew they would run into each other so suddenly. Looking at her for a while, he had to admit that she truly worthy of being compared to Sarah, but to him she was just a beautiful stranger and nothing more.


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    Thinking about what to do, he decided to ask her something that has been bugging him for a while now. ¡°How did you know it was me?¡±


    Erna only nodded and explained. ¡°I heard about you from Sarah, not many people fit the description of outrageously handsome.¡± She said with a laugh.


    After he heard this, Ariel could only smile inwardly to this description as he nodded and turned to leave.


    Seeing this, Erna¡¯s eyes opened wide in slight shock. Most of the times, men would try to drag out the conversation to be able to speak to her longer, but unlike them, her fianc¨¦ did the opposite, wanting to finish it quickly and leave.


    This made her reevaluate him a bit and before he left, she spoke out again trying to stop him by continuing their conversation. ¡°I was thinking we should spend a bit of time together, since we will still have to marry someday and can¡¯t do anything about it. So it is better to get a little more acquainted. ¡±


    Turning back to look, Ariel had conflicting feelings, as he never had a fianc¨¦e in his previous life, forget that, he didn¡¯t even have a girlfriend. That¡¯s why this situation was a bit uncomfortable for him, and he didn¡¯t know how to reply.


    Just before he was about to refuse her instinctively, he heard a familiar voice. ¡°Oh, there you are, Ariel.¡± Hearing these words, he looked towards the entrance to the main building where there stood a beautiful blue haired girl, who of course was Sarah. She was smiling widely to him, but soon after, she suddenly saw Erna standing behind him and her smile turned slightly stiff for a moment, before she finally continued speaking.


    ¡°It seems you¡¯re here too Erna¡± Sarah said while looking a bit awkward. Luckily, for her, Ariel decided to step in and speak up himself. ¡°Yes, I just met Erna here, and after a small talk I was about to head to class, you came at quite a right time, actually.¡±


    As Ariel finished his sentence, Erna spoke her own thoughts. ¡°This is correct, I just wanted to have a chat with my fianc¨¦ and although we didn¡¯t manage to finish it we should hurry, since the lesson will be starting soon.¡± Truthfully she was a bit frustrated to have their conversation interrupted, but she wasn¡¯t really angry. It is just that, even she was a bit embarrassed to talk about their future relationship in front of her best friend.


    When they were done speaking Sarah¡¯s awkwardness was already gone, and she spoke with a slight smile. ¡°Erna will be attending magic theory as well, so it is fine that I found you at the same place.¡±


    Ariel was a bit surprised at this, but he nodded, and urged the two girls to start walking, as he saw a crowd started forming around them,, being attracted by the three extremely good looking people.


    Fortunately, they managed to get away in time, without meeting much trouble, while they headed towards the classroom and the girls started talking about some of their own stuff making the previous awkwardness feel like it never existed.


    They soon came up to the class door and went in, the classroom was already almost completely filled, but thankfully Brendon has reserved a seat for each of them.


    While they were heading to their spots in a quick manner, the whole class was staring at them. The boys were drooling over Sarah and Erna, while the girls were doing the same over Ariel. Obviously they were shocked by these newcomers.


    Reaching Brendon they, could finally relax, from having the hungry eyes on them, since their seats were at the very back and even these students weren¡¯t so audacious to do something so impolite, like turning around just to stare.


    Sitting down, their seating arrangements were like this, on the very left was Brendon and to his right was Sarah, while Ariel was sandwiched by the two girls, putting him in a very envious position.


    As they got comfortable, Brendon finally couldn¡¯t hold back and asked. ¡°I didn¡¯t think all three of you would come together, how did it end up like this?¡± Hearing this, Sarah made an unpleasant expression that only Brendon could see from his point of view.


    The next moment she spoke. ¡°I found them when they have just met, that¡¯s all.¡± Ariel and Erna decided to just keep quite on this matter.


    Seeing the face his sister was making, Brendon let out a mischievous smirk, guessing that Sarah was reminded about their engagement, which made her jealous. He has long since known about her crush, so he was about to tease her when the bell rang making him close his mouth


    Just a moment later, the class room door opened again, indicating that the teacher has, arrived.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


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 Chapter 18 - Core transformations

    Surprisingly, the one who came through the door was the teacher who was responsible for Ariel¡¯s exam. Walking up to the center while giving a glare, to those who were ogling her, she spoke. ¡°My name is Mithra Werental and also your teacher in magic theory. I just want to say that, I dislike rude and disobedient people, so I suggest you don¡¯t overstep your bound, or you will, be punished.¡± She said as she was giving a death glare to all of the students together releasing a terrifying pressure.


    Silence reigned through the classroom and nobody tried to speak up. They might be immature, but they aren¡¯t stupid and didn¡¯t want to mess with a powerful expert, when whey just started attending The Academy.


    Nodding to herself, teacher Mithra spoke again with a tone of authority. ¡°It is good that you understand your place, no matter what rank noble you are on outside, in The Academy only personal power counts, and nothing else.¡±


    While continuing to look around the quiet classroom, she seemed to have seen something which pleased her a great deal, as she let out a small smile and continued speaking. ¡°I see that there are people here, that I myself was responsible for during the exam, this makes me a bit happy." Looking the familiar people over, only on Ariel her gaze lingered for some time before she retracted it.¡± After finishing evaluating the class, she walked towards her work desk, to take something out.


    Finding what she was looking for, she turned back to face the classroom, in her hands there seemed to be a simple book and a pen. Teacher Mithra turned her eyes towards the students and spoke. ¡°Most of you probably barely know each other and it is the same for me, so we will start by introducing ourselves. As you have already heard, I am your teacher Mithra Werental and I¡¯m responsible for teaching you in magic theory. Now we will be starting from the front row.¡±


    Like this people started introducing each other one by one, usually stating only their name, title and ambition. Most of them didn¡¯t reveal important information like their affinity or rank, since it could become a disadvantage for them.


    Although none of them, actually caught Ariel¡¯s interest, and as it carried on, soon it was finally Brendon¡¯s time to speak. ¡°Greeting everyone, my name is Brendon Gleevoria and this is my sister, Sarah Gleevoria, it is a pleasure to work with you all.¡±


    While introducing himself, he unexpectedly also introduced his sister, which made it easy to see how well they got along. Tough through the whole ordeal, he exuded an aura of charisma, making everyone listen attentively and obediently, showing his aptitude to be the future king. However, soon after he finished speaking, many discussions rang out around the whole classroom.


    ¡°It¡¯s the prince I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m studying with him.¡±


    ¡°No wonder she was so beautiful, she was actually princess Sarah.¡±


    ¡°Both of them are so refined and perfect.¡±


    A lot of such kind of conversations spread through the class. Almost all of them steamed from admiration and infatuation. However because it got a bit out of hand, the teacher lashed out at them with an angry voice. ¡°Quite, you can talk after the lesson is over, so shut up!¡±


    Getting the class under control, teacher Mithra motioned to continue with the introductions. The next in line was actually Ariel, but unexpectedly, the one to stand up and speak out was Erna. ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you all today, my name is Erna Alasia, the one besides me is my fianc¨¦ Ariel Whitestone.¡±


    Ariel didn¡¯t expect Erna to introduce him. If she did it out of consideration because she noticed that he didn¡¯t like to speak, it would be fine. However, even if it is common to say a person is ones fianc¨¦ or fianc¨¦e when introducing them if its so, he though it would have been much better if she kept silent about that, as the class has, already started walking again, in matter of seconds.


    ¡°She is the Alasia family miss! I didn¡¯t think I would meet the two rumoured, ¡°potentially¡± most beautiful women of the kingdom, on the same day and at the same place as well.¡±


    ¡°So he is the ¡°Frozen Prince¡±, no wonder he was said to be so handsome, but if the information about him is true, then he most likely came here to be an official, since he is completely incapable of getting stronger, but why did he choose the magic theory class?¡±


    Many talks were starting to boil, about the two, and even the conversations about the twins were resuming, once more. The crown prince, the two most beautiful women, of the kingdom to be and also the renowned, most handsome man, this is an extremely rare line up. What¡¯s more, they are sitting together and it was obvious they were good friends. This would naturally attract a lot of attention.


    Fortunately, teacher Mithra was very strict and instantly started getting everyone, back in line by threatening them. When she was done with that, she resumed her speech ignoring the previous disturbances. ¡°Since everyone now, at least knows everyone¡¯s names, let¡¯s start learning something light. That is in correlation to the subject you will be studying this year.¡±


    Her words rang out as she walked towards the board, to write something. After she put down her chalk, they have already recognized the familiar definitions written by her.


    Teacher Mithra spoke while looking towards the students. ¡°As you see on the board, today we will start by learning about ranks and if all of you think you already know everything that there is to know. Then you are wrong.¡±


    Just as she said, on the board there were written the already well known ranks, Acolyte, Disciple, Elite, Master, Grandmaster, King, Emperor, which all the students have at least heard about.


    Not giving time for the students to voice their disapproval, the teacher continued. ¡°Ranks are essentially, definitions of strength for both mages and warriors, which are separated into ranks and levels. However, the reason they are separated like this instead of just there being levels, is because when you pass the threshold of a rank, there is always some kind of change to your Mana core, in mages case. To mages this is actually has a much bigger impact than to warriors.¡± Hearing her words, the students had to agree that they haven¡¯t heard anything about this before and continued listening, with frowns on their faces.


    While not paying them any attention, teacher Mithra continued to explain. ¡°We will start from the beginning, when you enter the Acolyte rank, it only changes by a small amount, making you Mana core only a little bit more defined. However, when one reaches the Disciple rank, your Mana core will have a larger change and will gain some of your affinity¡¯s properties, for example, if you are a fire mage, your Mana core will become slightly hot. A way to recognize that a person has reached such rank is by seeing how they fight. Disciple rank people when fighting will unknowingly release a sort of aura affecting their surroundings in accordance to their elemental affinity.¡±


    After waiting for the students to soak it in she carried on. ¡°Reaching this rank is still not hard and you only need to spend time cultivating, but the first important change, will occur stepping into the Elite rank. To do this you have to change your Mana core completely into your own element. This will give you an incomparable increase in strength and what¡¯s more, you will gain true immunity to that element.¡±


    As she said this, she ignited a big candle on her desk and put her and over it, in front of the astonished gazes of the students. After a while she retracted her hand, showing that there was not even the slightest injury on it and started lecturing again. ¡°As you have seen, I didn¡¯t get burned at all, but remember that it only works on naturally produced elements and your own magic, different peoples Mana, rejects each other, so unless the rank difference is huge, you will still be injured by it.¡±


    Many students were surprised at this, and also excited, who wouldn¡¯t like to do something other people were incapable of like walking over fire and such.


    Seeing the student¡¯s excitement, teacher Mithra let out a smile and spoke again. ¡°The most important transformation you need to know about for now, is the one you will face when breaking through into the Master rank. At this time, your Mana core will change in a major way, and will take some kind of form resembling something. It can be an animal. a weapon or any an item, or anything else. Breaking through into the Master stage is all about understanding what kind of form is best fit for you.¡±


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    When she finished her words, one of the students asked a question. ¡°Does your Mana core form represent something?¡± Hearing this question, teacher Mithra seemed to be in thought for a while before replying. ¡°Many mages tried to determine the reasons for the Mana cores shape. Some say it is the shape of your soul others say that it represents your personality, several also talk bout how it is just something you are closest to, but no one was able to prove anything.¡±


    Many students were dreaming about their own core forms and each of them were imagining something cool, like this making false hope. Teacher Mithra saw this and decided to give out a warning. ¡°What you also have to keep in mind is that the shape also determines the path of your magic should take, if you head down the path that doesn¡¯t correspond with your core then you will be much weaker comparatively to other mages. Remember my words.¡± After noticing that all of her students understood what she said, she continued lecturing.


    This peculiar information she was explaining in this lesson, was extremely interesting to Ariel, as he had experienced ¡°some¡± of the things she has mentioned, and so it made him excited to find out the shape of his own core.


    Later on, the teacher started talking about other things, that weren¡¯t that important to him, since he had already read about them before. Until finally the bell rang, signalling the end of the lesson.


    Hearing it, the teacher ended the lesson and told everyone to revise everything they learned during the week, before letting them leave.


    When Ariel was standing up, Brendon¡¯s voice rang out with a laugh mixed into it. ¡°Let¡¯s go get something to eat and talk a bit, during the break.¡±


    To his words everyone showed their approval by nodding their heads. Like so, they started heading towards the cafeteria, but as they walked. They attracted a lot of attention because of the previous commotion during the lesson, making some students to follow them.


    Not even looking at them, the four people hurried and soon reached their destination. Going in, the cafeteria was almost full of people, so they quickly got their food and went looking for a place to sit before they were all gone. Luckily, the place they sat at yesterday hasn¡¯t been taken yet, so they didn¡¯t waste time and sat down.


    The one to start talking first was once more Brendon with a cheerful voice. ¡°The lesson wasn¡¯t as boring I had thought it will be, I am now excited to see how my core will transform, in the future.¡±


    Replying to him was his sister, Sarah. ¡°The only thing you most likely like about the lesson was ogling our new teacher. Although the transformations are quite interesting, I really wonder how they are determined.¡±


    Brendon was currently sitting there shocked by his sister¡¯s vicious words being unable to respond, while Erna nodded and spoke. ¡±I hold the opinion that it represents what kind of person you are and also what you believe in.¡± They both began a heated discussion, but soon came to a dead end.


    After thinking a bit, the two turned their faces to Ariel as if asking ¡°what do you think?¡±, seeing this, Ariel replied nonchalantly. ¡°Maybe it represents your most inner desire to attain or gain something, which is out of your reach.¡± Ariel¡¯s theory seemed simple, but after some though, the girls were astonished at how profound it was


    His theory was quite unique and made them fall into deep though. Fortunately, Brendon has snapped out of his shock and changed the topic not wanting them to dwell on it, for too long. ¡°There is no reason to think about it, it is still far away for us, I am more interested about the situation between Ariel and Erna right now.¡±


    These words made Erna¡¯s bright smile stiffen a little, she herself didn¡¯t know where they stood, but they are already engaged, so she had been thinking about trying to make closer ties between them for quite some time. Because of this she took the initiative to speak. ¡°We have just met for the first time so we don¡¯t really know each other well, but I think there are no enmities between us.¡±


    Through the whole time she was speaking, Ariel didn¡¯t say a word and only slowly ate his food, as if this conversation completely didn¡¯t concern him, showing that it didn¡¯t seem to really bother him.


    Hearing her words Brendon and seeing no reaction from Ariel he seemed to be slightly disappointed, as he spoke. ¡°I had expected something more exiting, but I forgot that you haven¡¯t met each other before. You know, because of your training.¡±


    Seeing her brother so disappointed at failing to tease them, Sarah let out a snicker, while inwardly sighing in relief. Trying to steer away from the topic about their relationship, she asked her own question. ¡°Speaking of that, how, was your training?¡±


    Suddenly Erna seemed to be reminiscing after about something as she heard the question and then spoke. ¡°My teacher, named Arnold was an old experienced knight, at the very least on at Master rank, although I don¡¯t know his actual limit. Through the years, he drilled me without mercy with everything he could, from training in simple one on one combat to how to lead an army. However, inside he is a very caring person who is kind to people less fortunate than him and I¡¯m proud being his student.¡± At the end she let out a charming smile letting them know that she considered him almost as close as family.


    Not long after, the bell rang telling them that they had to go to their own, ¡°common¡± lessons. Everyone said their good byes and headed out in different ways, for now.


    Through the day they met several times and talked about all manner of things, until finally the day ended and the four people were walking down the same path as yesterday.


    At the intersection, Erna looked towards Ariel, and after some hesitation spoke. ¡°Ariel, or engagement was something we couldn¡¯t have influenced, but I¡¯m glad that my fianc¨¦ is much better than I expected, and not one of those, arrogant nobles, so thank you.¡± Turning around she started heading towards the girl dorm, not even waiting for Ariel¡¯s reply.


    Sarah followed after her with a pouty expression on her face. Being stunned for a while by her exclamation, he stared at their retreating backs for a while, before turning around and doing the same.


    At that time, Brendon started speaking while laughing. ¡°You are truly amazing, even Erna who is well known to only like strong men, doesn¡¯t seem to think bad about you. Someday you might even make her, actually fall for you. I¡¯m so jealous of how much they love you.¡±


    These words made Ariel stop and let out a sigh. Brendon stopped speaking and could see him look up at the sky with a distant look, that seemed to see much more than a normal person.


    After a moment of silence Ariel started speaking. ¡°Love, it is something quite foreign to me, so I don¡¯t know if it is worth being jealous of, but I heard it is something you can¡¯t live without once having a taste of it. What I would not give to experience it? Maybe I could finally feel a bit of happiness?¡± Ariel knew that he cares about for his mother, but he still feels that there is something that is missing for him. For so long he wanted to understand that single emotion, yet was never capable of it. Neither in this world, or the previous one.


    While thinking about it, he let out a small yet elegant smile, which carried unimaginable sorrow. Several second later he again started heading to the dorm, without turning back to look at stunned Brendon.


    He on the other hand was still too shocked to move, he had been with Ariel for so long, but this was the first time he had seen him smile, what¡¯s more, it looked so unbearably sad. Ariel¡¯s sentence rang in his ears nonstop and couldn¡¯t understand it, completely. However, he knew that he was feeling pain because of something to do with love and that it seemed to be a taboo topic for him.


    Ariel is his best friend, so he snapped out of his daze and after some thought, steeled himself to find out the source of his sadness at a later date. Right then, he saw how far away his friend was already and ran to catch up. Like this, finally ending their first day at The Academy.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 19 - Bonding at the library

    The first week passed in a flash, and Ariel got a better grasp on the lessons, he will be attending from now on besides the magic theory that he had already learned about.


    His second specialized class was water magic class. This was quite beneficial towards his understanding about his affinity, though only partially, since water wasn¡¯t everything to ice. Also, he noticed that he wasn¡¯t the only ¡°officer¡± who was attending this class. There were two others, who just like him were excused from actual practise.


    Although it remains unknown if they do, have magic capabilities. Ariel got in through the officer exam and there were also others like him who wanted to hide their power, since even Sarah and Brendon did the same.


    Next up, was a class about familiars. In this lesson the whole attention is focused on familiars that are usually monster, or how they more commonly called among the mages, magic beasts. The students will be going to get their familiars soon, but first they have to pass a test of basic knowledge.


    This includes how to make a contract, what do various magic beasts like and dislike also their habitats and other such things, so they could increase their chances in being successful in it.


    Last but not least was the magic comprehension class. The name might be strange and can make you misunderstand what it is about. However, Ariel found this lesson to be of utmost importance. If you had to describe what it is about, then you could say it is about everything that has any, tiny relation to magic.


    All magic plants, minerals, items, creatures, places and much more are spoken about in this class. Every person needs to know about these things if they are travelling, governing or are seeking something of magic origin. So undoubtedly it would be important for Ariel, who was planning on travelling around in the future, since he won¡¯t be taking over the family anyways and doesn¡¯t have any other responsibilities.


    He also found out, that the storage ring he was given by his mother the night before leaving, was also a magic item, and also a rare one. Every magic item that twists space is difficult to create, so even his low ranked one which has little room is extremely expensive.


    The rest of the lessons were just the common math, language, history, geography and such. Not anything that he actually needed. But he couldn¡¯t complain since, he is the one who was abnormal here, having large knowledge about all of these things.


    Over all, Ariel thought of this week as being very worthwhile. He didn¡¯t regret coming here one bit. Although right now he was in an exited mood. Today is the weekend and he has made plans to meet up with his friend at the cafeteria to spend some time, but it is much later in the day, and right now he is going to and important place for him, to wait for it.


    Standing in front of a big door, which was situated at the far side of the school, he could see a plate above it, with the word library engraved on it.


    This was The Blue Sky Academy¡¯s famous library that he had wanted to visit for years. Today he finally gets a chance to look through it.


    Opening the doors and walking in, he could instantly see an enormous space with uncountable amount of books in front of him. Even though the Whitestone library could be considered not bad, this was on a completely different level.


    Everywhere you would look you could see shelves, full of books and smell the ink and paper in the air. After standing like this and admiring the picture for a while, he finally snapped out of it.


    Looking around, he noticed the reception table to the left of him. Behind it, there was an old man with completely white hair and seemingly weak body. However, he was surrounded by the air of wisdom, which made people unable to look down on him. Currently he seemed to be reading a book of some sorts.


    Coming closer to him, Ariel showed proper etiquette. ¡°Greetings elder, I have come today with the intention to read some books. May I ask for some directions?¡± For the first time since he entered, the old man looked up at Ariel, drawing away his eyes from the book he was reading, and let out a warm smile. ¡°It seems we have a polite one here. What would you be looking for?¡± He asked while warmly looking at him, like a kind grandfather would.


    Ariel responded in a quick fashion, as he has already planed what to say, even before coming here. ¡°I¡¯m just looking for things about water magic and anything related to it. I chose it as something to study and it has truly caught my interest.¡± Ariel¡¯s reason was a bit sceptical, but the librarian didn¡¯t pursue the matter and just directed Ariel with a smile. ¡°Go forwards then turn left at the first intersection, after that turn right at the next one and you¡¯ll be there.¡±


    Feeling grateful for the directions, Ariel gave a small bow and started walking with out further ado. As he followed the directions, he soon came up to a section that had ¡°water magic¡± written next to it.


    Giving a quick look around, Ariel was extremely happy to see all kind of things related to water magic. There were books about magic items, plants, magic beasts and other things related to this specific element.


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    However, the main reason he came here, was to look for a meditation technique fit for him. Variation magic is very rare, and finding several same variation magic¡¯s is even more difficult, so there is no way they would be able to have enough books to make separate sections for them. That is why they are usually put near the elements they were closest too, just like Ariel¡¯s ice magic is closely linked with water.


    After thinking for a while, to not raise suspicion, he gathered several other books together with one that he thought, held ice magic and techniques. Going towards the reading tables, he sat down and started slowly flipping through all of the books.


    Several hours after the beginning of his search, he finally finished all of the books he picked out. For normal people it would probably bring enormous shock knowing his reading speed, but Ariel would only think of it as normal. He has been reading books in his previous world and even in this one, all the time.


    As he put down the last book, he was very excited from the results of his reading, since he has found much more than he bargained for. Just as he had thought, he found several ice meditation techniques and picked the one that he liked the most, named ¡°Nine Winter Shade Meditation¡±. He is yet to try it out, but he was sure that this was the one most fit for him. Besides this he had also found many recorded spells fit for ice magic.


    His arsenal has increased by a substantial amount since the fight against the silver scaled viper, but it was still far from enough, so he wanted to get more spells as fast as possible. Fortunately, Ariel was already very familiar with spell structures and had confidence in being able to reconstruct them for his own need. He was planning on using all of the spells he found, he only needed time.


    Because of these findings, he was in a happy mood, as he was putting back the read books in their original places. When he finished cleaning up and decided to finally leave, a voice, coming from behind, startled him. ¡°Is that you Ariel? I didn¡¯t think I would find you here.¡± Turning around, Ariel saw the beautiful golden haired girl, Erna standing behind him, with several books in her arms.


    While calming down, he replied in a composed manner. ¡°I am very passionate about books, so it is not surprising I would be here, though I guess you wouldn¡¯t know that.¡± He answered.


    Erna stood there surprised for while before nodding and speaking. ¡°I see.¡± Soon she seemed to start getting awkward standing there like that.


    Seeing her like this, Ariel didn¡¯t really know what to do. In the past week, their relationship definitely improved. Now they are able to casually speak without feeling awkward, but they were still not that close as two engaged people should be. That¡¯s why meeting randomly like this would be a little uncomfortable.


    Standing for a moment, he decided to ask her a question, on his own accord to dispel her awkwardness, before leaving. As he looked towards the books she was holding, he asked. ¡°It seems you also like books, almost as much as me.¡±  Looking down, Erna couldn¡¯t help but smile and say. ¡°Besides training and spending time with Sarah, reading was the only pleasure I could enjoy.¡±


    Ariel nodded in understanding and started leaving, when Erna called out to him. ¡°Since you are here, maybe you would want to talk about some books, it is actually something we have in common, and I don¡¯t really have other friends who hold the same interest.¡± Ariel could only agree while looking at embarrassed face, he didn¡¯t want to make it even more difficult for her and also, it was the same for him. Neither, Sarah nor Brendon had as big of an interest in books as him, so he had to acknowledge that he felt slightly happy about finding someone like himself.


    He sat down without a word and let the excited Erna start by herself. As their conversation about books started, they were still speaking a bit reservedly, but soon it broke out into a heated discussion which lasted for more than an hour. When it finally ended, both of them felt relieved being able to speak out their mind.


    At that time, Ariel looked towards the giant clock on the library wall and remembered that he had to go to the cafeteria to meet up with Sarah and Brendon.


    Standing up, he spoke to Erna. ¡°It seems we spent quite a bit of time, Sarah and Brendon are already waiting.¡± Hearing his words, Erna let out a brilliant and happy smile. She was extremely happy to have been able to have such a fun conversation. Unknowingly, her opinion of Ariel has increased by a huge amount and she quickly agreed to his words.


    They tidied up the books and quickly left the library, heading to the cafeteria to meet up with their friends that were waiting for them there.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 20 - Bastard No. 2

    Entering the cafeteria, they saw that it was almost completely empty. Many students, on weekends would go visit their family or travel to the town, to have some fun with their friends, so only a small amount of people stay in The Academy to do something.


    Looking around, they noticed Brendon and Sarah sitting in the usual place at the back, with a lot of food on the table. While walking up they were soon seen by them and both of them made a unique expression. Brendon¡¯s was that of surprise, while Sarah¡¯s expression seemed to have become a bit sour.


    When they finally go close enough to speak, Brendon took the initiative to greet them, as well as ask a question. ¡°Hi, how come you came here together like this?¡± The curiosity was evident in his voice.


    Ariel casually answered him in a simple way. ¡°As I have already told you before, I went to the library to read some books, and by chance I met her there doing the same. We talked for a while and lost ourselves for a bit, when the time came to meet up with you, naturally we went together.¡± This was quite a common incident to happen, but Brendon wouldn¡¯t give up this chance to tease his sister so easily.


    In an honest look, like he had just remembered something, he responded. ¡°Now that I think about it, Erna always did seem to be fond of books. I guess you found something in common, this should greatly help improve your relationship.¡± Saying this, Brendon sent a mischievous smirk towards his sister. She noticed this, and as a result her eyes started becoming slightly colder.


    On the other hand, his words made Erna¡¯s smile stiffen a little, making her feel quite awkward about talking on this topic, while standing right next to Ariel. She stood there for a good while, thinking how to respond.


    In the mean time, Sarah mouth was twitching a bit and her clenched fists seemed to want to beat Brendon to a bloody pulp, at the same time, her eyes were releasing a chilling killing intent.


    Seeing her expression, Brendon broke out in cold sweat, knowing that he went too far this time. He knows that it is fine teasing Sarah a little, but he also knows how scary she could become when angered.


    He quickly decided to grab on to a life line and spoke towards his best friend. ¡°Ariel you should sit down and grab something to eat. You must have gotten hungry reading for so long.¡± Seeing that Brendon was trying to desperately change the topic, Ariel decided to help out his friend and spoke. ¡°In fact I am feeling quite hungry, thank you for the offer.¡± He sat down in an elegant manner and started picking something from what was already on the table.


    Erna followed suit, and also sat down to fill her stomach and at the same time taking the chance to erase her feeling of awkwardness.


    While still feeling his sisters angry gaze on him, Brendon let out a sigh of relief, feeling lucky that he didn¡¯t get ¡°punished¡±, which is probably attributed to Ariel being here, since she wouldn¡¯t want to show ¡°that¡± side of her, in front of him. Feeling grateful towards his best friend¡¯s existence, he decided to quickly think up of an interesting topic, which would further bury his previous words.


    Managing to come up with one quite easily, he spoke out. ¡°By the way, Ariel, have you already heard of the newcomer dueling competition that is happening in three weeks time?¡± Brendon asked.


    Lifting his head from his food, Ariel answered in an uninterested voice. ¡°It¡¯s the competition where every single new student has to fight someone, isn¡¯t it?¡± He only knows the most basic definition of the event, excluding, all the bullying and superiority battles.


    Sarah besides her brother nodded to his explanation. ¡°This is definitely what it was intended for, but now students usually make use of this competition to settle their personal grudges and bully the weak people. You don¡¯t have much fighting capabilities, so you must be careful and tell us if anyone has bad intentions towards you.¡± Sarah¡¯s expression was that of extreme worry and concern, even while speaking, she seemed to be very strict about her warning. Her show of care truly made him feel happy to have such great friends.


    As he was thinking, Brendon spoke again in a more positive tone. ¡°Not counting those fools who ruin the event, it can become quite a fun show to watch. I will try to get some good seats to watch the competition, so that after our fights we could get some enjoyment out of it.¡± Brendon was clearly interested in seeing the other freshmen abilities and wanted to see some exiting and unusual fights.


    Right after Brendon finished speaking Erna, on Ariel¡¯s side, joined in on the conversation. ¡°You have to accept at least a single duel, or you will be expelled, but the possible rewards for showing great promised are certainly worth it.¡± Erna spoke her opinion, which caught Ariel¡¯s interest.


    Turning to look at her he asked. ¡°What are the prizes, to make even you say it was worth it?¡± Ariel thought that as an archduke¡¯s daughter, they surely must be something money couldn¡¯t easily buy.


    Erna gave some thought, before replying. ¡°It is always different, but from what I heard, some past times there were powerful magic items, beasts, unique spells, growth enhancers and other such things. What¡¯s more, it is personally given by the top level people of The Academy, which is a huge honor in itself.¡±


    Ariel was surprised, the given items weren¡¯t something that unique, but if it was considered precious, then they must have been of a very high level, what made him even more curious was the higher ups she had mentioned, so he decided to ask about it. ¡°How powerful are they?¡±


    This time, the one to answer was Brendon. ¡°Each of them, don¡¯t have to show respect even to kings themselves. I don¡¯t know their actual power rank, but you can guess that they are extremely powerful.¡± Brendon¡¯s words made Ariel become awed by the powerful people who had the right to act as they liked. This was exactly what he had wished to achieve, even in his previous life, but failed. Now he gets another and a much more likely, chance.


    Suddenly, he recalled the old man he ran into in the corridor, which propelled him to ask about him. ¡°Do you know anything about an old person with white hair, blue eyes and expensive dark blue clothes with gold trimmings¡­?¡± Giving the best description he could recall, he threw the question about the old man towards Brendon.


    Thinking for a while with serious look on his face, he responded. ¡°I don¡¯t recall anyone resembling the person you described, but from his clothes he should be a high ranking elder, maybe you will get a chance to ask somebody more informed, about him in the future.¡± Brendon couldn¡¯t think of anyone and only gave a helpless sigh.


    Ariel felt slightly down cast thinking about this elusive old man, when he heard a happy voice full of pride and arrogance that was originating from somewhere near them, in the cafeteria. ¡°If it isn¡¯t my princess, I have been looking everywhere for you, since some time ago.¡±


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    Turning his head to the side, Ariel could see a tall, decently built youth, seemingly around the same age as him. He had a head of black hair and dull, grey eyes, his face could easily be called handsome, which was full of self confidence. Currently he was walking towards them, while smiling.


    Undoubtedly he was the one who called out to them, Ariel turned to look to Sarah, since she was the only princess here, but she only shrugged her shoulders. Turning to look at the only other woman in the room he let out a sigh. Since it wasn¡¯t Sarah, the only other person he could have spoken to was Erna and ¡°princess¡± should be a nickname he gave her.


    Ariel looked towards Erna¡¯s face, only to see her frown. From the young man¡¯s words they seemed to be quite intimate, but her expression was telling him that this was not so.


    When the youth finally stood right in front of the table, he spoke again, while looking at Erna. ¡°We haven¡¯t seen each other for quite some time shouldn¡¯t you at least be saying hello?¡± He obviously was thinking that they were quite close. Erna however didn¡¯t share those same feelings. ¡°Lord Vern Hevorin, I don¡¯t recall being that close to you, so maybe you wouldn¡¯t talk so familiar to me.¡±


    Hearing the name she spoke, Ariel instantly recalled who he was. The one in front of him was the heir of Hevorin duke house, which he had previously discussed about, how they were acting slightly suspicious. They have long since wanted to become archdukes and now that Erna¡¯s family only has her as an heir, it would be quite easy to merge their families if she would become his wife. This was most likely what they are gunning for.


    Unfortunately for him, Erna disliked Vern very much, because of his frivolous personality, so she quickly rebuked him, while unconsciously inching towards Ariel.


    Vern furrowed his eyebrows as he spoke. ¡°Don¡¯t be like this. Our parents are thinking of us as a perfect couple, I think we should spend more time together to get to know each other more.¡± He shamelessly spoke those words, but suddenly, he noticed Ariel by Erna¡¯s side, towards who she was moving towards. Seeing his unbelievably handsome looks, his face instantly fell as he started getting jealous, which was clearly heard in this voice. ¡°And who might this be, also why is he acting so close to you?¡± It could be seen that he was extremely hostile to him, as if he had slept with his wife.


    Ariel just politely introduced himself in a composed manner. He knew that showing any weakness is bad in these situations. ¡°My name is Ariel Whitestone, a freshman from the officer branch.¡± Hearing his introduction, ridicule appeared on Vern¡¯s face. After hearing Ariel¡¯s introduction, he thought that there is no way he would lose to a useless person like him, no matter how handsome he was. But Erna¡¯s next words made him petrified. ¡°He is my fianc¨¦ and you should show some respect to him.


    Vern¡¯s face started to contort in anger as he remembered where he had previously heard the name Ariel. As far as he knows, he is basically a cripple who was lucky enough, to be engaged to his future wife, as well as his number one enemy. He instantly protested to Erna. ¡°How is a weakling better than me in any way? To me it seems like he is not fit of you¡±


    It was obvious from his words that he wasn¡¯t putting Ariel in his eyes, which made the twins get even angrier from his presence than before, but not having time to do anything, Erna lashed out in an aggressive tone. ¡°No matter how you see it, for me he is at least many times better than you, so shut up and don¡¯t try to dictate who I should be close to.¡±


    Her sharp words left Vern speechless, but he quickly started to rage. ¡°If he is so good, then he wouldn¡¯t be scared to duel me at the competition would he?¡± Vern had a hideous expression on his face as he spoke.


    The face of the three people quickly fell and they wanted to protest, but they were silenced by Ariel¡¯s unexpected words. ¡°If you are so adamant about it, then I will accept.¡± Clearly, his words were surprising even to Vern although soon he started to laugh and speak. ¡°I guess you at least have so courage and here I though you barely know how to speak. I will take pleasure in showing my princess how worthless you are.¡± It seemed learning that Erna didn¡¯t have much of a liking towards him, made him explode.


    After finishing speaking, he turned around and after giving his last glance towards Erna, he walked out of the cafeteria.


    Silence rained over the table for a moment, but soon, Erna started shouting. ¡°Why did you accept it? He is obviously not planning to let you off, that easily.¡± She was very angry at him for accepting, as well as angry at herself for involving him. She only wanted to make Vern stop pursuing her by quickly rejecting him, but she didn¡¯t expect that it would end up like this.


    The twins didn¡¯t speak however their faces betrayed their thoughts. Ariel calmly replied. ¡°I couldn¡¯t decline it, since even if you did something about him, he would just send other people¡± He has long since though about all the possibilities that could happen and their outcomes.


    Erna however couldn¡¯t accept it as she spoke. ¡°You could have had me challenge you, if so he couldn¡¯t force you.¡± Hearing her words Ariel nodded in acceptance, but spoke words which made her unable to reply. ¡°I could have done that, but that would completely ruin your prestige.¡± His words made her feel even more, guilty, but he still continued. ¡°However, the most important reason I did it, was because there comes a time, when a person has to prove his worth to himself in situations like these, or he will regret it for the rest of his life.¡±


    His last sentence left the three speechless. They felt that no matter what they said, it would only end up as an insult to him. Seeing his friends like this, he spoke again, in a softer tone this time. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. You should know that I never risk, without having a plan. It also seems to be getting late. I should be heading back first, see you all, by the way, you shouldn¡¯t be staying up too late, its bad for your health.¡±


    After saying this, Ariel stood up and left without looking back, just like he usually does. However this time it left a much more profound impression, as the person in question was obviously less nervous about this problem, than his friends who had nothing to do with it. This left them smiling helplessly, as they saw Ariel¡¯s shadow disappear into the doorway.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 21 - "Date" part 1

    The next morning Ariel was doing his usual training routine at the usual place in the courtyard. He has been trying out the ¡°Nine Winter Shade Meditation¡± method he found as well as trying to recreate the spells to fit him.


    The training method he found was truly amazing, it seemed to be concentrated on refining Mana through nine different and peculier methods, due to this his Mana absorption increased several time and his Mana is also getting refined into being much more pure and increasingly more powerful. However, he feels like there is something missing to this meditation technique that is crucial to the improvement of his power, but no matter for how long he thought, he couldn¡¯t put a finger on it.


    Apart from that, he still hasn¡¯t had any luck with recreating the new spell, which disappointed him. Although this thought, would probably make the senior mages drop dead, because of this ridiculous wish, especially when there are a lot of people who even after countless years are unable to use magic with out chanting.


    As he was training and trying to comprehend his new skills he suddenly heard very light footsteps coming towards him, in a quick fashion. Opening up his eyes, he saw the two girls he was quite well acquainted to, rushing towards him.


    Of course these two were Sarah and Erna, but before Ariel could greet and ask them what¡¯s the rush, the beautiful blue haired girl started speaking. ¡°Ariel, we have been looking for you wanting to invite you to go visit the city.¡±


    He was a bit stunned by the proposal coming out of no where, but it made him remember that he wanted to visit it before. Because of this he didn¡¯t really have a problem with it, so he nodded absentmindedly. To his acceptance, the previous, kind of gloomy Erna, broke out into a smile, before shouting. ¡°Great!¡±


    They were obviously exited to go to the city with him, but Ariel decided to as about the Brendon, who seemed to be missing here. ¡°Where is Brendon, will he not be going?¡± Hearing him, the girls didn¡¯t seem to care much, as Sarah casually responded. ¡°My brother went to visit father and also to take care of some minor stuff, so he won¡¯t be at the Academy until Monday.¡±


    Ariel felt slightly surprised, but he soon remembered that it was quite common for him. Even in the past years he spent with Brendon, he would constantly return to visit his father, even when his sister Sarah would stay back to stay for a while longer with Ariel.


    He quickly snapped out of his though process, as he felt like the two girls were growing a bit impatient. He let out a sigh before speaking. ¡°I will go back to my room to get ready a little. Let¡¯s meet up at the gate.¡± The two nodded and seemed to have gone to do the same.


    Back in his room, he tidied up his appearance and bedroom, took some money, and did all of the other little necessities, just in case.


    When he reached the gate, the sun was already a bit higher in the sky. Ariel had to wait for quite some time, after arriving himself. As he saw them finally coming, he felt shock, since they were beautifully dressed up, not in an overbearing way, but a subtle one, making their natural beauty stand out even more, without looking strange. Although Ariel felt disturbed, since he started to feel like he was going on a double date.


    Seeing his gaze, Sarah turned very red, while Erna felt satisfaction for being able to make the cold him, stare at her like this.


    They stood there for a while checking each other out, before Sarah finally spoke after getting back her composure. ¡°Do you think we look good?¡± At her words Ariel only nodded, which made the smiles of the two, even brighter, as Erna started speaking. ¡°We should be going now. We don¡¯t want to return too late


    Agreeing to her statement, Ariel tried to ignore his new found appreciation for their beauty, and just followed the girls towards the city, since he himself has zero experience visiting it and didn¡¯t know the way, unlike these two.


    As they started going down the main street, Sarah asked. ¡°Where would you like to go, Ariel? There are a lot of interesting places all around the city, but we will only be able to do some shopping today. Maybe when the holidays start, we will be able to make a longer visit.¡± He just shrugged his shoulders before replying. ¡°I have never been here and don¡¯t know anything about this city, so anywhere you think is good, I¡¯m fine with it.¡± Sarah nodded and replied with a smile. ¡°Okay, then let¡¯s go to the main market first, there is always some interesting stuff there.¡±


    As they started heading to the main market, Ariel took his time to observe the surroundings. The streets were even more active than when he was passing by here towards The Academy, there were so many people now that it was a bit ridiculous, as you could see every one of them scurrying to do something and the guards trying to keep everything in order.


    The outlay of the city itself was quite satisfying for him. Ariel could appreciate the good planning as well as the simple, yet excellent architecture that perfectly fit in with the medieval period. There were also many workshops and statues on the way, that attracted his attention in the same way.


    While he was evaluating the look of the city, they finally reached the main market. His first impression was that there seemed to actually be several times more people than any other place in the city. There were countless shouts from people advertising their goods and voices that were bargaining with one another, making out a very lively picture.


    Erna, who was leading the way, suddenly started commenting on the market. ¡°There are ridiculous amount of items you can find here, most of it is garbage, but if you get lucky you might find a treasure here.¡± Sarah only nodded in understanding, while Ariel got the impression that these two are very familiar with such places, and it might even be their hobby to look for interesting stuff.


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    They spent a lot of time browsing the stalls and looking at all kind of items. Some of it was strange, some unique, others expensive looking, but all of it was quite interesting. After several hours of window shopping, they started planning to head out to visit some city, clothe stores. However, the girls thought that it would be a shame coming here and not buying anything, so soon Sarah gave a suggestion. ¡°Let¡¯s buy each other an accessory, it doesn¡¯t have to be expensive just something to remember. Like this we will at least, get something out of it¡±


    Erna seemed to agree to her statement and spoke her own opinion. ¡°I think we should have Ariel buy us something, and we could buy something for him. Since he is a boy, I am interested to see what he picks.¡± Both of them looked towards Ariel with high expectations in their eyes, making Ariel feel helpless, but unable to disagree.


    They didn¡¯t look for a long time and found a popular accessory stall, selling quality jewellery. Since he was a man, he decided to be the first one to buy the girls, something. He looked at the merchandise and started carefully pick the potential gifts. He was a bit scared of bringing upon, himself their wrath by picking something trashy, so he put a lot of thought in it.


    Soon he decided on what to buy, which he though were very fitting for each of them. For Sarah he picked blue earrings in the shape of tear drops, the material they were made from seemed to be quite rare and advertising, and although it didn¡¯t look too extravagant, the simple aspect of them would help bring out the contrast with her beautiful hair and eyes.


    The jewellery he picked for Erna was a silver hairpin in the shape of a phoenix. It would look amazing on her as it seemed to be made by a master craftsman, who put a lot of effort into its details, making it look as if it was alive.


    These two peaces were quite expensive and the top quality products of this stall, but seeing the beautiful smiles on the girls faces when they got their gifts made it seem worth it. When they finished gloating about their new accessories, they finally started picking something for him.


    Spending a lot of time, they looked through each one of the accessories one by one, looking for the best one for him. Only when looking over the last ones, did they finally they seem to have found something they were satisfied with. What they picked for him was a broach in the form of an extremely beautiful, blue, rose like flower, but what shocked him, was the close resemblance to the flowers he would make using his magic.


    Curiosity got the better of him and he decided to ask a question. ¡°Why did you pick this one out all of the rest?¡± Looking at him for a while, Erna finally responded. ¡°It just has the same feeling as you. I can¡¯t really explain it well.¡± Hearing her words, Ariel inwardly let out an ironic smile, now he truly thought that maybe magic affinities, people are born with, aren¡¯t just luck. It is too much of a coincidence that he is so well fit for his own magic if it was just luck, but he didn¡¯t have time to ponder about that now.


    As they went up to the merchant to finish the transaction, the middle aged man praised their purchase. ¡°You have great taste. All of them are first class products, although the flower is a bit weird.¡± His strange words ignited some interest in them, making them ask about what he meant. ¡°What do you mean, is there a problem with it?¡± While scratching his head, he replied. ¡°You see, no matter how you try to warm it, it will always stay cold, to the point that it is unnatural.¡± The three were surprised at this, but it only made it more unique and an even a better gift. That¡¯s why they quickly bough it, and even got a discount on everything for buying the flower.


    Like this they left the market, going onto the main road. Sarah seemed to be satisfied with the gift they picked so she urged him and Erna to start moving to their next destination, the clothe shop.


    While happily walking through the streets, the two girls were excitedly talking among themselves, mostly about what kind of clothes they want to buy. It seems like this world is also changing as time passes by, before people would only wear, a couple types of clothing, but now it seem to be slowly changing into what¡¯s it like back on earth. Everyone now is trying be fashionable and tried changing clothes as commonly as possible.


    Reaching their destination, Ariel looked up at the shops signboard that read, ¡®Gold tailor shop¡¯ on it. Entering inside, he saw many different clothes fit for both men and women, letting out a sigh he understood that they will be here for a while, so he started looking for a place to sit down.


    Unfortunately for him, the girls grabbed him by the shoulders while asking. ¡°Where are you going, you are the main person who will be modelling.¡±


    These words made Ariel fall into despair, as now he could relate to the people back on earth who were put through this all the time, by their girlfriends. However, he didn¡¯t have anywhere to run and could only resign to his fate, while looking at the clothes the girls were picking out for him.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 22 - "Date" part 2

    Time went by as the girls picked his clothing. He had already tried out many different combinations yet the girls were always unsatisfied.


    Right now he was wearing an expensive and elegant set of green clothes, with red accents on them. Unfortunately the girls only looked at him for a second before shaking their heads and complaining. ¡°This won¡¯t do, we need something different.¡± Sarah nodded at Erna¡¯s words and went to get the other set of clothes.


    Ariel let out a sigh and started changing his outfit. This time it was blue ball clothes, a colour he was quite fond of. The clothes themselves also looked refined and marvellous it was much to his liking, but it was the girls who were giving out orders so he could only hope they would end with this.


    As he showed himself in the new clothes the girls nodded with slight regret in their eyes after inspecting him for some time. This time it was Sarah who spoke up. ¡°Blue truly is what fits you the best. I guess there is no reason to continue trying on the others.¡± Ariel could finally let out a breath of relief since the girls finally decided on it.


    However he soon found out that rating the clothes of the girls was even more tiring for him than trying them on. It seemed that women truly have an unexplainable amount of endurance when it comes to clothes. They tried countless sets of clothes and Ariel always had to give his opinion on them or they would start getting angry.


    There were clothes that looked better than others on them, but all of them still fit them perfectly. Clothes might make the man, but seemingly it¡¯s the girls that make the clothes.


    After several hours of this exhausting work they finally picked everything they wanted. Unlike Ariel who settled with a single set of clothes, the girls each picked a whole mountain of them. He didn¡¯t even believe that they would be able to wear all of them before they grow out of all of these.


    The girls however were very adamant about it, saying that he underestimated their capabilities in changing clothes, which left him astonished. Finishing their business they left the building, and at that moment Erna suggested he thoughts. ¡°Its already quite late, we should go eat before going back.¡±


    Looking up, they could see that the sky was already tuning dark. They spent a lot of time in the main market, all the way from until noon. Now even more hours passed and the day was unknowingly coming to a close.


    However, as they were starting heading out to look for a restaurant, Ariel felt several people spying on them. They didn¡¯t seem very experience, but there were quite a lot of them making it slightly dangerous.


    He did not want to ruin the day for the girls so he spoke out while beginning to leave. ¡°You girls go look for a restaurant and take up a table. I just remembered that I want to check on something, I will be right back.¡±


    The girls seemed a little surprised at his words and asked. ¡°Do you need our help in anything? If you want to get somewhere we know most of the city.¡± The girls were quite curious and tried volunteering to help, but Ariel didn¡¯t have any interest in taking them with him. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I know how to get there, you just go find some place to eat and I will come back soon.¡±


    The girls wanted to go with him, but his rejection left no room their arguments so they could only nod at his words. Few moments later, Erna seemed to have recovered her wits and started speaking. ¡°We will be going to the restaurant called Naurance, It shouldn¡¯t be difficult to find, if you ask someone for directions.¡±


    Hearing the name Ariel imprinted it in his mind and replied. ¡°I understand, my business shouldn¡¯t take long. I¡¯ll see you later.¡± Turning around he left in a fast pace without looking back.


    The girls could only look at his back as it slowly furthered away. When he couldn¡¯t be seen anymore Sarah let out a sigh frustration, Erna seeing this, spoke. ¡°We should go take up some seats or we will not have anywhere to eat.¡± Sarah agreed to her words, and they started moving.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


    In an alleyway close the clothes shop Ariel and the girls have been to. There were a bunch of rugged looking men talking among themselves.


    ¡°Boss should we attack them now? The golden haired brat is gone now.¡±


    The one to respond was a giant man with enormous muscles that stood out in a majorly, he seemed to be in his mid forty¡¯s and had decent stature, but with the messy hair, unshaved beard and the mean look on his face, he seemed like one of those generic thugs or bandits you would come across in an adventure story.


    This man let out a deep voice as he spoke. ¡°That brat wasn¡¯t the problem from the start, as far as I heard he is just a normal person who is not capable of any melee combat or magic. What we are waiting for is the time that there won¡¯t be as many people as now to see our attack. We will wait until they start returning home.¡± The man seemed to be the leader of this group of thugs and his orders were obediently carried out.


    However, as he finished speaking, the middle aged man heard a voice from behind them. ¡°You seem quite confident about achieving your goal.¡± The voice spooked the men, and they quickly turned around to see who sneaked up on them. Soon however they let out a breath of relief seeing that the person was exactly the useless boy their boss was talking about before.


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    The leader seeing Ariel let out an arrogant sneer. ¡°You actually got lucky and found us, but who would have though that you would be so stupid and show yourself like this. Even if you have a rational look on your face you were incapable of even telling some guard or other people about us before coming. This was your lethal mistake.¡± The intruder Ariel didn¡¯t look agitated in any way under the threatening glares of the thugs.


    Seeing that these people were adamant about silencing him as fast as possible he didn¡¯t bother being polite. ¡°What a nice joke, truly befitting a clown like you. You¡¯re incapable of even comprehending the difference between us.¡± Ariel¡¯s mocking words struck a nerve of his. What the middle aged man hated the most was being belittled, especially by a kid who is also supposed to be a weakling.


    Letting out a snarl the leader drew his one handed sword and was about to charge at him. Unfortunately for him, Ariel wasn¡¯t in the mood to play with him and was already prepared to deal with them as soon as they started attacking.


    Ariel held out his hands, and cast another of his basic spells, he has learned in these past few years. This spell was about manifesting an ice ball covered in spikes, simple yet destructive weapon that he decided to call ¡°Frost bolt¡±.


    When the bandit leader has finally notice the spell it was already too late. Ariel shot out the frost blot which crashed straight into his chest, completely demolishing his ribs and upper organs and resulting in an instantaneous death.


    The rest of the group was dumbstruck not understanding what happened, but Ariel didn¡¯t give any time for them to respond. He clicked his fingers as if it was a signal and all of the spikes on his frost bolt shot out in different directions. Most of the thugs were hit by several of them and died, but there were two lucky ones among them who survived.


    One was hit by a single spike in his leg letting him live, while the other one was standing behind someone and hasn¡¯t been hit at all.


    Seeing the death of their comrades and experiencing the attack, both of them snapped out of their daze, the one who was injured cried out in pain and fell down not being able to move. The other one fell on his behind while trying to retreat, but the fear made his feet unresponsive.


    Ariel slowly manifested an ice spear and walked towards him like an executioner. The thug instantly started begging for mercy. ¡°I am sorry, please don¡¯t hurt me, I will do anything you ask.¡± Hearing his words Ariel only sneered as he responded. ¡°Show mercy? I wouldn¡¯t care what you would do or survive, but trying to attack me or people close to me will result only in their death.¡± Not waiting for the thug to speak again he plunged the ice spear into the person¡¯s throat without hesitation and after making sure he was dead, slowly pulled it out.


    The next moment he directed his gaze at the last survivor who has already pissed himself from fear and was about to start running away. Not wanting him to get away Ariel froze the ground beneath him, making it slippery enough for the bandit to fall down again.


    Noticing what happened, the man looked back behind him only to see a spear made of ice flying towards him and impaling his body directly through his heart. The man¡¯s eyes grew dim and he fell to the ground lifelessly.


    Looking around after some time of waiting Ariel let out a sigh of relief, the group was instantly crushed by him not letting them to counterattack and ended perfectly.


    Remembering that he should hurry before anyone walk by here, he retracted his Mana from the ice making it so that it would melt much quicker, in the end leaving no evidence of his magic.


    Finishing that he came closer to the dead leader and started searching through his body, trying to find a clue why they were planning to attack the girls.


    In the end his search yielded only a single result, a coin pouch. This pouch had more than a hundred gold coins, you might ask why it would be strange. Well the thing is that this is a very large amount of money, for normal people that is.


    The currency goes like this one hundred copper is worth one silver, one hundred silver is worth one gold and one hundred gold is worth one platinum. Five coppers can fee a big family for a month. So there was no way some simple thugs could be carrying so much money unless someone hired them to do something important.


    It is safe to say that they were most likely hired by someone to do something to either Sarah or Erna, maybe even both. Furrowing his eyebrows he tried to think who might have done it.


    Unfortunately he couldn¡¯t think of anyone, he would have liked to interrogate one of them, but in such groups the only who might know something was their boss. Unfortunately he was a bit to strong to be so easily subdued without a sneak attack.


    He let out a sigh and decided to return to the girls before they get worried. As he almost walked out of the alleyway, he suddenly looked back with complicated feeling in his heart about how he killed somebody for the first, yet he didn¡¯t feel anything about it as if it was natural. Letting out an ironic, self ridiculing smile, he walked away.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 23 - Start of the competition

    After coming out of the alleyway Ariel decided to ask a passerby about where is the restaurant Erna has mentioned before. The person he questioned gave simple instructions and he found out it was actually quite close to his current location.


    He walked down the street for a couple of minutes and soon saw the Naurance restaurant. From a single look you could guess that it was high classed one.


    Walking in Ariel saw that it had a quiet and relaxing atmosphere about it. The interior was well designed and pleasing to the eyes making Ariel rate it highly in his mind, before he started his search.


    Looking around he notice Sarah and Erna sitting at a four people table near the window, absorbed in their personal talk. He unhurriedly walked up to them and spoke. ¡°Hi, I am sorry for the delay.¡±


    The girls were spooked by his unexpected voice and quickly turned around to look at him. After recognizing that it was Ariel they both smiled at him and Sarah responded. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you didn¡¯t spend that much time away and we already ordered some food for you by the way.¡± Being friends with him for many years she already knew his eating habits quite well. She didn¡¯t even need to ask what he would eat.


    Ariel felt grateful for it and thanked her. ¡°I appreciate it.¡± As he spoke he took his seat besides Sarah since he was much closer with her. Although that did garner him some conflicting looks from Erna, but he decided to ignore them.


    Sarah seemed pleased with it and instantly engaged him in a conversation. ¡°So where did you go?¡± Her question was quite understandable, but he didn¡¯t want to tell them the truth so he responded in an ambiguous way. ¡°It was nothing important you don¡¯t have to worry about it.¡± The girls seemed quite unsatisfied by his answer. However they clearly understood that he didn¡¯t want to share it with them, for one reason or another since he didn¡¯t tell them directly so they didn¡¯t pursue the matter.


    Forgetting about it the girls decide to start up a simple conversation to pass the time until their food arrives.


    After about and hour of waiting the dishes were finally presented to them. Erna seemed to have picked a lot of more healthy food, most likely something drilled into her by her teacher. Sarah chose a lot of extravagant food full of unique meant and fruits making her almost look like a gourmet. Ariel, well, most of it was quite sweet substances he didn¡¯t know why, but he always had an extreme sweet tooth.


    Seeing his food which was comprised mostly of desserts like ice cream and cakes, Erna seemed to frown a bit before speaking. ¡°You really need to eat something healthier. All this is bad for your body.¡± Ariel looked up at her as he replied. ¡°I always ate like this so I think it would be hard to change my diet. Also I don¡¯t really want to, more so considering that with my weak body I need a lot of immediate energy¡± After responding he went back to enjoying his food while Erna just let out a sigh of frustration and continued eating.


    The dinner ended quickly leaving each of them satisfied. After finishing eating Erna accidently cast her gaze on Ariel and became lost in thought. Seeing this Ariel curiously asked her. ¡°Is something wrong with me for you to look so seriously at my face lie this?¡± Being snapped out of her daze, she turned red from embarrassment and turned her eyes away from his face before responding. ¡°Don¡¯t say stupid things! I was just worrying about the duel you arranged yesterday.¡±


    Her bashful response made him amused, but Erna¡¯s words ignited a response from Sarah. ¡°I¡¯m also worried about it. If it becomes dangerous, please give up even if it hurts your pride. Your life is much more important than it.¡± As she spoke Sarah was looking towards him with teary eyes filled with worry making him unable to reject her request.


    He nodded his head as he tried consoling the two. ¡°Was there a time when I acted without thinking it through? Don¡¯t worry I am not stupid and I care for my well being.¡± Sarah could only agree with his words and closed up this topic.


    They spent some more time chatting about other things until it got dark and Ariel finally lead them back to the dormitories. Saying their good byes they headed back to rest after this long day.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


    Three weeks have passed since their trip to the city, combined with the first week from before Ariel has already spent a whole month at The Academy.


    Since one month passed from the start of the school year it meant that today was the day that the newcomer dueling competition will be happening at the stadium which is located at the back of The Academy.


    Leaving his dormitory which was already empty he walked down the path towards the Arena while recalling his entry number. The numbers were meant for the seats during the competition. Brendon has managed to get some quite good ones and Ariel will the only one there at the moment since all three of their matches will be almost at the very start, while his one will be near the end.


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    Walking up to the entrance there stood a young teacher, who was in charge of checking the tickets and the competitors. Walking up to him, Ariel stretched out his ticket to be appraised. After making sure that the ticket wasn¡¯t a fake one he let out a smile and spoke. ¡°Everything is fine so you may go in. Please enjoy the show.¡±


    Giving a polite bow as thanks, Ariel continued into the stadium. Exiting into the outer area he was amazed by the amount of people that were there was at least several thousand, most of them were in groups talking among themselves about the freshmen who will be fighting.


    It didn¡¯t take long for him to reawaken from his shock and gain back his composure, and then go look for his seat. As he walked a lot of people sent admiring look at him thanks to his looks, but he has long since learned to just ignore them. He spent some time looking for the seats under the gazes of the audience until he finally found them, and Brendon was truly correct, the seats were almost perfect, you could see the whole arena from them yet they weren¡¯t far enough for the spectators to not see the fine details of the fights.


    Ariel admired Brendon¡¯s choice as he sat down and made himself comfortable, waiting for the duels to start.


    Only a small amount of passed until the announcer declared the start of the event. You could see all of the powerful and important people sitting at the VIP seats already waiting for the entertainment to start.


    Several first fights were nothing impressive, only battles between minor characters. Although soon the first battle Ariel actually cared about, began. It was Brendon against an unknown well built warrior.


    From what he knows, Brendon and Sarah at the late Disciple rank. This is considered being a genius, but if it will be enough to win the duel? That is hard to say.


    As Brendon started circulating Mana an aura of calming water seemed to form around him. This happens when a mage enters the Disciple rank and shows itself whenever a person starts using a large amount of Mana.


    When the duel began Brendon instantly cast a spell creating a wall of water in front of him, cutting him off from the opponent. After this he started quickly bombarding him with simple water balls as the warrior charged, trying to get around the wall of water.


    The match quickly got into a stalemate, Brendon might be the only one able to attack, but he always has to keep up the pressure and has to cast another water wall when needed which wastes a lot of Mana.


    Both warriors and mages use up their energy while fighting, but mages tend to use it up quicker than warriors and are more like glass cannons. Thankfully Brendon seemed to be of higher level than his opponent, or he might be in a much more difficult spot, especially since he always likes the battle of attrition approach. He usually makes use of his defense and healing spells to tire out his opponents and win like that. This time he seemed to be also doing the same.


    Of course Brendon still held some advantage because it is his opponent who was under more pressure and couldn¡¯t do anything at all. If a single bullet would hit him, it could turn the battle, completely one sided.


    As they continued their fight, the warrior seemed to be getting impatient which was noticed by Brendon who decided to turn the battle to his favor by showing a fake opening and leading his opponent into a trap. The warrior seeing the small chance of victory took the bait and charged in at full speed bypassing Brendon¡¯s defenses, trying to finish it in a single strike.


    Unfortunately for him, his carelessness made him walk straight into Brendon¡¯s trap. When he passed through the water wall he saw the spell Brendon was busy chanting, the grand water cannon magic.


    This was a powerful wide ranged water magic which could easily knock him unconscious if it made contact. However he hadn¡¯t thought that he would use it since if he missed, he¡¯d have no Mana left. The only reason he did actually use it was because Brendon¡¯s opponent forgot to be cautious and got to close to him under unfavorable circumstances.


    When the warrior, finally notice that he was tricked, it was already too late as Brendon released his spell, blasting him away and knocking him out.


    As soon as the referee declared that Brendon was the winner, the whole stadium shook form the applause. This was the first match that had some excitement so this result was obvious.


    Brendon let out a joyous smile and turning around, headed back to the waiting hall, most probably to get ready and come here.


    Satisfied with the match Ariel relaxed into his chair in a happy mood and started waiting for Brendon.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 24 - Duels

    After some time of waiting, Ariel heard shouts coming from the right of him. Turning his head he saw Brendon walking towards him from, the entrance with a big smile on his face. All the people around him were staring at him with reverence and worship in their in their eyes as he walked by. Brendon¡¯s previous fight left a deep impression on all of them making him stand out to them.


    As he came closer Brendon held up his hand and gave a greeting. ¡°Did you see, I was awesome wasn¡¯t I? He didn¡¯t even leave a scratch on me.¡± He seemed to be awfully proud of his victory since as he spoke he let out an excited smile.


    Looking at him Ariel inwardly smiled while responding. ¡°Yes, you defeated that lower level opponent than yourself so impressively that probably no one could have done it better than you.¡± His words made Brendon¡¯s smile freeze ad made him speak ¡°Why do I feel like your words were drowned in sarcasm?¡±


    At his words Ariel only shrugged his shoulders. ¡°I think you¡¯re imagining it.¡± Brendon stood there for a while almost as if petrified and didn¡¯t move a muscle. Only after several minutes did he sit down besides Ariel without speaking another word.


    The competition continued as the time went by, some matches were interesting, but most of them held no excitement, mostly those that involved officers, who would instantly surrender. When about ten matches passed, Ariel finally heard Sarah¡¯s name being called out.


    She seemed to actually have quite a large fan club since as she entered many cheers rang out through the stadium. On the other hand, her opponent was less popular, but still garnered a lot of attention. She seemed to be a pretty cute girl with brown hair and green eyes. Her specialization was that of an earth mage, quite a bad match up against water which Sarah used.


    Ariel started felling slightly worried because of this, but at that time Brendon spoke from the side, as if knowing what he was thinking. ¡°If you are worrying about Sarah, then you shouldn¡¯t. You haven¡¯t actually seen or heard how she fights right?¡± At his words, Ariel spoke in agreement. ¡°That¡¯s correct. Won¡¯t she be in trouble from fighting an earth mage?¡±


    Brendon smiled as he explained. ¡°It would be correct if you were talking about normal water mages, but Sarah is a bit different. You see, our linage has a special trait, most of the people born in the royal family will have the water affinity, but sometimes they also get a specific variation.¡±


    His words shocked Ariel. Variations are extremely rare and everyone desired them, form the way he was speaking, Sarah had this so called variation. ¡°Yes, you have probably already guessed that Sarah was born with a variation which is born in our bloodline, it turns her water magic acidic. This adds a very large damage boost that dwarfs normal water magic, but the trade off is the lack of healing and support spells she can use.¡± From what Ariel heard it was mostly orientated about attack and can be extremely destructive, but Brendon spoke as if it wasn¡¯t that special.


    Curious he decided to ask about it. ¡°Even if it is only good for attacking isn¡¯t it still precious, why does it seem like you don¡¯t think it is that impressive.¡± Brendon smiled at him and spoke. ¡°You don¡¯t know much about this do you, well, variations that are passed by bloodline aren¡¯t very impressive, they are usually weaker than the original and could only, maybe be compared to dual elements. They also are already well known by others, unless it is a family or a clan that is really good at hiding secrets, so Sarah¡¯s magic doesn¡¯t make anyone alarmed.¡±


    Ariel truly felt that he found out a lot of new thing today, about magic that might help him in the future. However as they spoke Sarah completely dominated the arena, she was like a bulldozer melting every wall and attack that her opponent threw at her, making the brown haired girls quickly give up.


    From what Ariel seen it was fortunate that she was not all powerful and could only overpower her opponent like this because her general power level was higher.


    The crowd let out countless cheers as she left the arena after winning while Arial and Brendon just waited for her to come up.


    They didn¡¯t have to wait for long until they heard another wave of noise from the side, similar to the one Brendon garnered. Turning to look, of course they saw Sarah happily jogging towards them.


    She quickly came up to them while speaking her boasting words to Ariel. ¡°Wasn¡¯t I string? That girl lost so fast that I couldn¡¯t even display my true power to you.¡± Sarah was clearly boasting and trying to get some attention from Ariel, but he couldn¡¯t really find anything wrong in her words so he spoke a slight praise.¡± Yes were really impressed, I also didn¡¯t know you had a bloodline variation.¡± Ariel is already close to being able to see affinities, but there is still a small wall preventing him so currently he can only see other people Mana.


    Hearing his praise Sarah only put up an even more proud expression on her beautiful face. As she spoke ¡°That¡¯s right. My water magic has acidic properties which let me melt almost anything instantly unless it has much more Mana stored inside than I used. If Vern does something to you, just say it and I will melt off his face¡±


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    Ariel nodded, but seeing her slightly pale complexion, spoke in a calm voice. ¡°Your magic is really powerful, but you should sit down now, from what I see it also takes a lot out of you so you should rest a bit.¡± Sarah understood that Ariel saw through her fatigue and obediently sat down to the right of Ariel since the left was already taken up by Brendon.


    Jus as she made herself comfortable they heard the announcer¡¯s voice. ¡°The next person to fight will be Erna Alasia!¡± Hearing their friends name they turned to look at the stage where a beautiful and heroic girl walked out under the cheers of the audience.


    Unlike her usual smiling expression, her face was resolute and serious, seemingly ready for any situation as she held a rapier in her right hand. While Brendon fought being laid back, Sarah being a ¡°proper¡± lady, Erna looked like a valiant swordswoman and sharp as a sword, giving Ariel a completely different impression than before.


    Her opponent was a youth who wasn¡¯t handsome, but he also wasn¡¯t ugly. He had black hair with soft brown eyes. His build was slightly muscular, although not tall. From what he heard from the announcer, he was the same as Erna, a battle mage a person going down the path of both sword and magic.


    Erna practices the rapier together with her wind and light magic while this youth seemingly used a great sword combined with earth magic similarly to Sarah¡¯s opponent.


    As the fight began, it looked like Erna wasn¡¯t one to drag out her fights. She cast the wind rider spell which was usually used by mages to escape since it gave a large boost to agility, but battle mages could use it to attack.


    She charged over, while stabbing towards her opponent, trying to give a heavy blow to him, but the youth used his great sword to deflect it without being pushed back at all. Erna seemingly didn¡¯t expect to succeed as she maneuvered to the side of him and let out a slash without any delay.


    The youth had guessed her intentions and has already cast an earth wall spell to defend. But what he didn¡¯t foresee was Erna casting a light affinity spell radiant blade overlapped with her sword. The rapier easily cut through the earth wall and left an injury spanning from the youth¡¯s right shoulder to his chest.


    It was a grave injury, but the youth seemed to be experienced as he quickly changed his great sword to his left hand and slashed at Erna¡¯s body. Unfortunately for him Erna dodged by ducking under his sword and charged at him with abnormal speed.


    She let out two stabs that both pierced each of his legs. Then she went behind him and then slashed across his back. The opponent was stunned, but after some time he fell down, passed out from his wounds. This whole match lasted only a couple second making the viewers sdazed, but soon they broke out in cheers as the medic came up to check on the youth¡¯s condition.


    Erna didn¡¯t pay any attention to the audience and quickly left the arena after it was confirmed that she won. Ariel and the others felt extremely satisfied with this outcome and discussed the fight while waiting for her.


    There is no need to mentions that when she finally came the people were even more exited than when Brendon and Sarah arrived. A she came closer Ariel couldn¡¯t stop himself from praising her. ¡°Your battle was wonderful. I haven¡¯t though your fighting capabilities would be so impressive.¡± To his words of praise Erna just let out a charming smile like always, completely different to her fierce expression during combat. To the side however, his words made a certain blue haired beauty frown a little.


    In response to his praise, Erna started speaking humbly. ¡°It is nothing amazing, I had a powerful teacher. So this should be expected. I am more worried about you. You are fighting next if something happens please just give up.¡± Her last words were filled with worry and the two people besides him also had the same concern in their eyes after hearing her speak.


    Ariel shook his head from side to side as he got up and spoke. ¡°How many times do I have to tell you to stop worrying? I never jump head first into everything without a plan.¡± His words seemingly made his friends ease up a bit and Brendon asked him. ¡°So what¡¯s your plan?¡±


    As Ariel was about to leave he turned back his head and spoke. ¡°I am planning on crushing him.¡± When he finished his sentence he continued walking towards the exit while ignoring his dumbfounded friends behind him.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 25 - Ariels battle

    Walking through the corridor towards the waiting hall Ariel noticed that most of the corridors didn¡¯t have any decorations in them. They were quite wide and spacious, but all of the walls were just made out of plain, white marble, besides that there was only a blue carpet fully covering the ground.


    Since there wasn¡¯t anything interesting about the decorations he spent the whole time thinking up plans of how to deal with Vern if something unexpected happened. That although was very unlikely.


    When Ariel finally reached the door, he quietly entered the waiting hall and noticed that it was quite a spacious room with some decorations like pictures and weapons on the wall apart from that there were comfortable seats for the competitors to sit on while waiting.


    Looking over the students he didn¡¯t see anyone that would attract his attention or threaten him and just found a free seat where he could wait until his match began.


    After waiting for about ten minutes, one of The Academy¡¯s workers slowly came up to him and started informing him. ¡°Mr. Ariel, the next match will be you against Mr. Vern so please prepare in the mean time.¡± Nodding gratefully at the man Ariel stood up preparing to go to the arena for his match.


    Unexpectedly someone stood in his way as he wanted to walk through the doorway. Directing his gaze at the person Ariel was slightly stunned to find that the one standing in front of him was actually his older brother James.


    He has matured quite a bit since he last saw him, he appeared to be slightly less childish and his looks also improved, but the golden hair and piercing green eyes similar to their fathers remained the same.


    Ariel simply stood there and waited for James to start speaking, thankfully he didn¡¯t have to wait for long since soon James opened his mouth. ¡°I truly cannot understand. How exactly have you become so stupid? You actually accepted Vern¡¯s challenge to fight, he will completely destroy you. I am also annoyed that he thinks he is worthy of Erna, but you are powerless against him so just give up and let me take care of it.¡±


    Hearing James words Ariel looked at him strangely, trying to understand why did actually come and say this. As Ariel eyes stopped on James face he could see that it still held the same proud look as if he was the most important person around, yet Ariel could also see something in his expression that wasn¡¯t there before and he didn¡¯t understand it.


    He was about to speak, but at the last moment decided to keep his breath and simply walked past James without replying. This made his brother furious as his face contorted in anger and he instantly walked away after letting out a mocking sneer. But not before saying his last words. ¡°You should stop being so arrogant with nothing to back it up, or someday you¡¯ll regret it.¡±


    Ariel heard this, but it only made him more confused of why was his brother giving advice to him. However now he didn¡¯t have time to think about it and just continued forward.


    Going out into the spotlight Ariel saw the already familiar stage and could hear many cheers directed at Vern¡¯s entrance. He seemed be quite popular with the students because of his status looks and strength, on the other hand, when it was Ariel¡¯s turn most of them were just awed by his handsome appearance, but didn¡¯t have any hope that he would be a fit opponent for Vern.


    No one could truly blame them, so far all of the battles between an officer and his opponent ended in the officer giving up as soon as the match begun. However soon they will be shown how mistaken they are.


    As Ariel came up onto the stage he could see Vern standing on the other side with his handsome face holding the same arrogant smirk like before. Over his school uniform he wore a red robe, signifying that he was a fire mage.


    When Vern saw Ariel, his smile became more ferocious as he spoke. ¡°So you didn¡¯t run away. That¡¯s perfect I can show you up in front of all these students and teachers. I will make sure to mess up your face so much that Erna won¡¯t be able to even look at you.¡±  Vern continued spouting his threats as if he had already won which made feel Ariel annoyed, so he responded. ¡°How long will keep talking, I am pretty sure it is a battle of fighting and not one of talking bullshit.¡±


    Ariel¡¯s sharp words made Vern taken aback and also ticked off as he let out his last threat. ¡°If you want to experience humiliation sooner I can help you with that.¡± Finishing his sentence, Vern drew his staff common for apprentice mages and prepared to cast his spells.


    Seeing that the two of them stopped talking, the referee declared the start of the battle. Vern instantly started chanting a spell while still having that degrading smile on his face. Mean while Ariel only stood there, not moving from his spot at all.


    Noticing that Ariel wasn¡¯t planning on surrendering the whole audience felt shocked even the referee was thinking if something was wrong with Ariel.


    Just at that time, Vern finished his spell, flame burst, which can make the area the caster designated ignite in a fearsome flame. The unmoving Ariel was engulfed easily by the roaring fire, making the spectator gasp at the sight.


    The referee wanted to intervene, but the flames were still covering Ariel and he had to first check his condition according to rules before he could do anything. Vern on the other hand wore a smug expression as he watched the burning flames. He had from the start not thought that Ariel could be a worthy opponent to him.


    When all the people have already came to the conclusion that Ariel would be lucky to survive, his cold and indifferent voice sounded from within the fire. ¡°Is this the best you are capable of? This might be enough to roast some meat, but to me it feels more comfortable than threatening.¡±


    Hearing his words Vern, who was already planning on turning around and leaving, stopped in his tracks and looked back with shock clearly visible in his eyes. The roaring fire which looked like it could burn anything slowly changed.


    At first it wasn¡¯t visible, but soon the audience noticed that the flames were actually started freezing over. Bit by bit it turned completely into solid ice, and then shattered.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    What appeared was Ariel, standing there like nothing happened. The only thing that was different was the cold aura covering him that signified that he has entered the Disciple rank. Unknown to them, he has reached Elite rank just before entering into The Academy and this didn¡¯t go unnoticed by the teachers.


    However, what attracted the most attention was his affinity of ice. The spectators weren¡¯t stupid and knew that ice wasn¡¯t a common element and could only belong to a variant. A variant mage without a corresponding bloodline meant he was a pure variant and had the highest realm of talent. All the teachers watching the duel had their mouths wide open, the audience was completely speechless and even Vern felt his legs growing weak.


    Ariel¡¯s friends just like everyone else were shocked beyond belief as their eyes were about to pop out. Only Ariel¡¯s footsteps still rang out through the silent stadium.


    Getting his wits back together Vern looked towards his opponent, only to see two emotionless and cold eyes stare back at him, making his blood freeze over and reminding him how ineffective his spell was. Seeing fear on Vern¡¯s face Ariel continued slowly walking while speaking. ¡°Where did your courage disappear to? Didn¡¯t you say that you¡¯ll show me my place before? Or were those all empty words?¡± As Ariel walked the ground beneath him froze over as if making way for a king.


    His words made Vern furious and humiliated, slightly lessening his fear as he spoke back. ¡°Do you think just because you have variant magic you¡¯re stronger? Too bad for you fire is the perfect counter for your magic.¡± Vern has long since lost his cool and completely forgot the possible level difference between them as he started casting another spell.


    Finishing it in a second he let out a cry as he let it loose. ¡°Let¡¯s see how you take this.¡± The simple fire bolt he cast easily traveled through the air and once more landed a direct hit on Ariel, again engulfing him in flames. Seeing this, Vern let out a satisfied smile, but it soon it stiffened when the dust started clearing.


    Ariel was standing there unaffected, and in front of him there was a shield made of ice protecting his entire body. This display magic made the higher ups of the school breath in cold air in surprise. This time Ariel used magic with no incantations, showing that he could use magic with out chants, which was impossible even to most senior mages. Such talent was simply too extraordinary and once again made the mages lose their wits.


    For the one fighting him however it was frightening. All the previous composure Vern had slowly fell apart as he started letting out more fire blasts towards Ariel, which seemingly did nothing.


    When he was already quite close to him Vern decided to take on a different approach. He started casting another spell he hasn¡¯t used before. Just as he finished it he unleashed its power. The spell he used was flame bullet, a spell that let out a barrage of fire attacks which went at the opponent from all possible angels.


    Unfortunately for Vern, when they were about to make contact, two more ice shields appeared around Ariel instantly blocking every single flame bullet.


    Seeing his last ditch effort fail and also noticing how little Mana he had left, Vern completely lost his cool and took several steps back, Ariel in the mean time let out a sigh of disappointment and spoke again. ¡°You only reached this measly level and are already so arrogant. What a pathetic person, I don¡¯t have any more time to play with you. I will show you how worthless you are.¡±


    Ending his words Ariel manifested a beautiful ice spear engraved with all kind of patters making it look majestic and at the same time very delicate. Vern understood that this time Ariel will finally start his attack and tried defending himself by quickly casting a flame wall in front of him.


    However his power was way to low to pose any defiance against Ariel¡¯s ice spear and it went right through with only barely noticeable melting on it. Being a mage Vern didn¡¯t have very good physique and barely managed to move his body as the spear penetrated his left shoulder.


    Feeling the pain, Vern let out a miserable shriek as he started rolling around in his own blood. Ariel although, moved without slowing down and stopped right in front of him.


    When the pain slightly subsided, Vern noticed Ariel standing besides him and fear instantly crept into his heart. Barely able to speak comprehensible words he started desperately shouting. ¡°Do you think my family will let you go? If you go further you¡¯ll regret it trash.¡±


    His shouts were in vain as Ariel didn¡¯t pay them any heed and spoke. ¡°I don¡¯t feel the need to fear the words of a pathetic man like you. Enjoy the pain while it last.¡± When Ariel finished speaking, Vern felt how his body started freezing over.


    Looking down he saw that the lower half of his body was already froze and started shouting. ¡°No, no, no. You can¡¯t, stop, STOP.¡± Vern didn¡¯t have time to finish his sentence as he completely turned to ice, leaving only an unsightly ice sculpture.


    Vern won¡¯t die, but he will definitely have a painful frost bite for many months to come. The audience which was petrified through the whole thing suddenly came alive and broke out into cheers. The teachers also held satisfied expressions while looking at Ariel as he left the stage, not paying mind to the frozen Vern.


    Ariel didn¡¯t feel like this was an accomplishment as he heard the praises, to him Vern was no more than a bug he could crush any day. He was much more interested in finding a worthy opponent to test his limits. This thought traversed his mind as he exited the arena.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 26 - POVs of James and Sarah

    James Whitestone POV


    My name is James Whitestone, born in the duke household of Whitestone as the heir of the duke. From my youngest days father would tell me that I will be the future of the family and had to become as strong and intelligent as possible, since I will be responsible for its future development


    I was born with the perfect body of out bloodline, making me a genius battle mage in creation, who would latter have a chance to become a holy knight of the church.


    You might think that my life was perfect because of this, but there was always something that frustrated me. Besides me there was also my younger brother, born with a sickly body and no light magic that is common to our linage.


    You could say he was a useless person when it came to fighting, but I still held hatred towards him. The reason being is that even though he was weak, he gained many other things which made me jealous.


    The first thing was out mother¡¯s love and attention. Most of the time I was looked after by our father, but it was obvious that even the rare occasions when we were together, she paid much more attention to my brother, Ariel, than me. Every time I saw her so caring towards him made my anger boil.


    When we grew a little I found another thing I hated about him, his face, he was much more handsome than me, to the point that he could even be called divine. Not to mention how intelligent he was, all tests on basic subject our father prepared were always answered by him perfectly. Although I wasn¡¯t bad looking and quite smart, I still hated the feeling of inferiority when I looked at him.


    These two things I could actually still live with, but what made me unable to control myself was my meeting with my first love, Erna Alasia. We first met at a party dedicated to the start of her training and she was the most beautiful girls I have ever seen. At that time I swore that I would pursue her no matter what and make her my wife. However those dreams soon shattered when I found out that she was my brother¡¯s fianc¨¦e.


    I pleaded father to cancel their engagement and pick me to instead of him, but our father was a person with his own morals and although he favored me over my brother, he would never abuse him in any way.


    The only thing left for me was to give up. As time went by I manage to control my hatred, but soon I was hit once more. On the party celebrating my breakthrough, I saw the two royal twins attending it. My whole attention however was focused on the princess, Sarah who was just as beautiful Erna, only in a different way.


    Once more I fell in love and waited until these two would come to talk with me, but it ended in both of them actually talking with Ariel. I couldn¡¯t believe it and went to confront them. In the end I was humiliated and could clearly see that Sarah, the second woman I fell in love with, became infatuated with my brother¡¯s looks. I completely lost the feeling of love since.


    These are the main things why I held such deep hatred for Ariel. From out early childhood I would always bully and insult him. He however was always the same indifferent him, reading books and never showing any emotions, making even my deep hatred dull over time. His intelligence was completely beyond me and the cold expression he wore made even me unable to understand his emotions and thoughts.


    When I started attending The Academy, I experienced great many things and slowly managed to mature due to interacting with so many people. However on the freshman competition in my second year I managed to hear that my brother was actually going to fight Vern, heir of one of the duke houses. This made me shocked and at the same time slightly concerned.


    He wasn¡¯t too talented, but he was still a mid level Disciple. Defeating Ariel for him would be beyond easy and I had already heard that he was in love with my brother¡¯s fianc¨¦e Erna just like me, so most likely he won¡¯t let Ariel off that easily.


    Years in The Academy made me feel less enmity towards my brother what¡¯s more it also concerned the reputation of out family. Because of this I met up with Ariel before the match to tell him to surrender, but the same emotionless eyes as always showed me that he didn¡¯t have any such plans.


    This made me angry, thinking of how arrogant he was as he walked past me without uttering a single word. Even though I wanted to help him due to my small, family concern I had for him, he completely ignored it.


    I angrily turned around and returned to my seat to watch my brother¡¯s failure. Soon his match began and he instantly was caught in one of Vern¡¯s spells, making me break out in sweat. However, what came next completely shocked me. The flames engulfing my brother froze and shattered, revealing him with an aura that only a mage could have.


    From only a single look it was obvious that he had the renowned variant magic, control over ice. The match quickly turned around and Vern was completely crushed, yet I still hadn¡¯t awakened from my shock.


    Only after the match was long over had I come to my senses and understood that my brother, was completely incomprehensible to me.


    Sarah Gleevoria POV


    My given name is Sarah Gleevoria, the first princess of the Gelath Kingdom and the only sibling I ever had was my elder twin brother Brendon, who is the crown prince of our Kingdom and the person I am closest to in the whole family.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Since young age we were taught how to proper etiquette, politics, common knowledge and other such things. Like this we were also slowly taught how to hide our true emotions and wear a mask for out feelings.


    This was of course not without reason. As we grew older, countless people tried to get into our graces, gain benefits and harbored other, such despicable goals.


    As a result both me, and my brother grew up without any true friends except Erna Alasia, but even with her we could only meet rarely. Because we could talk only with each other about what was truly on our minds, making our connection stronger.


    This however changed on one evening at a duke son¡¯s celebration party. We were sent to pay respects to the Whitestone household and give the usual polite routine we were so used to.


    Completely coincidently our attention was caught by a person who was lonely sitting by a window, watching the bright moon. All the people around him seemed to be avoiding him, so we decided to find out the reason.


    As we came closer we got a much better look at him and were completely shocked. This person was a young boy our age, and also the most handsome boy I had ever seen. He had shining gold hair and transparent white skin comparable to that of a woman¡¯s. His face was beautiful with a defined jaw, raised cheek bones and lavish, thin lips.


    Together with the elegant and majestic clothes he appeared like a prince charming, the atmosphere of indifference around him only made the look of him even more majestic and imposing.


    I was bewitched by him at first sight and only looking at him made my hear beat in an unusual rhythm, which made me confused. My brother similarly, was stunned, but what he was impressed by was the boy¡¯s attitude and the way he carried himself, as if he was an emperor and others didn¡¯t deserve any of his attention.


    From the talks of the other noblemen we found out that he was the rumored ¡°Frozen Prince¡±. We had also heard about him, this nickname originated from people evaluating him as the most handsome man in the Kingdom and also because of his indifferent and cold attitude.


    Unfortunately he was also called trash because he would never be able to be strong due to his weak constitution and lack of magic affinity.


    We felt intrigued and tried to engage him in a conversation as we walked over. When he turned to face us we could see his two beautiful, cold blue eyes that seemed to pierce through our souls. Only after a while of talking we stopped being as awkward and became more at ease.


    Through the whole encounter we became seemingly closer as he, Ariel, became slightly more open to us. There was also a moment where his brother came and tried to degrade him, but we were shocked when his brother James moved back in fear from as single sentence. Even tough he looked at me lustfully the whole time like most men, for some reason his fear of Ariel overshadowed it.


    Besides this there wasn¡¯t anything else too important until our first meeting was over. Since that time, over the years we met many more times and became closer and closer. To Brendon he became his best friend, while I felt my unnatural feelings grow stronger as I began to understand them.


    What I felt the first time meeting him was undoubtedly love. Unfortunately when we all started attending at The Academy he met with his fianc¨¦e Erna. It made me once more remember that he was engaged and also made me not know how to feel about my best friend.


    Although it is not forbidden in our Kingdom to marry many women, but I never know what Ariel is feeling. Of course it is obvious he thinks of me as a friend, but it is unlikely that he feels love towards me.


    If I was engaged to him then maybe my chances would be larger, but Ariel wouldn¡¯t go out of his way to marry me if he didn¡¯t love me. That¡¯s why I was completely stuck on what to do.


    After some time I decide to just try to pursue him as strongly as I can, I came to the conclusion that there was no harm in trying and maybe someday I would be able to move Ariel¡¯s heart.


    One day however he accepted a duel from Vern, an heir of a duke family. All of us tried to persuade him, but it was in vein. When the day of the competition finally came we were completely shocked by him.


    Ariel revealed himself to be a mage, and not only a simple one, but a variant. His beautiful ice magic crushed Vern and at the same time it also bewitched me all over again, this time it was Ariel¡¯s might and power, the heroic and resolute aura that he naturally exuded which did it.


    This performance made me even more resolved to reach for his love. I felt that Ariel was meant for great things and I want to be by his side when he accomplishes them.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 27 - The prizes

    After the duel Ariel went back the way he came, through the gates. He didn¡¯t sustain any injuries in the battle, if fact not even a speck of dust landed on his clothes so he didn¡¯t need to stay in the waiting room to neither change his outfit nor treat his wounds. That¡¯s why he simply walked passed the room without stopping even for a moment, but the gazes filled with astonishments and shock form the competitors due to his performance still followed him with every step he took.


    Only when he left the room he could slightly relax and feel more at ease with no one looking at him, as he walked through the long, white and boring corridors. There were many different intersections in his path however thanks to his memory he didn¡¯t find it difficult to find his way back and it didn¡¯t take him that much time.


    Soon he found the exit leading into the platform which had the seats of the audience on it. Walking out, he instantly heard shouts and noise made by the people who noticed him and their speechless expressions returned when remembering what happened, not to long ago. The noise from their excited and astonished voices was surprisingly much lauder than when any of his friends came here. Although most people would be happy about this attention, but to Ariel it felt more like a nuisance than something that would increase his ego.


    Looking towards his seat from before the first thing he saw was Sarah standing there with worship visible in her beautiful, ocean blue eyes. Her astounding snow white skin was flushed from excitement due to his reveal and it go redder the as Ariel came closer.


    Just when Ariel stepped into the conversation distance, Sarah¡¯s soft pink lips formed into a smile as she spoke. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell us you could use magic? What¡¯s more you¡¯re a variant it is extremely rare talent which is desired by everybody, even I became a bit unsightly from your performance.¡± No matter how you looked at her it was obvious she was extremely happy finding out about Ariel¡¯s capabilities and couldn¡¯t hold her excitement, but who could blame her, even the other two who had much less passionate personalities couldn¡¯t hide their emotions from appearing on their faces.


    The usual casual and laid back Brendon didn¡¯t have any of his laziness on his handsome face, as his lips were curved upwards and happiness was basically oozing from him as he tried stopping himself from shaking. His lively eyes gazed at Ariel while he added on to Sarah¡¯s words. ¡°You really gave us a surprise today, I always though that god made a mistake by not giving you talent, but it seems like god isn¡¯t a fool after all.¡± At the end of his words he gave out a hearty laugh of satisfaction, almost as if to prove his point.


    On the side, Erna still remained graceful like always, but her trembling body betrayed her emotions as she started prising him. ¡±Never would I have though you would hide you strength for so long and reach such a level without any ones help. I have a new found appreciation for you.¡± Her were extremely soft and full of amazement, but she soon noticed the slight tired look on Ariel¡¯s face and spoke with some concern.


    ¡°However you should sit down before we start asking more questions, even if it looked easy you must have spent some of your endurance from the way you look.¡± From her gentle tone as she spoke and her eyes, Ariel felt that, unknowingly her affection when speaking to him increased by quite a bit, but didn¡¯t pay mind.


    Listening to her words Ariel sat down at his spot from before for some rest waiting for them to start questioning. The three people around him also sat down and started asking. The first one was Brendon as raised his voice. ¡°Since when did you start learning magic and how exactly powerful are you? From what it looked to me your strength is way above me since I couldn¡¯t tell a tall.¡± At Brendon¡¯s words Ariel kept his peaceful expression as he responded. ¡°I started learning when I was five and I reached the low level of Elite rank right before coming here.¡±


    Even though his words were somewhat expected and simple, but they still made the three suck in their breaths. Difference between ranks is huge and to have reached Elite rank so young is a testament to Ariel¡¯s monstrous talent. They wanted to as him when did he brake through into the Acolyte rank however they refrained themselves to keep some of their dignity intact.


    Soon after, Erna spoke with interest visible in her voice. ¡°Why did you hide it for so long? Wouldn¡¯t it have been better to reveal it earlier for benefits?¡± It seemed she was quite curious about this so he decided to tell her. ¡°My talent might be great, but without strength I¡¯m nothing, if I did reveal my talent many powerful groups would either try to rope me in by many means possible, or take me out. Either of them is obviously not acceptable.¡± At his words the two girls showed an expression of understanding and only Brendon¡¯s expression, who has already guessed it, didn¡¯t change.


    Their talk continued for a while, all the way until the end of the competition as he slowly answered their questions and gradually dispelled their astonishment.


    Several hours passed and the announcer finally declared the end of the last duel. At that time the four young people stopped talking and looked up at the teachers who will be doing their job next.


    Since the competition came to a close that means the prizes should soon be rewarded. Sarah¡¯s small beautiful face revealed a trace of interest as she spoke. ¡°The rewards should be quite something I wonder what you¡¯ll get, Ariel. Your performance was definitely the best in many, many years.¡±


    It was obvious Sarah had complete faith in him, but it was an undisputed fact that he was a variant so it was expected that he will get the best prize when no one even came close to the shock he has given.


    From the side Erna nodded her head and added onto Sarah¡¯s words. ¡°It should be Ariel in first, but most likely all of us will get something since there are ten places in all so we should get going. All of the competitors will be called to the arena for the rewards and I don¡¯t want to get caught in a crowd.¡±


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    The rest agreed to her words, got up and went towards the stadium in a quick pace. They walked past many people who were also rushing to get there as fast as possible, stumbling on each other. Fortunately tough, they all gave way for them because of their magnificent performance in the competition, giving a respectful distance and admiring them from the side. Everyone had already guessed that these four will definitely get something magnificent


    Like this the four arrived at the arena without any trouble and took their places at the corner, to wait for the higher ups to finally speak. Some time passed and at last one of the leading teachers spoke using his Mana to make his voice lauder. ¡°We are happy to see so many promising youths join our Academy this year and hope you will all improve as time passes. Through the many activities of The Academy we will make sure that by the time you leave here, you will all be Master ranked mages and warriors that will make us proud¡± The persons face was covered by a robe so you couldn¡¯t see his face. But his old voice emanated power and wisdom as she spoke encouraging words.


    After a slight pause of thinking, he continued. ¡°As the regulations state, now we will give the ten most promising students a priceless reward from out very own Academy treasury. First one to come up will be the new found variant mage, Ariel Whitestone.¡± Declaring the start of the distribution he called out the first winner which, just as expected, was Ariel and didn¡¯t make any of the students surprised.


    With the urging of his friends Ariel started slowly climbing up towards the elevated platform to receive his unique prize. The onlookers who didn¡¯t manage to get a good look at him before were awed by his composure and indifference as he reached the top and stood in front of the teachers.


    Even the old mages themselves were surprised since most of the youth¡¯s would always feel pressured by just being in their presence, including even the most arrogant ones who thought they were perfect. Ariel however didn¡¯t seem to feel anything, making the teachers evaluation of him rise further with each passing moment.


    The old mage who talked before smiled under his hood as he spoke. ¡°We are very delighted that a person with such talent like you came to our school and decide to study in it and we hope you won¡¯t be disappointed. The reward we picked just for you is this ¡°Ice pearl¡±.¡± Ending his words the mage took out a small blue ball which was intently freezing the air around it making it look slightly bigger than it actually was.


    Ariel at the moment could feel a great deal of ice Mana similar to his, raging inside the pearl. As excitement flashed in his cold eyes he trough that it is just what he need to break through his next bottleneck.


    The mage didn¡¯t see the slight change in his expression and continued speaking. ¡°This thing can increase your cultivation by a great amount and even help you breakthrough quicker since this is a a natural treasure. It would be considered priceless for this effect, but it can unfortunately only be used by ice mages which are extremely rare. Luckily you came to our Academy and we are more than pleased to give it to you. Please take car and we hope to see your further improvement in the future¡± Taking the pearl Ariel gave a grateful bow to the senior mage and returned to his friends.


    The distribution continued and all ten people were each given their prizes, including all of Ariel¡¯s friends. Brendon received alight blue magic cloak with many delicate patterns on it, which gave an astonishing magic defence strong enough to withstand the attack of even a Master rank mage, what¡¯s more it gave an amplifying effect towards water support spells cast on oneself.


    Erna on the other hand was rewarded a sliver rapier that had a sword hilt in a shape of an eagle making it look outstanding and deadly unlike Brendon¡¯s cloak that was more of a majestic object. However the sword¡¯s uniqueness lied in it having wind and light enchantments that complimented the spells when using it to cast coupled with an extremely sharp edge which could easily slice high rank monsters.


    When it was finally Sarah¡¯s turn she got a unique acidic affinity spell that The Academy had hidden somewhere, making her extremely happy since spells was something she lacked because of her circumstances, especially ones like she got ¡°Acid rain¡± which were AOE spells. This could also be called the most useful long term reward since its power would grow with the user and it can also be used by her to create more, different spells in the future.


    Everyone was truly satisfied with their rewards and each of them felt content for putting some effort in their fights. The young boy and girl, who fought against Erna and Sarah, seemed to have also got in to the top ten thanks to their display of prowess, but apart from them he didn¡¯t see anyone he remembered. Vern also seemed to have not gained anything since although his level of power was quite impressive, but his mentality was too pathetic.


    However, after the whole thing was over all of the winners scattered to celebrate. In the meant time, while feeling relaxed Erna mentioned her recommendation with stunning smile on her cheerful face. ¡°Let¡¯s also go celebrate a little, all of us got something awesome so I think it is something worth having a feast for.¡± Everyone agreed to this though and happily went to enjoy some delicious food while spending the night talking amongst each other. With this, the long day of the competition finally came to a close, leaving only the lonely stadium in silence.


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    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 28 - Bad premonition

    Chapter 28


    The next day the four friends got up quite early even after their small party and were eagerly talking among each other about their prizes.


    The one who was boasting at the table the most about her reward was unexpectedly Erna. She was overjoyed with her new rapier and from her expression anyone could clearly see how she loved swordsmanship and actual combat, even with her lady like appearance and temperament.


    What made her so happy was that the rapier was extremely well made and most importantly had wind and light enchantments on it, the same elements she herself could use. If some passerby knew about her and the rapier they would definitely think that it was custom made, that¡¯s just how much it fit her.


    The second most excited one was Sarah, who was speaking even now. ¡°I checked the spell yesterday and found out that it has a 10 diameter width and can be used from 20 metres away. This spell would be devastating when used in large scale battles and would undoubtedly cause a lot of damage.¡± It was obvious how satisfied she was with getting an AOE spell since the one she got, which could be used by early rank mages, was very rare. Usually one would only get such a spell when they have already reached at least Master rank.


    However, hearing her words Brendon sitting at the side let out a smug smile as he spoke. ¡°Yeah it might be enough for second rate enemies, but your spell¡¯s actual power is quite weak, if I put my new cloak on I wouldn¡¯t feel anything from it being used on me.¡±


    Brendon¡¯s words made Sarah¡¯s beautiful lips twitch a little and stop saying her previously thought sentence. Turning her face towards him she responded with something dangerous glowing in her eyes. ¡°Is that so? Maybe you want to test it out, right now?¡± Sarah slowly started gathering Mana to cast her spell as she gave Brendon a threatening look.


    Seeing that she didn¡¯t take kindly to him spoiling her excitement, fear emerged in his eyes and he started defending himself. ¡°Please don¡¯t, there isn¡¯t any reason to do it now, what¡¯s more it would ruin the cafeteria and we don¡¯t want that, do we!? How about we test it later on someone like Vern?¡± Brendon had broke out in cold sweat as he tried to cone his sister into stopping, since magic equipment weren''t allowed to be used in The Academy he wasn¡¯t wearing the cloak and would definitely get injured by her spell.


    The reason for this was that their teachers said the over-reliance on equipment so early in training would stall their progress and they should use them only after graduating. Unfortunately because of this Brendon was currently in a dangerous situation. Although its mostly his own fault so the teacher can¡¯t be blamed.


    At this time however, Ariel finally decided to open his mouth and help out his friend. ¡°Sarah, you shouldn¡¯t get worked up like that. Your new spell is a truly powerful and useful AOE attack. If we battle in a group someday, you might be the most important person of the team and unlike his cloak your spell will always stay useful, so don¡¯t take to heart what Brendon says.¡±


    Hearing Ariel¡¯s praise Sarah¡¯s attitude instantly changed as she turned to look at him, her rosy lips turned into a smile, and the slight rosiness on her white cheeks became clearly visible. ¡°If you say so I¡¯ll listen.¡± Her quick change of attitude made Brendon snicker, but as soon as Sarah started glaring at him again he quickly stopped.


    Looking at this whole ruckus Erna spoke with a bright smile on her face. ¡°I think we should get going or teacher Albert will punish us for being late.¡±  After Brendon heard Erna¡¯s words, suddenly even more fear appeared on his face.


    Teacher Albert was in charge of the familiar class and is also an extremely strict teacher. When Brendon once got late to class, teacher Albert made him run laps after the lesson and when he¡¯d slow down he would whip him, it continued until he finally fell unconscious. Since then he had a slight trauma about it and was deadly afraid of being late to teacher Albert¡¯s class.


    Not paying attention to Brendon¡¯s fear, Erna continued her assault. ¡°Today is the day teacher Albert will be telling us when we will be going to get our familiars and where, so he will be even stricter than usual if we''re late.¡±  Her words were like the hymn of hell for Brendon as he turned pale, got up and started running to the class without saying another word.


    Watching him with amusement in their eyes while snickering, the other three also started moving towards the practice ground where, usually the demonstrations of the familiar classes, take place.


    Reaching the field the three youths saw Brendon spread on the ground, completely out of breath and strength. The girls had mischievous smiles playing on their lips, while Ariel just let out a sigh. Although there was still some time until class starts, the girls wanted to torture him a bit and even though Ariel did not say anything at all, being silent also made him an accomplice in this.


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    Taking his eyes away from the pathetic display of Brendon, Ariel looked around the field. There were already a bunch of students excitedly waiting and conversing between each other. They all wanted a familiar and each desired to have a more powerful one than the others so they were already boasting about what they will get even without knowing anything.


    Soon however they noticed Ariel with his friends, and instantly reverence and awe appeared in their eyes. Since this morning, the people around them were always extremely respectful. Before they attracted attention because all of them, minus Brendon, were out worldly beautiful, but now they were also shown to be astonishingly talented, especially Ariel who was a variant mage. So of course they would make others of the same grade look at them like gods.


    However Ariel and the rest didn¡¯t pay mind to this because they already knew that in this word powerful people would always be revered and the weak ones will be scorned.


    While dragging Brendon behind him, the four of them went to a distant corner to wait for the lesson to start without any interruptions. Thankfully they didn¡¯t need to wait long and after about ten minutes they heard the rough voice of teacher Albert.


    Turning to look Ariel saw a familiar man in his forties with giant, bulging muscles. His face could be described with having a strong jaw and fierce green eyes similar to those of a beast, coupled with always thick eyebrows. His hair was short and black as the night, yet fit well with his eyes.


    From the several scars on his manly face you would instantly associate him with a warrior, but even if you don¡¯t have Mana sight like Ariel you could guess that he was a battle mage, since only mages could contract magic beasts.


    Looking around, Teacher Albert spoke in a loud voice so everyone could hear. ¡°Listen up, I will make it short. Exactly after a month you will be going to get you familiars at a place called the purple wilds plane.¡±


    When he saw that he instantly lost most of the students, he decided to explain. ¡°You probably haven¡¯t learned this yet so I will tell you about it. This world has many different planes, ours is on the big side, but its also not the biggest there is, naturally, plenty of them are much smaller like the one you will be going to. These worlds are usually connected with each other at different places and this purple wilds plane is conveniently connected right here at out Academy.¡±


    Teacher Albert looked around to see if everyone understood his explanation before continuing. ¡°Some of the worlds are more dangerous than the others, the one you¡¯ll be going to isn¡¯t too threatening, but I will warn you that there are magical beasts at the Elite rank so you have to be careful and well prepared for it, while not underestimating anything there.¡± His last words were told extremely seriously, to make a point, and most students gulped down their saliva when they heard them.


    Seeing that most of the students understood the danger he slightly spoke more softly. ¡°Making a contract will also be difficult so study everything you can on magical beasts until then. I will also tell you that you will be teleported there individually and you will only be able to meet up with others when you''re already there. Since all of you probably have a lot to think about right now, today¡¯s lesson is made into a free period so you can discuss and think everything through.¡± Finishing his speech about the future, teacher Albert turned around and left. Only the students were left, which already started buzzing about.


    Erna was the first to let out a sigh and speak. ¡°What can we even do to prepare? We literally don¡¯t know anything about this.¡± Her gaze was downcast and she seemed to be sulking, Brendon on the other hand seemed to be excited and spoke in a happy tone. ¡°Who cares about that? Won¡¯t the sense of adventure be fun and interesting?¡±


    Sarah felt annoyed at her brother¡¯s carefree attitude and just gave him a death glare to shut him up before also letting out a sigh of helplessness and muttering. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that contracting a magical beast will be so much trouble. I hope nothing bad will happen.¡±


    Listening to their words Ariel looked up at the sky and let out a sigh, because annoyingly enough, his intuition was telling him that this trip definitely won¡¯t end simply, but he also knew that when time comes, he will try anything he can to overcome it.


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    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 29 - The purple wilds

    The month quickly passed and Ariel lived a common school life like any other person, going to classes or hanging out with his friends. On the other hand his training speed was far from normal. In this month, thanks to the ice pearl, Ariel managed to reach the mid level of Elite rank, once more increasing his strength.


    If you compare him to others, you would probably find little people on his level, since reaching the Master rank was the requirements for graduating The Academy, Elite rank students were the top of the school.


    However what is more monstrous is that he is close to reaching the late level. This was a frightening speed of cultivation that is unheard of in the entire human continent. A lot of it though is thanks to his new Nine Winter Shade Meditation technique.


    Due to following and refining his core through nine different ways mentioned in the book, his Mana became increasingly pure and more powerful, also resulting in speeding up of his cultivation.


    Another way he was increasing his strength was by researching new spells, although there was much less results in it, Ariel still managed to construct several usable spells for the future.


    Apart from learning and increasing his strength, most of Ariel¡¯s rest time was taken up by either hanging out with Brendon, or spending time girls, who were seemingly becoming closer and closer to him. Even he didn¡¯t understand how it was happening, but it seemed like his heart was slowly getting accustomed to them being there, making his and the girl¡¯s relationship much closer.


    But today was finally the day he would be going on the trip to the purple wilds where, according to teacher¡¯s Albert¡¯s words, they will be spending a whole month at. Apparently the reason for this is because the students who didn¡¯t take familiar classes will also go to have forest survival training, at the same time we will.


    Thankfully his mother gave him a storage ring and when he had returned to his home on a holiday, she instantly prepared everything he needed for staying at a forest, as soon as he told her about it.


    Having everything taken care of he was currently ready to set out, but before that he had to wake up his best friend so he wouldn¡¯t be late, since today they had to be there early and Brendon was horrible when it came to waking up.


    Creating some ice in his hands he slowly crept up to him and when he was close enough, Ariel put the ice down his shirt. Immediately Brendon woke from his sleep and shrieked from the cold.


    After some difficulty he finally got the ice out. He turned his teary eyes towards Ariel and complained. ¡°What was that for, I don¡¯t think I did anything to deserve being waken up like this.¡± Inwardly snickering at Brendon¡¯s appearance, Ariel responded with his usual poker face. ¡°It would be difficult to wake you up by other means, you should remember that today is the day we are going to the purple wilds and you definitely don¡¯t want to be late.¡±


    Looking up to Ariel, Brendon understood that he was correct and he himself would have trouble waking up. However due to the years of being together Brendon unexpectedly began to notice Ariel¡¯s subtle changes of expression and knew that he actually enjoyed waking him up like that and bringing him this suffering.


    Although he understood that besides grumbling he could do nothing since his sister and even Erna would definitely take Ariel¡¯s side over his so he could only unhappily get up and prepare for the ¡°tour of purple wilds¡±.


    When he finally got ready they directly started going towards the field, where the supposed teleportation array was readied for them.


    Reaching the place they instantly notice two beautiful girls, one being blue haired while the other being golden haired, standing together and making a stunning picture that made all the surrounding boys fall into a daze.


    These two were the most beautiful girls in The Academy. They were in the dreams of all the noblemen and only rarely would the boys be allowed to see a sight like this. Unfortunately what always pained them was that the goddesses were always waiting for the same people every day, and thus they could never get the chance to become closer.


    As the two got closer, Brendon greeted them with his usual carefree smile. ¡°Hi, it seems I''m not the only person here early.¡± Besides him Ariel nodded, indicating that he was greeting them.


    Erna instantly let out a bright smile and returned the greeting. ¡°Good morning, did you sleep well? We won¡¯t have such a luxury for quite some time.¡± At the same time Sarah let out a snicker as she responded towards Brendon¡¯s second remark and also on Erna¡¯s words. ¡°Brendon probably slept quite well, if Ariel didn¡¯t wake him though, he would have most likely been too late to get teleported.¡±


    Brendon gaped at his sister words and tried to speak up for himself. ¡°Why do you all think I am such a lazy person, I¡¯m a responsible young man and I wouldn¡¯t be late.¡± Unexpectedly, to his words Erna let out a laugh as she spoke. ¡°It is hard to believe your words when you are late to almost every single class.¡±


    Seeing that even the usually passive Erna was pointing out his wrongs, Brendon felt himself slightly wronged, but his close friend Ariel also decided to chip in at it. ¡°Your view of the world is quite obvious when you said that it was early, while it''s already time for class, and teacher has just come up onto the platform."


    When he heard Ariel¡¯s words, Brendon looked in front of him and was dumbstruck when he saw that his friend was right and the teacher was already there, he didn¡¯t say another word. He quietly accepted his defeat. At the same time the other three also settled down and politely waited for teacher Albert to speak.


    They didn¡¯t have to wait long until they heard the well-built teacher speak while scanning the students with his piercing green eyes. ¡°I am glad that there seems to be no one missing.¡± As he said his words his gaze lingered on the cowering Brendon, but all the other students just ignored it.


    After retracting his gaze, teacher Albert continued speaking in a slightly more serious voice. ¡°As you already know you will be going to the small plane called purple wilds where you will have to stay for a month and in the mean time try to make a contract with a magic beast, but remember that your life is more important so you shouldn¡¯t push yourselves too hard.¡±


    When he spoke the next words, his voice became slightly softer, but soon it once again became serious. ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be any monsters too powerful, but always be careful, you will each be transported alone to a place without any immediate danger. I hope all of you prepared and are ready to go, since we will begin immediately because I don¡¯t want to make you all worked up.¡± He finished his speech and started talking to the mages that were by his side.


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    Getting a breather the students started talking with their friends and saying their good byes. Looking slightly emotional Erna spoke with worry in her eyes. ¡°Be careful, even if you are strong, if they overwhelm you with numbers and you don¡¯t have any Mana, you might get in trouble.¡± As she spoke she tightened her hand around her rapier, making it obvious that she was worried that something wrong would happen.


    Sarah also sounded troubled as she spoke. ¡°When you get teleported try finding us, together it will definitely be safer, although it might be difficult for it to happen quickly.¡± Listening to the soft words spoken by the girls Brendon felt slightly hurt that they completely ignored him and started sulking.


    Ariel on the other hand tried to softly dispel their worries. ¡°I will make sure to be extra careful and try to search for you as soon as possible.¡± His words made the girls slightly more calm completing their objective perfectly.


    Soon the teacher¡¯s loud warning rang out through the field. ¡°Get ready. You will soon be teleported. When the month ends you will be automatically transported out.¡± The four looked at each other with concern clearly visible on their face, but soon powerlessly closed their eyes and felt their minds going blank.


    When Ariel came to, he slowly opened his eyes and saw nature all around him and at the same time instantly understood why this small world was called the purple wilds.


    All the trees, leaves, shrubbery and even grass were of different shades of purple. Thankfully the sun was still the same and he would be safe from having a seizure.


    However he still stood there stunned for quite a while until his wits came back to him. As soon as he calmed himself down he quickly checked around with his Mana sight for any close sources of Mana.


    Finding that there wasn¡¯t anything close, around him he finally let out a sigh of relief and started thinking about what to do. His main objective is to make a contract with a magic beast, but he has an entire month to do that, so first he should find a good place to settle down.


    He recalled that there should be quite an amount of rivers in this place, since he will need a lot of water for everything, It would be a good place to start searching, water also attracts all kinds of beast that he could look through for a possible candidate to be his familiar.


    Since he didn¡¯t have a map he focused on trying to hear water instead, and just walked towards the depths of the forest hoping to find a river.


    As he walked through the forest he felt the rough ground beneath him, thanks to reaching quite a high rank his body got slightly better and he could do a bit more physical activity than before so it didn¡¯t trouble him too much. Because of this he didn¡¯t have to take long breaks and was able to keep his concentration on looking out for monsters.


    Walking through such a forest reminded him of the times back home when he would walk around his backyard forest. Looking around he could see that the trees gave of dazzling lights and if you listened closer you could hear beautiful sounds of nature like the birds singing or the bugs playing their instruments.


    Ariel had to agree that this was actually a very beautiful and mystical place he wouldn¡¯t mind spending his free time at, but it was also dangerous. When he had already walked for some time he notice two small Mana signals coming closer towards him.


    Soon he saw two magical beasts jumped out of the greenery. The two looked similar to badgers only, they had red eyes, small horns on their heads and two tails.


    A frown appeared on Ariel¡¯s face as he recognized what they were. These creatures called ¡°Forest fangs¡± just like you could guess from their name lived in forest and were quite common. By themselves they were only early level Acolyte strength, but they were extremely frightening because they moved in extremely large packs and even powerful creatures would fall victim to their hunts.


    What Ariel found strange was that there were only two of them, but when they turned around and were about to run away, Ariel¡¯s face froze before turning serious. He only now comprehended that they were scouts of the pack and if he let them go it would cause endless trouble.


    Ariel¡¯s eyes turned cold and he sent out his ice to engulf the things. It wouldn¡¯t kill them, but it would buy him time. Just like he though the forest eaters slowed down and he managed to quickly manifest two ice spears.


    Calculating the trajectory of where they were running, he let the spears fly, perfectly hitting their targets. Only when he saw the two creatures fall did he let out a relief, he just got here but already barely dodged a bullet making him not optimistic about what was coming next.


    Deciding that he shouldn''t stick around, he set out once more, being even more vigilant than before. Thankfully it seems like the unique creatures of this world have been hunted to extinction before and the senior mages brought the monster from the outer world so he should know most of them and know how to counter them.


    After travelling for an entire hour he at last heard what he was searching for. Seeing that there was nothing nearby, he rushed looking around.


    The river wasn¡¯t narrow, but also not wide and the water was the same as back home, feeling happy it wasn¡¯t purple he came up to have a drink before setting out along the river to search for a place to settle.


    Having a good drink he was about to continue. Unfortunately when he turned around, he noticed a powerful Mana source coming towards him. Noticing how powerful it was, Ariel couldn¡¯t afford to be careless and got ready for the dreadful encounter that was soon to come.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


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 Chapter 30 - Fight near the river

    Not even a moment passed before Ariel heard the rustling of leaves and saw a shadow jump out of the depths of the forest. Scanning the beast, he thought it looked like a lynx, but it had a body three times larger than normal and it was covered in glossy red fur, its two blood thirsty eyes were staring at Ariel as if the beast already saw him as dinner. The black and deadly claws glinted in the light and its tail swayed from the excitement of finding food.


    Ariel took a step back from the ferocious beast and looked through his memory. Soon a serious look appeared on his face as he recalled this things identity. It was a ¡°Crimson Fur Hunter¡± which when fully matured, like the one in front of him, would reach the late level of Elite rank.


    They were famed for their speed and sharp claws making it difficult to battle them when there was more than one. Unfortunately it was impossible for Ariel to make an escape and all he could do was fight. That¡¯s why he calmed down his beating heart and evaluated the situation.


    Since the monster still hasn¡¯t attacked it meant it was wary, so Ariel would make use of this opportunity. He slowly started casting several ice shields while not alerting the beast and only when he finished did the crimson fur hunter finally have a glint of anger in its eyes.


    As an Elite rank beast it had some intellect and after Ariel cast his spell he understood that its prey intended to fight. However it also saw that Ariel was careful, meaning he wasn¡¯t powerful, which made it start underestimating the human a bit.


    While observing his opponent Ariel kept his patience, waiting for it to attack, and he wasn''t disappointing. Thinking that Ariel was easy pickings the Crimson Fur Hunter charged towards him intending to rip Ariel apart.


    This however was its mistake. Ariel was already waiting and when the monster started charging he also began casting his spells. The beast quickly reached its destination and Ariel instantly aligned his three ice shield one in front of the other. The beast crashed into the firs one, completely breaking it and managed to reach the second one, damaging it a bit, but at that time Ariel finally took action.


    Five different ice spears appeared around his body and flew towards the Crimson Fur Hunter from different angles. Unfortunately though a beast''s reflexes were very fast and it managed to dodge three of them, the other two on the other hand managed to graze through the beast¡¯s side and stomach leaving some serious damage.


    Retreating back the monster howled in anger, but Ariel didn¡¯t think of letting it off easily. He quickly followed up by manifesting a frost bolt and shot it. The distance however was much farther now and even though the frost bolt was more powerful and faster it still didn¡¯t manage to hit the target, as it dodged to the side.


    Of course he could have detonated it, but Ariel decided against it and let it crash down near the forest since the beast was on guard and he would have failed to get any results.


    Glaring fiercely at Ariel the lynx once more charged recklessly at Ariel, however it wasn¡¯t stupid and only did it because it noticed that Ariel needed time to cast his spells and it couldn¡¯t let him stay at a distance.


    As it once again hit his second shield and shattered it, the monster didn¡¯t actually go after the third one, but unexpectedly moved around from the side aiming for the kill.


    Ariel felt a chill go down his spine due to the beast¡¯s intelligence, and if he was still the same person like before he might have died, but now he managed to learn many different ways to use magic. When the monster¡¯s sharp claws were already close to his neck, Ariel used Mana manipulation and made a fragile shield to protect his life. It couldn¡¯t take more than a single hit before breaking, but it managed to effectively neutralize the strike.


    This was a way of defense he learned from one of the books about magic. Although against much more powerful experts it would be useless, against opponents only a couple levels stronger it would do its job perfectly.


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    Like this Ariel started kiting the beast sometimes using his ice shield, while others times with his pure Mana. It was a bit draining, but under the assault he was using his Mana to freeze his opponent and slow down its speed.


    The deadlock he was currently in was actually part of his plan to more easily deal with his enemy, if he let out a spell it might retreat again, making it difficult to create this engagement scenario again. That¡¯s why he only defended while freezing the beast and slowly moving towards the trees.


    After a minute of struggle Ariel finally reached the edge of the clearing and when the Crimson Fur Hunter tried to do another swipe, for the first time, Ariel dodged by rolling back. Then he quickly hid behind one of the tree¡¯s and without delay finally detonated the already forgotten frost bolt, making the ice shards shoot out. The careless beast got caught off guard and was hit in several vital spots.


    Feeling the pain and noticing that he has fallen into a trap the crimson fur hunter howled in rage, but didn¡¯t continue to look for Ariel and tried to retreat. However there is no way he would let it do so, when the creature turned around to run he saw Ariel standing there with silent killing intent clearly visible in his eyes. Ariel waved his hand in a slashing movement and used one of his newer spells ¡°Ice Slice¡±. A wave of sharp ice expanded from his arm and sliced the monster from the throat to its back, not leaving any room for survival.


    The enemy fell and after several seconds of rough breathing passed away, only then did Ariel let out his breath and started breathing more raggedly. In the fight he didn¡¯t receive a single injury which was extremely impressive when fighting an opponent of higher level, but his Mana consumption was quite large and if he fought another one he wouldn''t have succeeded so easily.


    Looking around for any dangerous creatures he let out a sigh when he didn¡¯t find anything and planned his next course of action. He first needed to restock the amount of Mana he had for any incidents like these, but he had to do it further away since the corpse would attract more beasts.


    Thinking for a moment, he decided to follow the river upstream and at the same time, he wanted to look for a suitable place to settle down.


    Setting out, he walked for half an hour before finding a place to stay at momentarily and absorb Mana. Only when an hour passed did he stand up, satisfied with his Mana, and started actively looking for a better place.


    It took a rather long time of searching before he finally managed to find a cliff side near the river that had a space surrounded by stones making it hard to notice and also decently closed off from the wind. What also made it a better choice, was that it''s harder to get flanked because of all the rocks, which made Ariel feel it was good enough for a camp.


    Taking out a tent and some other things like firewood and such he started setting up. He put up the tent and made a campfire in a way it wouldn¡¯t be spotted, then he sprinkled some dust that would repel bugs and weak magical beast before taking out some food and making himself some ¡°edible¡± food for dinner.


    Creating his campsite took quite some time and the sun was already setting, eating his fill he recalled the whole day and let out a sigh, thinking that the coming days would be hectic, causing him to shake his head, but Ariel also remembered his friends and felt some concern for them and what they might have encountered.


    Trying to stop thinking about it he decided to end his day and go meditate to prepare for the upcoming month.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


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 Chapter 31 - The chimera

    Time went by and Ariel would everyday go out to look for interesting magical beasts. He found many of them, some of them even at the level of the crimson fur hunter, but none of them made him feel like they are fit for him.


    Through the days he killed many monsters trying to find something unique and it didn¡¯t matter to him if it was powerful or not, however the times was almost up and Ariel still hasn¡¯t found a creature he was satisfied with.


    On one of the last days he was treading the forest while being frustrated at his failure, suddenly he heard a loud roar coming from the right of him, turning to look he noticed a very powerful Mana source in that direction, more powerful than any he had seen in the purple wilds.


    His curiosity was instantly peeked as he started jogging towards the source. It didn¡¯t even take 10 minutes for him to reach the place that the beast was at and hide behind a bush. Looking towards the creature he instantly froze as what he saw was frightening monster.


    It was 3 meters in height with a body of a lion which had eagle wings growing from its back. However its tail was also replaced by that of a scorpion¡¯s, Ariel knew only of one such a creature, a chimera. When realizing this fact he was completely petrified since chimeras are all at least at the early Master rank, which by teacher¡¯s Albert¡¯s words shouldn¡¯t exist here.


    Only after several moments of shock did Ariel finally manage to snap out of his daze and notice the other creature fighting against this monster. The person was definitely a human girl which had long, golden hair cascading her back coupled with fierce blue eyes staring at the enemy in front of her. Her cheeks were flushed from overexerting herself while her alluring lips were slightly open as she panted for air.


    As soon as Ariel realized who she was, his mind went completely blank. No matter how many times he looked over her he saw that standing there was his fianc¨¦e Erna, who was seemingly fighting against the monstrous chimera.


    However when the monster started going for a swipe attack he got his wits back together and his expression became extremely serious as he began running towards her and the creature, completely forgetting his usual caution. While running he managed to cast an ice spear towards it just as it was about to swipe reach Erna.


    The ice spear travelled quickly and managed to hit the claw of the unexpecting monster. Unfortunately the spear was able to only slightly injure it with out any outstanding damage, but it did manage to attract both of their attentions.


    Turning to look Erna was stunned to see Ariel as he was running towards her and became slightly absentminded. ¡°Why is Ariel here?¡± She softly muttered watching as Ariel got closer.


    The chimer on the other hand was furious. It looked at him with anger in its eyes, turning his target off of Erna and on Ariel.


    For him however it was perfect and just as he reached Erna¡¯s location he cast an ice wall separating the two sides. Then he took Erna by the waist and retreated a few meters, however when he was about to talk, Erna was the one who spoke first. ¡°What are you doing? Why didn¡¯t you run away, the chimera is too much even for you? You should have gone to get some help.¡± She was extremely confused at Ariel actions and at the same time frustrated at the fact she had to be saved, but his next actions shocked her on a completely different level.


    Ariel looked back with a serious expression and started scolding her. ¡°Do you think someone like you who can barely stand can keep this thing occupied? The reason I came to help is because you are unable to survive so instead of me who is capable of fighting it should be you who goes to get some help. That¡¯s why stop talking and start moving before I die.¡±


    His words made Erna want to protest, but he didn¡¯t let her speak before shouting again. ¡°Go, NOW!¡± Erna¡¯s body started to slightly shake as she bit down on her lip and turned her teary eyes to look at him. However after several seconds she grit her teeth and started running at the fastest speed possible, to look for some help.


    Seeing this, Ariel let out a sigh of relief, before hearing the sound of shattering ice behind him. Turning around he saw the chimera standing there in an arrogant pose staring down at him with its menacing eyes.


    He suddenly felt that he was truly unlucky, but still managed to prepare for combat by summoning three ice shields, around himself. The chimera still had its arrogant look while watching this and didn¡¯t take any action as if waiting to see what he would try to do.


    Ariel wasn¡¯t a person who would be polite about these things and instantly made his move to attack. From the very start the manifested ten ice spears to attack and threw them straight at the enemy. Not expecting such an aggressive approach the creature managed to barely dodge a couple of the spears letting the rest hit and leave some shallow wounds in its body.


    The pain made the chimera turn completely bloodthirsty as it looked towards Ariel, but it didn¡¯t expect that he would continue his assault without pause. He stretched out his arm and began using one of his newer spells ¡°Ice cone¡± which just like the name states, creates a cone shaped area of effect attack that freezes everything inside it.


    His enemy didn¡¯t know much about magic and easily got caught in it, making its body full frozen. However knowing that his spell wouldn¡¯t last for long Ariel quickly ran past the monster and began running to the opposite direction Erna, has gone, while leaving behind him a trail of ice so he would be harder to catch.


    Moments passed and the thin ice covering the chimera broke apart as it let out an angry roar. Seeing that Ariel was getting away it began to chase him, but the coldness made its body a bit slower to move.


    Their chase lasted for half a minute until Ariel turned around to look at the situation. He let out a breath of relied when he saw that the coldness from his previous spell and the ice he was laying down were slowing down the beast by quite a lot. However he calculated that it was still not enough to keep it off his tail for the time he needed.


    Ariel¡¯s plan was to get over to the ravine he has seen while coming here, which had a log across it, but the chimera would soon catch up, so he needed to do something about that first. After a couple of minutes of running, Ariel felt that it was already extremely close to him and was about to catch up.


    With sweat dripping down his back, he decided to use a risky plan and started waiting until it attacked first. It didn¡¯t take long before he felt a gust of winding going towards his back, from the corner of his eye he saw the chimera¡¯s claw reach towards his back, but just as it collided with one of his ice shield, he dodge rolled to the side.


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    The ice shield that was hit shattered, however Ariel didn¡¯t pay mind to it and cast the already prepared spell ice slice towards the chimera¡¯s belly. Thanks to it being softer, the wound inflicted was much greater than the ones before and made the beast howl in pain.


    He on the other hand, once more began to run towards the ravine, he wasn¡¯t so optimistic to think that such a wound would manage to kill it so he didn¡¯t have time to waste.


    Due to the damage he inflicted he had plenty of time to reach his goal before he was caught up with. That¡¯s why he quickly jumped up on the fallen log and got to the other side. Just at that time the chimera¡¯s growls got laude and it emerge from the forest with an enraged look in it face.


    After searching a bit, it located Ariel and a murderous light appeared in its eyes. Although it was too big to use the log to cross over, Ariel still didn¡¯t let down his guard, and that was a wise choice. Unexpectedly the beast leaped over the ravine to go after him, but thanks to Ariel being prepared, he instantly reacted and cast a frost bolt towards its face.


    However his attack didn¡¯t go as expected since it brought its hard scorpion tail in front of it to deflect the ball of ice. Fortunately Ariel had expected something a like this to happen and he managed to launch another one right after the firs, heading towards the creatures serious wound.


    Not having a way to block, the frost bolt hit its target and did extreme damage, once more in raging the chimera. Unfortunately it had already crossed over and he didn¡¯t manage to make it fall, however Ariel didn¡¯t have time to grieve as the beast had already got up and with a face saying it would never let him live, again started chasing Ariel.


    With such a short distance, the only thing Ariel could do is try to dodge around in the thick woods. Since the trees were close he managed to get into the forestry and avoid the chimera¡¯s rage. Unfortunately it was quite agile and it could keep up with him running through the trees.


    They played this cat and mouse game for quite some time, Ariel would try dodging its claws and tail with magic, while it tried to catch him off guard. Currently this was a stalemate, but Ariel knew that his Mana was quickly running out and he will soon not be able to keep up with this, but he didn¡¯t have much of a choice.


    As he was continued  his dance, he notice the scorpion tail once more moving into action, it as actually the thing he worried the most, since he didn¡¯t know if it had actual poison. This time however, due to his already wary mind he didn¡¯t notice that it was a faint and that its claw was coming at him from behind.


    In this moment of carelessness, Ariel got wounded on his chest just as he turned around to look, making him loose a large amount of blood. Luckily he was able to at the same time use another ice slice to leave an injury on the beast shoulder and at the same time slow it down.


    This was a small victory, but he also had a large loss. Seeing that his strength was quickly leaving him, Ariel abandoned all thoughts of attack and put all of his efforts into fleeing. With this desperate struggle he managed to get away some distance, but as he ran he noticed that something was wrong. Looking in front he saw that he came at a dead end with a small clearing in front of it, this made him despair as he heard the growls behind him.


    Continuing to run he finally reached the stone wall and turned around to face the beast behind him. Noticing the deep hate in its eyes and seeing no way out he started cursing the teacher in his mind. ¡®Who said there was nothing above Elite rank, what a bunch of bullshit.¡¯


    When the chimera saw that he had nowhere left to run, a sadistic light appeared in its eyes as it started to slowly move towards him, not hurrying at all. This made Ariel feel livid and he decided to at least bring this fucker as much pain as possible, even if he had to die.


    With most of his leftover strength he manifested fifteen spears and launched them all at the same time. Seeing this, the chimera which let down its guard paid the price again and felt many more wounds appear on its body.


    Feeling humiliated again the chimera stopped playing with him and decide to finish him off as fast as possible. It lunged towards Ariel and tried to bite into his neck in one move.


    However, seeing this opportunity, Ariel with his one last ditch of effort tried to fight back. He cast another spell he hadn¡¯t used before ¡°Ice lance¡± it created an ice lance around his hands, making him able to attack up close. Ariel didn¡¯t use it immediately and waited for the last critical moment when the beast would open its mouth.


    Thankfully it went according to plan and the chimera opened its maw when it was about to bite, at that time Ariel thrust his hand down its throat and pierced a large amount of the beast inner organs.


    Unfortunately it didn¡¯t die immediately and closed its maw as it bit into Ariel¡¯s hand. The pain was unbearable, but Ariel tried to put in all of his left over Mana to try to freeze it. His reserves tough didn¡¯t have anything left and all of his efforts were in vain.


    As he was about to loose hope and saw the chimeras tail rise too attack, he felt a familiar burst in his core, the feeling of breaking through. A large amount of Mana came bursting through into his body as he had the feeling of breaking through, all of that Mana however was instantly let out and started freezing the magical beast inside out.


    Due to the sudden coldness its reaction was a tad too late, and its entire insides became completely frozen. Ariel saw as the chimera¡¯s eyes glazed over and it fell to the ground dead. He however didn¡¯t have time to rejoice about winning or breaking through since he felt him vision become blurry as he slid down to the ground.


    Ariel felt as his blood was spilling out of his wounds, just like in his past life. A sense of nostalgia overcame him as he knew the last bits of life were leaving him. The last thing he felt and saw was a gentle coldness coming from his upper chest and a weak Mana source floating in front of him as he slowly sunk into darkness.


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 Chapter 32 - The outcome

    When Ariel had already thought he was dead, his consciousness suddenly returned. Opening up his eyes, the first thing he saw were two beautiful girls, with teary eyes, looking back at him and a boy with dishevelled hair standing a bit further, with the same concern on his face, as the girls.


    As he tried to move right after waking up, Ariel grunted when he felt the pain coming from his right arm. However he didn¡¯t have time to inspect his body¡¯s injuries, since the girls quickly started speaking when they noticed that he woke up. ¡°Ariel, are you okay? There was so much blood on you and your pulse was extremely weak, we thought you were about to die. The only hope we had was that Brendon¡¯s magic, could help somehow.¡± The first one to express her worries was the blue haired girl, Sarah, but she soon was followed up by Erna, who Ariel saved before.


    ¡°You said that you will hold him in place, but you ended up coming so far and were already half dead. Instead of you alone, both of us should have worked together, like we could have won much easier, since somehow you managed to kill it even alone.¡± Even tough she was reprimanding him and his actions, the worry in her trembling voice couldn¡¯t be hidden from his eyes.


    In the mean time, Brendon seemed to only have let out a breath of relief and didn¡¯t say anything else, he was just glad that his best friend didn¡¯t end up dead in this meaningless, small world.


    Ariel felt warmth inside his body form seeing the care that his friends showed, and although his face didn¡¯t change much, his eyes grew softer as he spoke for the first time. ¡°I¡¯m okay. Also, even I can¡¯t plan everything perfect in such dire circumstances where my head was in a mess. That¡¯s why you should just be glad no one died and everything ended fine.¡±


    Everyone visibly relaxed at his words and also felt slightly more carefree remembering that none of them met with an unfortunate demise in this dangerous event. However all of them also felt beyond angry for there being such a fearsome creature here, and were planning on settling it with the teacher after they return to the Academy grounds.


    Seeing that everyone was more at ease now, Ariel once more tried to move, but he again felt large pain coming from his right arm. Turning to look, he saw ferocious teeth marks, left on his upper arm, only then did he remember the last small struggle of the chimera.


    Soon however he noticed something strange with this scenario and looked down at his chest while using his left hand to feel around it. Slowly he became more and more shocked since he clearly remembered that there was an extremely heavy injury left there by the chimera¡¯s claw, now however it was completely healed, as if it never existed.


    His friends noticed his confusion and Erna decided to ask about it. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Is something not right with your chest?¡± She was quite confused at his actions and couldn¡¯t understand what he was doing. Ariel¡¯s face on the other hand, became increasingly more amusing as he responded. ¡°I had a mortal injury on my chest, but it is completely gone now and I can¡¯t understand how that happened.¡±


    Hearing his words, the three people besides him made surprised looks on their faces. After standing like that for a while, Sarah was the one who voiced their doubts. ¡°I think you wouldn¡¯t hallucinate even in such a dire situation. However, what could have healed your injury?¡± All four of them couldn¡¯t think up of anything possible as they started wracking their brain.


    Going into deep though, Ariel tried recalling the whole event. Then he suddenly remembered the two strange things that happened as he was loosing his consciousness, the strange feeling in his upper chest, as well as the small Mana source that he saw in front of him.


    Leading up his had to where he felt the cool sensation he gripped the strange, rose like broach that was gifted to him by the girls. He lowered his head to look at it and was shocked to see that it was no longer ice blue in colour like before, but completely grey, as if it turned to stone.


    His friends, after noticing his shock, also followed his gaze and gaped when they saw his accessory. The girls of course, were the ones who bought it, so they should know, but even Brendon has seen Ariel wear it all the time so he was familiar with it.


    For it to become like this was undoubtedly bizarre, but also made them connect the dots. Erna was the first one to ask, while still curiously looking at the broach. ¡°It was quite strange from the beginning, could it be that it had some kind of healing magic in it from the very start?¡±


    Ariel heard her theory and after some thinking spoke. ¡°When I was going blank, I definitely felt something coming from it so it is quite possible. Though, I¡¯m still sorry that the gift of you two, ended up this state.¡± Although Ariel was happy that it saved him, he was a bit sad that the gift that the girls spent so much time picking went to waste and thought that they would be very disappointed because of this.


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    However the girls weren¡¯t angry like he though and actually both smiled as Sarah¡¯s spoke. ¡°It is fine. If it really saved your life, doesn¡¯t it mean that we saved it? That¡¯s more than worthy of spending out money and time.¡± From the bright faces it seemed that they were just happy he didn¡¯t die, and looked like they really didn¡¯t care that their gift got ruined.


    Seeing that there was a sweet atmosphere starting to develop around them, Brendon coughed and spoke for the first time after he woke up. ¡°If it truly healed him, why didn¡¯t it heal his right arm? Isn¡¯t it strange?¡± Brendon raised a valid point, that quickly caught every ones attention, but Erna easily brushed it off with another theory.


    ¡°I think it is obviously because the chimera¡¯s fangs were still in his arm when we arrived, so even if someone was here and tried healing him it wouldn¡¯t work if they didn¡¯t remove the object in his body first. This is an unchangeable rule of healing.¡± Her words were quite logical and like that they stopped paying attention to it. However due to Brendon¡¯s reminder Sarah came closer to check on his wound and to also bandage it.


    With the biggest mystery out of the way, they could now talk about other things while Sarah¡¯s was taking care of his injury so Ariel spoke about what was bugging him for a while. ¡°Erna, how did you manage to find both of them out of all other people in this forest? He was quite interested since it was a bit too much of a coincidence to happen.


    Erna let out a bright chuckle as she replied. ¡°They have already been together when I ran into them, right after leaving you, but I have to admit that it was still quite lucky finding them even if they weren¡¯t separated. After that we quickly rushed back to find you. However when we saw that you were gone, we could only follow the path of destruction left by the chimera. Soon we ended up finding you laying here.¡± Hearing her words, Ariel felt quite frustrated knowing that there was reliable help so close back then, but soon he just sighed and let it go, knowing that he couldn¡¯t change the past.


    Just as they finished talking, Sarah let out a surprised yelp from the side. Tuning their head, the rest of them looked at her as if asking what was wrong. Sarah quickly pointed at Ariel¡¯s hand, which unexpectedly had a light blue magic circle, etched on it.


    The expressions of the three instantly changed as they recognised what it was, and Brendon soon spoke. ¡°You made a contract? With what creature did you make it?¡± Ariel only shook his head side from side as he responded. ¡°I didn¡¯t, this is news to me too. Unless some kind of magical beast did it while I was still asleep.¡± He said while recalling the weak Mana source he had seen before fainting.


    Hearing this, his friends once more became shocked and Erna started urging him. ¡°Try summoning it to see what it is.¡± Ariel again shook his head and explained. ¡°I am completely drained and need quite some time to recover before I¡¯ll have enough Mana to summon it, but I think it is not something very powerful.¡±


    At his words the three could only resign and accept the fact they had to wait before they could satisfy their curiousity. However Ariel soon asked his own question while looking at them. ¡°Did any of you manage to get something?¡± His friends looked at each other and the only one who spoke up was Brendon.


    ¡°Right now it is only me who contracted an ancient water tortoise, besides me neither of these two have anything.¡± Brendon sounded proud about his achievement, but he had the right to be like that, his new familiar was a rare beast with really high improvement possibility and also human like intelligence. What¡¯s more, it fitted his fighting style quite well, being a water beast specializing in defence and support.


    His sister though felt quite jealous and quickly urged them while ignoring her brother¡¯s boasting. ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s forget his magical beast for now and get somewhere safer. We need to get some good rest and go look for our own creatures, since there isn¡¯t much time left, tomorrow we will be returning.¡± The group quickly nodded at her words, Ariel with his bandaged arm got up and with the support of his friends began heading towards the twin¡¯s base which was currently the closest to them.


    However, as they were just about to leave the surrounding area, they noticed an eerie cave that exuded coldness from inside of it, making it obvious that it was something abnormal. The four of them instantly stopped that their interest started to increase as the strange air coming from the cave crept over them.


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 Chapter 33 -Unusual find

    Looking towards the cave they went silent for a moment, but soon Erna, hesitantly asked them. ¡°Should we check it out? I think we would definitely find something inside. However we don¡¯t know if it is dangerous in there.¡± While speaking she didn¡¯t go in circles and directed her gaze at Ariel, in a direct fashion.


    He already knew that the reason she asked this question was because he was injured, but Ariel also felt intrigued by the cave¡¯s presence and responded in an unconcerned manner. ¡°Although my injury is a bit painful, it won¡¯t affect me so we should check out what¡¯s inside.¡±


    Even though the others were a bit skeptical, with Ariel¡¯s assurance and their own curiosity they decide to go inside it. As they closed in all of their concerns disappeared and they slowly became more alert in case something happens.


    When they crossed through the cave¡¯s entrance, they could finally get a better look at its interior. Although it seemed like a common, rough cave, the coldness and dampness in the air was quite unusual and proved that there was something unique about it.


    Going further inside, the grey stone walls became slightly more smooth and at the same time the pathway got a bit wider. It took several minutes until they at last noticed that they would soon enter a much more spacious place. They felt thankful for this, since they haven¡¯t seen anything special yet and had started to become a bit downcast.


    However as they reached the end of the passage, the air around them became several times more damp and cold than before. Making them unconsciously shiver a bit. Soon they saw that the space they reached was a big room with several pools of water, scattered around it.


    What was attracting their attention however was a pedestal right in front of them, only several meters away. It had many tribal symbols etched on it and seemed quite ancient from the looks. More importantly there seemed to be something blue on it.


    Having their interest caught, the four of them slowly approached the pedestal. Walking past the pools they noticed how clear and sparkling the water was, almost as if it didn¡¯t have a speck of impurities, making the sight very surreal.


    Unfortunately they didn¡¯t have much time to enjoy this view and hurried towards the blue thing they saw. As they came closer they noticed that it was actually some kind of small animal, quietly sleeping on the stone pedestal.


    The four of them felt a bit dumbstruck seeing this unusual scenario, but when Sarah got a better look at it, she was overcome by the urge to snuggle the little animal. She ran up towards it and quickly took it into her arm giving it a hug.


    Seeing his sister doing this, Brendon let out a warning. ¡°Be careful, we don¡¯t know what it might be, I have never seen such a creature.¡± Unfortunately the warning seemed to be in vain since Sarah just looked towards him with a smile and responded in a cheerful manner. ¡°How can this little thing be dangerous? It is so cute and soft!¡± Girls seemed to always stay girls, and the little thing¡¯s cuteness prevailed.


    Her friends could only let out a resigned sigh and take a better look at the creature in Sarah¡¯s arms. From far away, the only thing they noticed was that it had a blue color, but now they saw that it was actually striped blue and black, and its form resembled that of a small bear.


    This description is not mistaken. To Ariel, the small creature instantly reminded him of a panda bear, only one with a strange color scheme. However he also didn¡¯t see anything dangerous about it and decided to come closer to it with Brendon and Erna.


    Just as they were examining it, suddenly the little bear opened its cute little eyes and looked towards the people surrounding it. This caused them to quickly put up their guards, but seeing that it wasn¡¯t doing anything they slowly relaxed.


    When everyone calmed down, Sarah spoke. ¡°This little thing seems to have an affinity with water. How about I contract it?¡± It was clear to see she was very excited to make it her familiar and they didn¡¯t have the heart to reject her silent request.


    Only Erna gave out a last warning. ¡°It is your choice, but be careful.¡± The next moment Sarah broke out into another lovely smile and started a silent chant while looking towards the creature in her arms.


    This was a contract spell which is used to make magical beasts familiars. There are a lot of ways to go about it, the most common one is to show your strength and make it submit like that. There is also away of rearing it since it is cub or making friends with one. The most disgusting way is to beat them so terribly that they submit against their will.


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    Of course this also determines how loyal they were, so most people try to get as close to their familiar as possible. In this occasion, Sarah tried making a contract without injuring it or causing any harm. Usually it is hard to make a contract like this, but the small panda bear seemed to completely accept her and the symbol or her hand formed in a quick manner.


    Seeing it finish Sarah grew excited and hugged her new familiar even closer to show her happiness. The others just watched this with warmth in their eyes until she finally calmed down and spoke. ¡°I never thought I would find my familiar in this place. I am so glad we came here.¡±


    To her words Ariel simply nodded and responded. ¡°It¡¯s lucky that we noticed this place, it must have been destined for you two to meet, but we should hurry back to the camp, tomorrow we¡¯ll have a difficult day, since we still need to find a beast for Erna.¡± With his words the party quickly turned around and rushed back to the twin¡¯s camp without looking back, leaving the silent cave behind them.


    When they finally reached the base, they were already quite hungry and tired, so the four of them divided their roles, and got to work. Brendon and Ariel went to gather some fire wood, while the girls were left in charge of preparing dinner as well as making a place to sleep for the two new comers.


    Their work lasted for a couple of hours before they regrouped back at the camp fire. Ariel and the others sat down around the now roaring fire and decided to start making their plans for tomorrow.


    First one to speak was Ariel, as he shot a look towards Erna: ¡°So do you have an idea about what kind of creature you want? We will try to help you look for it.¡± His question made the questioned Erna show an unexpected expression of embarrassment as she responded. ¡°I have already found the creature I want, but just at that time I encountered the chimera, so I had to get away.¡±


    At her words the others revealed a satisfied expression. They were worried that they couldn¡¯t find anything for her, but if she already knew what she wanted and where to find it, it would be much easier.


    With obvious relief in his voice, Ariel continued to pursue the identity of the beast. ¡°So what is it? If it is something that Erna picked it will definitely be something amazing.¡± Ariel was quite confident in his friend¡¯s knowledge and figured that she would have picked something good. The other two also agreed wit his statement since they have already knew how serious she was about everything.


    However hearing his question Erna turned red before shouting.  ¡°Y¡­ you will know when we see it, there is no reason to reveal it now.¡± Seeing her rare, embarrassed face, the interest of theirs was instantly peaked as they started guessing what kind of beast it could be.


    Fortunately for Erna, the food was soon done and they stopped pursuing the issue. When the food was laid out on everyone¡¯s plate, the first one to dig in was unexpectedly Ariel. He started eating like there was no tomorrow, which completely startled the rest.


    Deciding to ask his friend, Brendon opened his mouth. ¡°Ariel, did you not have anything to eat or something? Why are you so hungry.¡± Brendon¡¯s question made Ariel Slightly embarrassed as he replied. ¡°You see¡­ My food is not exactly something you would call delicious.¡±


    Hearing his words, his friends burst out into laughter and Sarah was the first one to speak. ¡°So even you have something you¡¯re bad at. However now I am very intrigued to see how bad it is.¡±


    Knowing that he was not perfect made Sarah slightly relieved, this is the first time she found something that she might be somehow useful at for him, but first she wanted to find out how bad at cooking he was.


    Erna had also forgotten about the previous events and started urging him. ¡°Come on, make something for us to taste. It can¡¯t be that bad, right?¡± Under their constant persuasion Ariel could only give out a sigh and give in, since it is they who had to eat it anyways.


    That night all three of his friends experienced one of the worst incident in their lives as well as endured the most horrible stomach ache they have ever felt and only their groans of pain could be heard during the night.


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 Chapter 34 - Ariels and Ernas familiars

    The next morning, everyone besides Ariel woke up feeling a bit sore. His food was at a level of horror that they have never expected, at first his friends though that he was over reacting, but when they got a taste they understood how much they were mistaken.


    Even now they shudder remembering what they ate and to disperse that memory, decided to try starting a conversation on a more positive note. That¡¯s why Brendon started commenting about it in a more amused tone than before.


    ¡°I truly never ate something so bad, we should never let him cook again or we will really regret it.¡± At the side Erna didn¡¯t say anything, but still nodded in agreement, only Sarah spoke in on Ariel¡¯s side unlike them. ¡°No one can be perfect, and this is the thing that Ariel is bad at. Isn¡¯t this actually good for Erna? Before you marry you should try to improve your cooking as much as possible. That would definitely please him and improve your future relationship.¡±


    During the conversation Sarah seemed to be delighted at Ariel¡¯s cooking skill instead of being unsatisfied. This is because it is the only thing she found that can be used to impress Ariel, since people would always be more captivated by humans who are skilled at something they aren¡¯t, instead of them being good in something that person is a master of.


    In the mean time however, Ariel was feeling quite depressed as he was standing at the side while listening to them. Although anyone would when people were talking about them like this while that person was listening so close to them.


    Only after a while did Brendon notice this and with an expression of embarrassment, spoke while looking at him. ¡°Maybe we should stop this conversation for now and talk about something different.¡± Understanding his meaning the girls looked towards Ariel while feeling slightly awkward and waited for Brendon to speak again.


    ¡°Oh yeah, after a nights rest you should have got some of your Mana back. Did you try summoning your familiar already, Ariel?¡± The person in question let out a breath of relief due to this awkward event ending, but still felt a little wrong in his heart while responding. ¡°I haven¡¯t. I thought I would try it after you ended your ¡°discussion¡±.¡±


    Brendon once more broke out into a stiff smile while silently urging Ariel with his eyes. Ariel stopped complaining and then took a breath after his friends went quiet, and started trying to summon his familiar without further ado for his first time.


    Erna and the rest watched him as the large amount of Mana gathered around Ariel¡¯s body and was slowly sucked into the symbol etched on his right hand. Slowly it lit up and they saw a blue mass of cold substance rise into the air from it, without having any solid form so to speak.


    After finishing the summoning Ariel opened his eyes that he closed before, and looked towards the creature in front of him. When he laid his eyes on it, he suddenly froze for a while just like his friends who were shocked at the side, but soon excitement overcame him.


    From an another person¡¯s perspective it was actually a seemingly weak creature, only at a low level Disciple rank, but more knowledgeable people would quickly recognize that what Ariel summoned was a spirit.


    Spirits were extremely unique monsters. The most basic one were very weak, but what made them different and precious was their unlimited ability to evolve. Normally mages would look for something that would have a large potential to grow for a familiar, spirits are the most coveted things for them in the whole world.


    It is said that if their master is strong enough, in the future a spirit can reach even the legendary Emperor rank. From this you could see how high is their potential, most common beast like the crimson fur hunter Ariel had met before, could only reach the late level of Elite rank if they¡¯re lucky, and the only other way would be for them to have a mutation, but that is beyond rare.


    However the reason that all mages aren¡¯t going after only spirits was not only because they were extremely rare. Due to their unique builds they only live in places perfect for their own affinities like water or earth element. Such like fire spirits were even rarer and could only be found near lava or magma sources.


    What¡¯s more, they are experts at hiding and are very easily spooked, so to be able to make a contract with one would be called a god sent miracle. Of course even Ariel was absurdly happy for this good fortune and his friend were also dumbstruck by his devil¡¯s luck.


    Sarah still hadn¡¯t taken of her eyes off the small spirit as she spoke to him. ¡°It is really a spirit? Also it seems to be an ice one at that. This is just too lucky, how did it get here?¡± There didn¡¯t seem to be any cold enough places around here, so it is not surprising that Sarah would be dubious about it.


    However Ariel didn¡¯t pay too much attention to it as he responded. ¡°I don¡¯t know how it found me, but it was extremely lucky. We can think about it later since we still have to quickly find Erna¡¯s familiar is because we should be returning very soon and it would be a shame if she was the only one who didn¡¯t get anything.¡± To escape their own speculations they quickly nodded at his proposal and had Erna lead the way while suppressing their own mind, from wandering about.


    Still, through the whole run the four of them continued give looks towards the floating spirit which was still too weak to fight in its own and could barely do anything yet besides follow them. They really wanted to find out more about it and explore its capabilities, but that would have to wait for later, since they soon reached their final true destination.


    In front of them they saw a small patch of plains that was a bit unusual to the purple wilds, but not rare. Looking around, Ariel, Sarah and Brendon were wondered what kind of beast lived here that Erna desired it so much.


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    The one to ask her was Sarah. ¡°So where is the thing you want to contract?¡± She seemed a bit puzzled since they didn¡¯t notice anything so far. However Erna pointed out her finger towards a place a bit further from them.


    The three took a better look at that direction and soon became astonished. When quickly looking though they didn¡¯t notice, but now they saw that there was a herd of some kind of white animals there, which they easily looked over due to their body¡¯s neutral color.


    Soon however even more shock appeared on their face as they realized what they were. Even the matter about the ice spirit seemed to dissipate from their minds because those animals were actually the mythical unicorns that almost every girls dreams about having.


    Unicorns were extremely rare, not as much as spirits, but still rare. Of course the four of them have already heard that there was a herd of them bred here, by The Academy so it was still understandable to find them here and that¡¯s the only reason they could still accept it.


    However just like the spirits they were quite hard to get. Also their requirements were quite stricter since to even try, you first had to be a maiden witch had the light attribute or it would be hopeless to even try to tame them.


    But that was only the minimal standard, the unicorns were as proud as they were rare and so if you wanted one, you had to exhibit amazing talent before they would accept you.


    Now seeing that Erna actually wanted to tame one, her friends became a bit skeptical. However it wasn¡¯t in anyway dangerous to try if she didn¡¯t overdo it, so Ariel gave her some encouragement. ¡°It is worth a shot, but don¡¯t push yourself if they reject you or it can get dangerous, though with your talent it is unlikely that they would decline to contract you.¡±


    With his words, Erna became even more excited and certain about getting one, but Brendon¡¯s next words quickly completely ruined her mood. ¡°However I never knew you had such a girly side to you. I guess you learn something new every day.¡± It was truly unexpected that a girl like Erna who was quite serious and fierce would pick such a feminine familiar and although it is also had quite a high potential compared to other beast there are also others she could have picked.


    Hearing his words Erna quickly turned red like the night before shouting. ¡°It is not your business what I pick, just shut up and be quiet!¡± The embarrassment was written on her crimson face and her flustered words didn¡¯t help. She felt truly angry at him because she had already thought that her worst fear of being made fun for that wouldn¡¯t happen.


    The only reason Brendon stopped teasing her was because of the death glare that his sister was sending him. Like this Erna got a bit of peace to calm her heart before trying to contract one of the unicorns.


    After several minutes of waiting, she finally started moving while exuding strong light Mana around her body, to show her worth towards the unicorns. The one she picked to tame was unsurprisingly the biggest of the bunch and also the one which appeared to be the leader with a majestic air around it.


    When Erna approached, all of the unicorns directed their gazes towards her as they started feeling her Mana and strength. Luckily none of them attacked her which showed that they at least were not hostile towards her and had a positive impression of her. Now she only needed to find out if the unicorn she picked would accept a contract with her.


    As she came closer, the large unicorn didn¡¯t move from its spot and calmly waited for her to reach it. When she as already only a meter away, she felt some pressure from stressing herself, but steadily continued walking. Soon she reached the majestic creature and slowly put her arm on him, starting to slowly stroke its head.


    Her face started overflow with happiness when she noticed that the unicorn didn¡¯t reject her at all, and quickly started forming their contract, just like Sarah did with her little panda. When it finished, Erna couldn¡¯t hold her excitement anymore and hugged the neck of her new familiar.


    At the side, her friends also felt happy for her as Brendon muttered. ¡°She actually succeeded. That means her talent is truly extraordinary.¡± Listening to Brendon¡¯s muttering and seeing how Erna was excited about her familiar, Ariel directed his gaze towards the little ice spirit hovering next to him.


    As if feeling the Ariel was thinking about it, the small lump of coldness came closer to him. Ariel held out his hand and the ice spirit quickly landed on it. Looking it over, Ariel spoke. ¡°Where did you come from? Is it truly fate that we met?¡± The little spirit suddenly started hopping up and down on his palm, making it strangely adorable and its action made it seem like it understood his words.


    Seeing this, joy appeared in Ariel¡¯s eyes as even he couldn¡¯t hide his happiness of meeting this little friend of his, who will undoubtedly be with him for a long time to come. Although soon he was brought back from his thoughts by Sarah¡¯s voice. ¡°Since we all got a familiar now, how about we go look around for a while until it is time to return?¡±


    None of them said anything against it, especially the unbelievably happy Erna who had a bright smile on her face. Like that they started wandering about and simply enjoying the rest of the time they had here, in this forever memorable place ¡°the purple wilds¡±.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 35 - The tide

    While spending their time exploring, Ariel and his friends visited many places that they have been to through the month of their adventures, including each of their bases that they spent most time in. Most of the time as they walked the four of them spent it talking about all of their exciting and unusual experiences, here in the purple wilds.


    If anyone saw them from the side they would only see a group of youth¡¯s walking through a colorful forest while smiling and laughing, sharing their interesting stories. They didn¡¯t put much attention about their surroundings, since in their own opinion there was almost nothing that would threaten them after having met up with each other and having defeated that chimera, so in the time they spent travelling they managed to cover a lot of ground.


    In several hours they were even able walk alongside the purple wilds longest river, from the start to the very end, seeing many wonderful sites along the way. However soon they would be leaving here and a small nostalgia had sprouted in all of their hearts.


    Knowing that this is the place they will always remember because of their familiars, made this feeling of nostalgia truly unstoppable. Unfortunately they had to deal with it and carry on since getting stuck on the past is mistake that could make them regret it.


    As the party was walking through another small path of the forest, they unexpectedly found quite a nice and serene place none of them had visited before. Seeing this place Ariel gave out his own suggestion with satisfaction in his eyes. ¡°How about we stay here and rest until the time to leave come? I think this is quite a nice place and since our time is almost up I¡¯d like to spend it relaxing a bit.¡±


    The one to respond to his words and speak was Brendon. ¡°I think that is a great idea since I am also quite tired from all this walking. What do you two think?¡± He himself was quite tired and quickly accepted the proposal, but he also didn¡¯t forget to ask the girls before hand, who fortunately also easily agreed to it.


    Like that they settled down at the spot and started resting while enjoying the environment. Each of them either talked with one another or explored a short distance around the spot they found. A small pool was near it so there was plenty of interesting wildlife that they could inspect while waiting.


    Unfortunately fate sometimes likes to play around at such peaceful moments. Sarah who has went a bit further to explore, happily returned back as she spoke about the interesting creatures and plants she seen around, however one thing she said made Ariel quickly jump from his resting spot and ask her a question while being dumbfounded. ¡°Could you repeat that?¡±


    Not knowing what Ariel was so heated up about, Sarah answered with a bright smile. ¡°I said there was a cute badger like creatures which looked extremely adorable, with his two tails and small horns on his head.¡± As you have already guessed she was not the most well read and she mostly only knew about important things and things she had ran into before, so the eminent danger of what she met flew right over her head.


    Ariel inwardly cursed while quickly thinking about what to do. Unfortunately the other two also didn¡¯t know much about these peculiar creatures and didn¡¯t know why he was acting so strangely, since from Sarah¡¯s description it appeared quite weak and not threatening.


    However he ignored the peculiar expressions and quickly used his special sight to look around, and just like he expected he saw countless number of small Mana sources converging around them. Turning slightly pale he shouted out a command while preparing to get away as fast as possible. ¡°Everyone, quickly prepare for combat and run as quickly as possible. If it isn¡¯t needed, don¡¯t engage them.¡±


    His strict and strange instructions shocked the others, but they have already plenty of unconditional faith in him and did as he said, absentmindedly with out raising any protest. Suddenly the greenery around them started moving, and out of it came a creature, that was just described by Sara, however it wasn¡¯t alone, more and more started appearing at a rapid rate, which stupefied Ariel¡¯s friends.


    Only after a couple of moments did they snap out of it and understand the crisis that had befallen them. Even if these critters were weak, if there are so many of them then they will be eaten until only their bones would remain, so they quickly started running with Ariel in the lead while panic became slightly visible in their eyes.


    Erna who was closest to Ariel looked at him and asked while feeling extremely nervous. ¡°What are those and why are there so many of them?¡± Its clear that even the well read Erna didn¡¯t look into things that didn¡¯t interest her, so this was out of her range of knowledge.


    Turning to look back at her Ariel calmly responded. ¡°They are forest fangs. All of them are actually barely low level Acolyte rank of strength, but the problem is that they hunt in hoards and even powerful creatures are afraid of catching their attention. Sarah, back then must have met with their, scouts who alerted the others and came to hunt us down.¡±


    Ariel¡¯s words were heard by the rest and made them very scared. If it was Ariel who said that powerful creatures are scared of them, then these powerful creatures are something even he couldn¡¯t beat which also means that the forest fangs are definitely something they couldn¡¯t mess with.


    However just after Ariel stopped speaking, he noticed that small Mana sources were also coming at them even from the front. He was quick witted and understood that the little, clever buggers have surrounded them. Turning around and stopping he quickly yelled towards his comrades. ¡°They have trapped us. Prepare for combat, we will try to drag it out until the time is up, since that is our only choice.¡±


    The others followed his orders and got into a basic formation, Brendon didn¡¯t waste any time and used his water magic to make a giant water wall on one of the sides, leaving only three directions that had to be protected. Although he wouldn¡¯t last if he had to make such sturdy defense on all sides, but if it is only one of them he could still manage.


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    Erna quickly got into the front and took the position of being a vanguard while Sarah and Ariel prepared to bombard the forest fangs from a distance. The golden haired maiden was quick to act and with several powerful slashes, her rapier easily cleared the immediate area around them while also killing several tens of the vermin.


    Both Ariel and Sarah took the sides and used their respective AOE¡¯s, ice cone and acid rain, creating devastating damage and giving them more room to breathe. Seeing that the assault was pushed back a bit, Ariel continued giving commands. ¡°Quickly summon your familiars to help or we will not make it. There are too many of them for us to handle.¡±


    The whole party understood that by themselves it would be too much for them, but luckily they had contacted their own beast not so long ago that could help here. Because of this, each of the obliged and besides Sarah whose familiar was barely a cub, everyone summoned their beasts in an orderly fashion.


    A white unicorn summoned by Erna started rapidly running around and trampling the enemy¡¯s while at the same time majestically shooting light magic from its horn. Erna worked well with it and progressively cleared out every forest fang that acme into their reach.


    Brendon¡¯s ancient tortoise that Ariel hadn¡¯t seen before also made its appearance. Unlike the white and beautiful unicorn, Brendon¡¯s familiar looked like a giant turtle, the sizes of the previously mentioned beast.


    It had blue skin and a giant, black shell with no particular patterns on it, its four stubby feet and a short tail made it look a bit funny. However over all its body was quite sharp edged at places, and its eyes had clear laziness in them, but also hidden wisdom which sometimes flashed as it used water magic to help defend or restore peoples strength.


    Ariel¡¯s spirit seemed to do the least as it only kept shooting out ice spikes towards the enemies, but others didn¡¯t complain since they understood that just like Sarah¡¯s baby panda it was still to young and didn¡¯t have enough time to grow.


    With the help of these three familiars, Ariel and his comrades kept fighting while killing one forest fang after the other until they couldn¡¯t even keep up with the death count anymore. After some time of such slaughter they had slowly started feeling the drain on their body, which further became visible when Erna actually got bitten by one of them.


    They understood that it would be soon over for them if this continued like this, so their space grew smaller and smaller as more and more bite and scratch marks appeared on their bodies from the few forest fangs that managed to get past.


    When an entire hour has passed since it started, the party was already starting to go pale from the exhaustion of their energy and wounds. Fear soon came over them when they saw that these vile creatures regrouped and prepared to go on an all out assault.


    Not knowing what to do, they slowly prepared for their inevitable death. Sarah let out a stiff smile as she spoke. ¡°I really didn¡¯t think that my death would come in the form of small fuzzy creatures.¡± Others agreed and started talking about what was on their mind as they looked towards the giant tide coming towards them.


    But just as death was so close to them, they felt warm light suddenly surround their bodies and their minds growing dim. When they came to, before their eyes were the familiar training grounds from where they were teleported from, a month back.


    Looking around all of them let out a breath of relief coming to the understanding that they were barely saved in the nick of time. Ariel then exclaimed with happiness in his voice. ¡°Thankfully we managed to survive long enough. If we died a moment before returning I would have really become angry at the gods when going to heaven.¡±


    Brendon, Erna and Sarah also felt relieved as Brendon spoke. ¡°We also came back each having a familiar, so this out going could be considered a complete success.¡± His words reminded them of the completion of the long task, and the exhaustion was quickly forgotten as they lost themselves in the feeling of accomplishment.


    They all smiled and even Ariel let out a small one, which disappeared before anyone could notice it. Each of them was excited to have made it back alive and let out a laugh together with all the students around them.


    Later on the teacher came and all of the students had to show their contracted familiar. In which of course Ariel and his friends once again were in the centre of attention having each contracted a rare beast, and in Sarah¡¯s case an unknown one. Ariel also got to ask about what happened with the Broach.


    Teacher Albert told him that it must have been a life saving enchantment made by the rumored healing affinity having mages. They seemingly had a certain spell which could enchant an object with any element Mana which in dire straits would heal the person that had it, provided that the affinity of the person was the same as the element used for the enchantment.


    By the teacher¡¯s theory, the ice spirit somehow was born in the object due to it not being used for a very long time, so it was extremely lucky for Ariel to have it happen, which made him even happier with this small spirit and its future prospects.


    At the end of the day, all of them finally returned to their respective rooms after the long month and at last had some satisfying and well deserved sleep, ending this small adventure and also one of the most memorable arcs of their lives.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 36 - Kings task

    Days passed, and soon the middle of the school year has already arrived. Since the event in the purple wilds, Ariel¡¯s school life had barely changed. The only difference was that he spent some of time, cultivating his new, still nameless familiar.


    His friends however had already named their own, but Ariel thought he would do it only after it had its first evolution. If you''re interested about what the new familiars are called, Brendon gave his own, quite an unoriginal name, Snappy, while Erna and Sarah named theirs respectively Crystal and Drop. They might not be the most interesting names, but they suffice for what they are


    Although Ariel said he would name his when it evolved, it was quite close to that already, since, in the time he spent growing it, the little spirit had jumped from the early stage Disciple, to the late stage. Only one more level was needed before it would take a new, more powerful form and be eligible to be named.


    His friend¡¯s familiars also improve a lot. Snappy and Crystal had reached the early Elite level not too long ago, while Sarah¡¯s Drop also improve, from the unknown level its been at before, to at least mid Disciple rank. They have also found out what was unique about Drop, its water healing magic was beyond monstrous, a single spell could bring you back from near death which was complete life saver. That¡¯s why they decided to use it only when they desperately needed it, and to also keep it as a secret, since if word got out it would bring countless troubles.


    Of course the familiars weren¡¯t the only ones to progress. Even though Ariel hadn¡¯t gained another level, he has reached the peak of the Elite rank and was now stuck at a bottle neck, Erna in the meantime reached the middle Elite rank, showing how abnormal her talent was, worthy of being called a genius.


    Sarah and Brendon also weren¡¯t too far away, both having reached the early Elite rank¡¯s peaks. However if you looked into which reached it first, you would find that the faster one was Sarah. Although it is unknown, if it is because of Brendon¡¯s lack of talent, or just due to his lazy nature.


    Off topic, the only other interesting thing that could be mentioned was when Ariel and his friends went to look for the teacher to complain why, was there a chimera at the purple wilds. Unfortunately the only answer they were given was that chimera¡¯s are something out of their control since because of their unique circumstances they can be born between any animal¡¯s, even if it is a very small chance.


    The forest fangs are apparently also a problem they can¡¯t deal with because it is just too difficult to kill every single of those small critters in the forest so they just repopulate. What they usually do is go trim the number of theirs every year, but it seems that this year it was done quite poorly.


    Back to the topic, generally Ariel spent his time peacefully just like before, while training and gathering knowledge in his free time. Currently he was, like most of the time, reading some books at the library, just like he is used to.


    His usual reading partner, Erna, has already gone back to her dorms early since she had promised to spend some time with Sarah today, so he was now reading alone at the far back corner of the building.


    Suddenly however he heard footsteps coming from behind him. Turning his head he saw Brendon coming closer to him with a serious look on his face. Noticing that Ariel saw him, he let out a small smile, and spoke when he got into speaking range. ¡°I knew I would find you here. Do you have a minute? I need to talk to you about something.¡±


    Ariel put down the book he was reading and nodded in agreement while urging Brendon to sit down. His friend was not in any way polite about it and sat down while he spoke. ¡°Thank you.¡± After he got a bit more comfortable, he continued speaking in a serious tone. ¡°The reason I came looking for you today, was actually because I wanted to ask you for help.¡±


    When Ariel heard what Brendon said, he suddenly became a bit more interested and continued to listen to Brendon. ¡°My father has just given me an important task to handle, since he is busy with the usual monster floods that occur in this season.¡±


    As Brendon spoke, Ariel managed to see that Brendon was a bit annoyed for having this mission pushed onto him, but decided to keep his mouth shut about it. ¡°Anyways, the task I was given concerns slave dealers we have caught wind of in Lenara city. Even though this city of ours is a neutral place, since it is still in our Galath Kingdom, we are obliged to take care of such things ourselves.¡±


    While listening to him, Ariel noted down a strange point and decided to verify it. ¡°As far as I know, it is legal for slaver to sell slaves if they are debt or war slave. That means if these are in need to be caught or killed, then they should be catching civilians and selling them. However I still don¡¯t see how this common crime is considered an important task.¡±


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    Brendon nodded at his observations before responding and telling the important parts of this mission. ¡°That¡¯s right. If it were just normal slaver who overstepped their bounds, we could just give this task to some other person. But the thing is, the actions of these slavers are a bit abnormal.¡±


    From Brendon¡¯s words, Ariel¡¯s curiosity got instantly peaked as he urged him to continue. ¡°The usual slavers would be selling high quality slaves to the black market to try to earn enormous profits, but the ones we are after are selling the slaves to some specific source that we are unable to track down. This is beyond strange and my father is concerned about the people behind this since we have actually already caught such slavers several times, at different parts of the Kingdom. However, all of them killed themselves before we could get any information.¡±


    After hearing everything out, Ariel nodded and spoke. ¡°You are right, this is too strange. There should be some kind of organization behind these slavers. However it is unknown, what their goal for acquiring so many slaves is. It could be just to work at some places, or in the worst case it could be to prepare an army.¡±


    A chill went down Brendon¡¯s back when he heard Ariel¡¯s last words. A rebellion is the last thing any Kingdom would want, but he soon got back his composure before asking. ¡°So could you help me in this? I feel like I will need someone really powerful or it might end up as quite a mess, but it will definitely be dangerous.¡±


    Taking several moments to think, Ariel nodded as he spoke. ¡°I will help you. Having such dangerous people so close to our Academy is of course something I don¡¯t want to see.¡±


    Brendon was overjoyed with Ariel¡¯s answer and spoke in a happy voice. ¡°Great, let¡¯s prepare a bit before we go out and I will also call the troops that were given to me to command. We can set our after two hours.¡±


    Ariel nodded and after closing tightly the book on his table got up and started heading towards the dorm. Several hours quickly passed, in the meant time Ariel put on some comfortable clothes for fighting and also meditated to the most perfect shape he could be, before battle.


    At the gate where he and Brendon were supposed to meet up, Ariel saw a large squad of about 30 knights standing there behind Brendon and another, seemingly higher rank, knight besides him. When he got closer, Brendon quickly jogged over with a smile and spoke. ¡°You made it. Let me introduce you to the captain of the knight''s squad that my father has entrusted to me.¡±


    He spoke while pointing with his hand at the knight that stood besides, just a moment before. ¡°His name is Henrik and although he is a commoner, he is quite skilled with the swords and also at a late stage Elite rank just like you.¡± The man called Henrik had quite a good build, with his manly and handsome face he looked like a perfect knight. What¡¯s more, his hair and eyes that were the same brown colour also made him seem like laid back guy, anyone can befriend.


    Henrik, seeing how Brendon welcomed Ariel, also made a polite salute before introducing himself. ¡°Greetings, just like how the young master has already said, my name is Henrik and I am responsible for this knight unit so I hope we can work well at the task at hand. Young master has also already told me about yourself, so there is no need for you to do your introduction.¡±


    Feeling satisfied at how Henrik carried himself, Ariel gave a nod of approval before turning back to Brendon to speak. ¡°I just remembered something. You haven¡¯t invited Sarah or Erna right?¡±


    His friend quickly shook his head at Ariel¡¯s question while responding. ¡°Even if they both are stronger than me and can fight against monsters, I know that they still would hesitate against humans, since they have never killed before, like us.¡±


    Ariel let out a breath of relief when he heard his words and continued speaking. ¡°Then it is okay. Let¡¯s get going before it gets dark. I would like to take care of this as fast as possible.


    Brendon agreed with this and quickly commanded the troops. ¡°We are heading out. This is a task given by his majesty so failure is unacceptable. Depart!¡± With Brendon¡¯s shout, all the knights began moving in an orderly manner, and so another event started, which will make Ariel take his first step towards the most powerful enemy he will ever fight in his life.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 37 - The wait for the ambush

    Following Henrik and the knights, Ariel and Brendon left The Academy and started walking through the already very familiar streets of Lenara city. Some people, did look at them with some interest, but most ignored them and didn¡¯t even bat an eye at their march. They have already long since gotten accustomed to seeing powerful knights, mages and noblemen that would pass through the streets, daily.


    Although there were still those who managed to recognize that these were the famous Kingdom¡¯s knights and some could also recognize the Galath¡¯s Kingdom¡¯s crown price Brendon walking behind them, which even in this city was something noteworthy. That¡¯s why they continued keeping their eyes on them, wondering what will happen today.


    However the people in question proceeded moving without paying heed to the spectators, since to them the only thing that was important was to complete their given assignment. Ariel and Brendon had also gotten used to being in the spotlight of the crowds a long time ago, so they managed to stay calm even under such suffocating looks, and were able to talk calmly amongst themselves on different matters.


    ¡°So Brendon, what is the plan you will be going with? I don¡¯t think that a frontal assault on their base would be very successful with only this amount of men.¡± Brendon understood Ariel¡¯s point and nodded while responding. ¡°Don¡¯t worry we will be going with the time approved, ambush plan. We have already acquired information that they will be doing one of their usual transactions this evening in a place that''s known for having a lot of shady business takes place.¡± Listening to the information Ariel looked up at the sky with a frown. The sun was still high up in the heaven, it should be only just after noon, meaning there is still a lot of waiting to do.


    Seeing his friend¡¯s worries, Brendon laughed out loud as he spoke. ¡°There is nothing we can do about that. Creating a good ambush takes some preparations and time, but don¡¯t worry, there is a good restaurant nearby where we can relax for a while.¡± Ariel cast him a dubious gaze before inquiring. ¡°How will you know when the event happens? Getting a message through, could be difficult for the knights at that time, since the slavers will probably have people already watching from all angles.¡±


    Brendon at Ariel¡¯s words let out a triumphant smile as he took out a small crystal ball. After staring at it for a while, Ariel¡¯s eyes suddenly grew a bit wider as he spoke. ¡°Is that a communication orb? You were actually given something so precious.¡±


    What was in Brendon¡¯s hands was a communication orb, an extremely rare magical item, even rarer than storage rings. It had an ability to create a link between the minds of the holder of the orb and anyone he personally knows.


    This technology was fully monopolized by the elves, so although it might not be expensive to make one, the elves very rarely would sell these to the outside, so besides the western continent, all other continents have a shortage of these. Because of this they were unbelievably expensive and only the large powers of the world would have some of them.


    Of course the holder still had to use some Mana to make it work, and unless the other person also had one of these, they wouldn''t be able to initiate a conversation back, so there were some difficulties in using it for operations like these, since Brendon will have to keep the link with Henrik at all times, due to Henrik himself being unable to start a conversation. However it is undoubtedly a precious and useful tool worth probably as much as the whole territory of a duke.


    As they walked and talked, they soon had arrived pretty close to the destination at hand. When Ariel finally noticed the general area around them, the knights behind Brendon started walking towards a different direction with Henrik in the lead.


    Looking at this, Ariel had quickly understood the reason for this, but Brendon still took time and explained. ¡°They can¡¯t just go through the main way, now can they? Henrik will have to go around the back and prepare everything while we will go wait at the restaurant.¡± Nodding at this, Ariel tactically approved his foresight before following Brendon.


    The place Brendon picked to eat was actually much to Ariel¡¯s liking, it had a serene atmosphere with a low amount of people which made him quite relaxed being here and was a perfect environment to have a calm talk. With Brendon leading, they were escorted directly towards the VIP section, where they will be spending most of their time until evening.


    When they opened the door to the room, Ariel felt very satisfied after seeing the inside of it, although it had an expensive interior it wasn¡¯t that overbearing and had an exquisite taste to it, coupled with the many windows around it, the entire room looked bright and beautiful while leaving nothing more to be desired.


    As they sat down, Ariel decided to get down straight to the point before getting something to eat. ¡°So what can you tell me about the place of the ambush? I would like to know everything about the place I will be fighting at, before jumping in.¡±


    Brendon gave an approving look while smiling and started to explain. ¡°As you know, we are currently in the furthest reaches of the city, and the place that the transaction will be happening at is basically right next to the wall, also with a direct escape over it. That is the reason why this place is so popular among criminals. It is extremely easy to get away from if there are people that unexpectedly come after them.¡±


    Listening to the details, Ariel understood that it was quite a difficult predicament they were at right now, but Brendon soon dispersed his immediate concerns. ¡°We have already made the preparations to achieve success at capturing them. However the one you will have to deal with is the leader of the slavers.¡± After ending his sentence, Brendon looked towards Ariel to see if he understood what this entailed.


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    Ariel looked at Brendon¡¯s eyes and simply gave his affirmation while motioning him to continue. ¡°The leader in question is called by the nickname of ¡°Blood drinker¡± and it seems this name was given to him for actually drinking the blood of his enemies that he cruelly murdered, so you can guess how vicious he is. He is a very notorious criminal wanted for countless crime¡¯s, but also a warrior at the late stage of the Elite Rank and has a high capability to escape while we are going after his subordinates. That¡¯s where you come in, the task given to you is to either tie him down or kill him, depending on what you can manage to do.¡± Brendon didn¡¯t say anything more, and let Ariel think everything through.


    He quickly finished reviewing the information he had gotten and Ariel quickly understood what he has to accomplish and what would be the dangers he will face. After evaluating everything, he found that he had quite a decent chance to win, although he will have to first see his enemy to be sure. That¡¯s why he gave his affirmation while nodding. ¡°Fine, I will try to do the task given to me, but if something goes wrong and my life is in danger, I will immediately retreat.¡±


    Brendon let out a bright smile after hearing Ariel¡¯s agreeing to the task at hand and responded. ¡°Naturally if it becomes too dangerous you are free to get away. I myself couldn¡¯t live with myself if you died because of such a small matter for me.¡±


    After finally taking care of business, the two of them became more relaxed and ordered some food and drinks to fill themselves up before the whole action starts. Most of the time they spent either eating or talking and laughing about all kind of stuff happening in the vicinity, Although there was still a limit to the new things that have happened, so after some time they ran out of topics to discuss and soon Ariel decided to start training until the appointed time.


    However after some more time passed Brendon suddenly remembered something and spoke to Ariel with a bright light in his eyes. ¡°Now that I think about it, I wanted to ask something of you.¡± When Ariel woke up from his meditation looked at his friends face and saw his expression, he immediately felt that this will be troublesome, and his worries came true when Brendon continued speaking.


    ¡°When will you take the next step with Erna and my sister? I¡¯m sure they are going insane while waiting for you to respond to them in some way, and I know you aren¡¯t that insensitive towards their emotions. It is just that you seemed to be avoiding the topic, even though you are getting closer and closer with them.¡± Brendon¡¯s sudden attack, caught Ariel completely off guard and it took him some time before he could compose himself again and speak.


    ¡°You already know quite well the difficulty I have with emotions. It is true that I feel like I am getting closer with the girls, but I don¡¯t know if it is love, and at the same time I am afraid to break their hearts in the future if I find out that it is not so. Also, why are you talking about me marrying both of them so calmly, taking out the fact that Sarah is a princess, just marrying two women is already a problem for me?¡±


    Hearing Ariel¡¯s response, Brendon burst out in laughter as he spoke. ¡°Many powerful people have more than one wife and I believe that Erna and Sarah won¡¯t have any problems with it either. You are severely underestimating their feelings for you.¡± To Brendon¡¯s words Ariel let out a frown as he responded. ¡°Why are you even bringing this up right now? You should save it for a later time.¡±


    Brendon only smiled at his words as he continued speaking. ¡°Okay, I won¡¯t bring it up right now, but I will tell you this. You shouldn¡¯t run from this, being afraid is natural and if in the future you find that your choice was wrong, you can find a way to fix it then, which is better than regretting something you didn¡¯t do. Only by walking forward can you understand and find your own path, and just maybe, Erna and my sister can help you understand the thing you most desire.


    Like that the conversation ended, but Ariel continued thinking about the words Brendon spoke to him for a long time to come. In the mean time, Brendon was unusually silent and let Ariel ponder all the way until he suddenly heard a voice in his head.


    ¡°Young master, the slavers have just begun to gather. What are your orders?¡± Hearing the report Brendon took a look at Ariel before replying. ¡°Stand your ground and wait until me and Ariel get there.¡± It didn¡¯t take long for him to hear Henrik¡¯s response. ¡°Understood¡±


    Finishing his conversation with Henrik, Brendon spoke while facing Ariel ¡°I just got a report that the transaction is about to commence, we have to move quickly.¡± Ariel was still a bit absentminded, but he still gave a nod and managed to regain his wits in a matter of seconds.


    This will be a dangerous confrontation and he didn¡¯t have room for doubt or weakness right now. Together with Brendon he got up in a quick fashion and walked out the door.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 38 - The ambush

    After exiting the establishment, Ariel and Brendon started hurrying towards the location where everything should take place. While doing this, they tried to be as discrete as they could manage and went down as many shortcuts as possible to get there in time for the whole event.


    Fortunately they didn¡¯t encounter any people that were stationed to keep watch, and noticed that overall the guard seemed to be quite relaxed, maybe they have some serious confidence that no one will interrupt them? However because of this, the two boys entered without being noticed and quickly found the location where Henrik was hiding.


    Both of them silently and slowly walked closer to him, while Brendon used the communication orb to warn him that it was them who were coming from behind him. Henrik instantly took notice of them when he heard the voice and calmly waited for them to arrive in speaking range. When they made sure that their cover wasn¡¯t blown and no one had followed them, they let out a breath of relief before turning towards the knight captain.


    ¡°Henrik, how are things going right now? Is everything alright and ready to go?¡± To Brendon¡¯s whisper Henrik replied in a respectful manner. ¡°Yes, currently the two sides are talking and most likely we still haven¡¯t been noticed, or they wouldn¡¯t appear so leisure.¡±


    As the captain responded, he motioned towards the usually empty place which currently had a whole bunch of men at it. The first thing you would probably notice was the giant cart full of tied up and gagged people, which was protected by several bandit like people. They looked desperate and fearful for their future while quietly listening to the conversation of the two guys.


    Those, people who were talking, both seemed to be on the same level with each other, since neither of them showed each other disrespect. Although only one of them had a bunch subordinate looking people behind him, while the other had seemingly came alone.


    The person who had a bunch of savages behind him was a rough looking man in mid forties with black hair and green eyes. His face should have been called decent in the past, but now it was littered by many scars from battles, making it a bit unpleasant to the eyes. If Ariel had to guess, this must be the guy who was nicknamed the blood drinker as he was the one leading the slavers who were driving the cart right now.


    On the other side it was actually only a delicate youth who wore black garments on his body and a staff, unlike that of the blood sucker¡¯s leather armor and steel sword, indicating that he was some kind of a mage. The youth¡¯s looks were quite good and although he had a weak build similar to Ariel¡¯s, his dark brown hair and blue eyes made him into quite a lady killer.


    From the side, both of these men appeared to be on a quite a good relationship and were casually talking with each other while laughing. Unfortunately it was impossible to get closer and listen to their conversation for them without getting caught.


    However there were several times they would exclaim their words a bit louder and you could discern some things. Although all Ariel land the others could understand were ¡°Much more¡±, ¡°The church¡±, and the word which attracted most of their attention ¡°Archduke¡±.


    Even though this wasn¡¯t much, they though that this was all crucial information in some different perspective. However they also thought that this was not enough for them to go by, so when the conversation of these two was coming to the end, Brendon has already turned to Henrik to ask. ¡°Is everyone ready to move?¡±


    The captain of the knight¡¯s gave a nodded and quickly responded. ¡°All the lookouts have been located and my men are prepared to take them out, but we aren¡¯t some assassins, when we make our move, we will undoubtedly be heard by the enemy so we will have to work quickly once everything starts.¡±


    Brendon acknowledged what Henrik said and this time started speaking to Ariel. ¡°We should wait a bit before showing ourselves to take them by surprise, however be prepared for their retaliation.¡± Ariel gave his affirmation and watched Brendon give Henrik the sign to begin.


    Soon after the command of Henrik, many sounds of combat instantly could be heard coming from everywhere around them. When the blood drinker and the youth in black robes noticed that something was wrong, they quickly gathered the slavers which numbered at about fifty, into a decent formation, while using only a couple of words, showing that they still had some discipline unlike normal thugs.


    At that time Henrik finally showed himself as he walked out of the shrubbery while the thirty knights, who finished taking care of the lookouts, quickly surrounded the group. Although there were less of them than there were slavers, each knight was several times more powerful than a normal slaver and this amount of them could easily pressure the enemy¡¯s side.


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    Anger and hate rapidly appeared in the eyes of the slaver leader as he started shouting. ¡°Who are you and what do you think you are doing you bastard!?¡± Not taking heed of the angry man or the youth looking coldly at him, Henrik did his usual knight¡¯s task. ¡°My name is Henrik and I am the captain of this knight squad. Under his majesty¡¯s orders, all of you will be punished for your crimes that you did in his domain, the Galath kingdom. Please surrender quietly so that we can avoid even more blood shed.¡±


    Unfortunately Henrik¡¯s words seemed to only anger the opposition more, since the slavers quickly prepared to fight under the orders of the black clothed youth, while the man named blood drinker was still cursing. ¡°You think you have what it takes you shit? I will make sure to rip you in half in the most brutal way possible so it would be painful.¡±


    When the leader finished speaking, he unexpectedly, also started commanding the troops in a careful manner. It seems like although this person had a bad temper he wasn¡¯t that stupid. The slaver rapidly took take places and under the cry of their boss, were about to take the initiative to attack without having any more pleasantries.


    Just at that time Ariel and Brendon finally made their move. Brendon used his magic to support the knights and several of his spells were put on them that were beneficial to fighting and recovery. On the other hand Ariel unleashed several frost bolts that he had prepared beforehand, straight into the thick of the slavers.


    Several moments later screams could be heard coming from their formation and blood started quickly flowing under their feet. In just this opening faze, about ten of the bandits have already been killed or injured, instantly ruining their moral.


    The leaders in the mean time were completely frozen for different reasons. That youth in black stood the dumbstruck as he started muttering to himself ¡°Ice? Could it be a variant magic?¡± He appeared to have become a bit absentminded seeing Ariel¡¯s magic.


    The slaver leader however felt so furious that he started to tremble from it and his face began turning completely red. However Ariel¡¯s group once more underestimated the experience of the opponent, as the blood drinker managed to instantly evaluate this as a bad situation and understood that fighting a group of trained knight¡¯s with mages at the back, would be terrible for him. The man quickly shouted at the top of his lungs as he faced Henrik. ¡°Retreat, get out of here as fast as possible.¡±


    The group surprisingly, obediently listened to his orders, and with the youth, who was still looking at the place Ariel shot out his spells from, started retreating. The blood drinker had also started to rapidly run away as he shouted towards the knight captain. ¡°Next time we meet I will make you regret this day for the whole eternity!¡± Henrik heard his threat, but didn¡¯t pay any mind to it, in his head the whole group was already as good as dead, the only one he was actually interested in chasing was the youth, who appeared to belong to the mysterious organization that was behind all of this commotion. That¡¯s why he took off after the young mage, while commanding the other knight¡¯s to hunt down the rest of the normal slavers.


    In the mean time, the infamous blood sucker has just managed to get out of the city and started to relax, when suddenly a spear made entirely of ice suddenly speared out of nowhere heading straight towards his vital areas. However he was experienced and managed to almost flawlessly dodge the surprise attack.


    After that he quickly faced the direction that the ice spear came from as he shouted. ¡°Show yourself coward, or is this all you are capable of?!¡± Ariel complied to his provocation and calmly exited the forestry while thinking about the strange youth with unknown origin from before. He had left earlier so he could intercept the slaver leader, but still notice the youth¡¯s dangerous look. Giving it some more thought he just shook his head, since from the amount of Mana in his core, he could discern that the youth should have also been a mage at the late Elite rank like him and shouldn¡¯t bring much problems.


    Blood drinker on the other hand was stumped for a while when he saw Ariel, but the next second his rage exploded inside of him, especially when he notice how Ariel was ignoring him. ¡°A brat like you dared to go against me? Are you tired of living?¡± Unfortunately Ariel only felt amused at such empty threats as he spoke while letting out a sigh. ¡°I don¡¯t have time for this. I still want to get some good rest after all of this."


    ________________________________________________________________________________


    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 39 - Blood drinker

    At a remote place of the forest, near the city walls, you could see two people confronting one another. One was the young Ariel, while the other was the already quite old and vicious criminal blood drinker.


    When Ariel stepped out and faced him, he had already prepared his usual combat defenses, the three ice shields he would have hovering around. From this you could see that although Ariel¡¯s words seemed to be quite light before, he didn¡¯t dare to underestimate his opponent.


    Blood drinker on the other hand, was still fuming for being insulted by a brat who still wasn''t even 20. While having his eyes turn red from blood lust, he drew his savage sword, which had many ¡°teeth¡± from all sides of it, without saying another word making it look really intimidating. It was obvious that this sword was created with the desire to inflict as much pain as possible, which made Ariel feel reluctant to even get close to it.


    However he soon noticed that his opponent wasn¡¯t as furious as before, but more like a beast eyeing its prey. He started feeling like this blood drinker had quite a unique mindset as he was easily angered, but his anger would quickly be turned into savagery and frightening calmness when facing an opponent.


    All of this made Ariel¡¯s discard all the taunt cards he wanted to play, and instead he put more effort into observing his opponent¡¯s moves. It didn¡¯t take long for Ariel¡¯s opponent to start slightly swinging his sword, almost as if having a feel for it but he also was conflicted about how silent the slaver has been. Ariel decided to wait until his opponent moved first before acting.


    Currently Ariel stood at about twenty meters from his opponent and was quite confident about his opponent not being able to reach him, even though he hadn¡¯t ever seen the true physical capabilities of a warrior. However his expectations ware overturned when the blood drinker took his first, large step and exploded in terrifying speed, heading straight towards him.


    Ariel could barely react when his enemy appeared right in front of, and only by putting everything he could into dodging did he mange to lunge back a bit, avoiding a lethal blow. Unfortunately he heard glass breaking and noticed that he only had two ice shields left, as the previous attack destroyed one.


    Taking several steps back Ariel got some distance while blood drinker also retreated, he seemed to be a very careful man and was afraid of Ariel having some kind of counter attack. Noticing that he has some room to breath, Ariel didn¡¯t waste his time and quickly summoned five ice spears around him.


    Although doing this makes it easy to keep track of them and they loose their surprise factor, Ariel didn¡¯t want to take chances and this formation would be something that his opponent should be fearful a bit of attacking. The blood drinker, in the mean time was extremely shocked as he spoke. ¡°You are actually able to use spells without chanting, I was right to have retreated. You also have quite a decent reaction speed compared to other mages. It seems there truly are monstrous geniuses like this in the world. Unfortunately you will meet your end here.¡±


    His opponent in the end has mistakenly thought that he took the right choice by retreating. Unfortunately he didn¡¯t know that if he followed up his attack, he might have killed Ariel in the first exchange and be done with it. However Ariel won¡¯t be letting such an unexpected thing to happen again. He tightly gripped one of his newly manifested ice spears, making his beating heart calm down bit by bit.


    The slaver leader didn¡¯t know what to do, and the time he spent debating if he should attack, Ariel had already finished regaining his rationality. He looked towards his enemy and began creating plans how to kill him.


    Due to experiencing the near death experience he didn¡¯t want to give an opening by using up all of his defenses, so while not shooting out the ice spears hovering around him, he cast a new spell to attack, instead. Ariel¡¯s spell of choice in this situation was the frost bolt since it had decent range and also some dangerous factors to it which will keep his opponent on his toes.


    By the time the first Ariel¡¯s frost bolt was shot out, blood drinker had already awoken from his thoughts and after noticing a spell coming towards him, dodged to the side. However that was the reason Ariel chose this, just as the spell went past him, Ariel used its second feature of launching out its spikes.


    At such a close range it was extremely hard to evade all of them, but thanks to noticing the activation at the last second, Ariel¡¯s opponent managed to protect himself while dodging and using his sword to ward the spikes off him. Of course under such an unexpected assault he still got several tiny cuts all around his body, making the slave leader frustrated.


    Seeing that his attack had only minimal effect, Ariel quickly tried shooting out another one. Unfortunately blood drinker understood that by staying a fair distance form Ariel would definitely end up in his defeat. That¡¯s why he instantly started charging in zigzags toward the young mage.


    While staying calm Ariel changed the spell he was preparing at the moment, and this time chose to use ice cone. Just when his enemy reached the required range, he unleashed his spell, covering a decent amount of area in front of him in ice.


    Blood drinker didn¡¯t have much experience in fighting mages so he easily got caught in Ariel¡¯s plan, getting momentarily frozen. After seeing this, Ariel didn¡¯t waste a second and sent the four ice spears around him to strike.


    Unfortunately blood drinker was decently strong and was able to break out of his encasement almost immediately. Using all of his efforts to evade, Ariel¡¯s attack was unable to deal a critical injury to him, but blood drinker¡¯s skill was not enough for him to leave uninjured. His left shoulder and right leg were grazed, reducing his fighting ability by a notch.


    Unexpectedly, while not paying any head to his injuries, the slaver leader charged towards him, intending to finish it as fast as possible. Ariel responded by calling back his four ice spears and thrusting out the one in his hands.


    His opponent however was capable of easily measuring the trajectories and so he dodged the four coming from the back and the one coming from in front of him, while at the same time unleashing his own attack at Ariel.


    Thankfully Ariel still had two ice shields and used one to block the strike, but the blood drinker was fast and instantly went in for his next attack. However he was met with an unexpected ice slice spell from Ariel¡¯s left hand that he prepared while predicting his opponent¡¯s actions.


    The sword and the ice blade clashed, soon pushing both of them back and once more creating a distance. Looking at the middle aged man Ariel started to feel that this will be a long fight. Their skill was almost on the same level so neither of them could get an edge, ending up at a stalemate.


    Coming to this conclusion Ariel quickly launched himself into the woods. Blood drinker, thinking that Ariel was escaping instantly started chasing him. However what he didn¡¯t expect was that Ariel was just thinking of changing the terrain into something that would be a bit more beneficial to him.


    As he entered the woods, another ice spear was launched directly at him. Blocking it with his sword, blood drinker¡¯s fury reached an entirely new level. The next moment he understood what Ariel was planning and complied to do the same.


    Like this, their guerrilla battle started and continued for who knows how long. Throughout the time they were battling, Ariel used many spells and also had to re summon many destroyed ice shields to even have a chance at surviving.


    Countless attacks were exchange between the two, each trying to eliminate the other person. Only after a couple of hours did they finally break out of this stalemate. Ariel, who has been hiding inside the forest and evading the blood drinker¡¯s blows, was finally driven out of the forestry.


    Just when they finally stepped into a clearing again, the slaver leader spoke. ¡°So much trouble for a single brat, but now there is nowhere to run anymore. I have never expected that you would last for such a long time, that¡¯s why I decided to finish you of with my trump card.¡± Ariel¡¯s opponent started snickering while speaking, he himself however didn¡¯t respond, remaining silent and waited to see his enemy¡¯s plan.


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    When blood drinker saw this, anger once again flashed in his eyes, but he consoled himself by saying that it won¡¯t be long before Ariel dies. He suddenly took out something and put it on his finger, after Ariel got a better look at it, he realized it to be a storage ring. However he didn¡¯t have much time to think. Blood drinker summoned several swords from inside it and the next moment all of them flew out from his hand and positioned themselves all around Ariel.


    While being stunned, Ariel could barely continue to think, while the slaver leader started to laugh and speak. ¡°See? This is my final move.  Although I am not truly at sword flight level, but I am already quite close and by making these swords out of a light metal I can use them like this. Now there is no way out for you anymore.¡± His opponent was clearly confident in himself and already thought that it is his win.


    Ariel in the mean time was wracking his brain after snapping out of his stupor. All of his ice shields and most of his Mana was gone, and ice manipulation won¡¯t be able to defend against all of them leaving Ariel in a dilemma.


    Unfortunately his opponent looked to be tired of him already and even though he also had many small injuries, he still had some strength left to fight. What¡¯s more, he really wants to be done with this as soon as possible. So at the next moment he directly charged at Ariel while thrusting his sword, at the same time the swords from all around him did the same and started flying towards him.


    He easily saw that there was no way to evade or block all of them, making Ariel¡¯s mind think even harder. However no matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn¡¯t think up of a way and when the swords were already upon him he gritted his teeth and stared right in front of him, at the annoying and ugly grin. Although he can¡¯t get out of this unharmed by sacrificing something, a person can always get something in return.


    Without a moment of hesitation Ariel leaped at blood drinker, not expecting this he was late to react and soon his sword pierced Ariel¡¯s body. He completely didn¡¯t understand why Ariel did this but at the next moment he suddenly felt something cold in his chest, looking down he saw an exquisite ice spear that Ariel had always kept in his hands during the fight.


    Quickly understanding what happened, he revealed a pained expression of regret. To think that the infamous blood drinker would end up dying so pathetically at the hands of a boy, such a disgrace.


    All the way until his last breath Ariel¡¯s opponent¡¯s eyes showed unwillingness. Unfortunately it didn¡¯t help him in any way to save his miserable life. Only after Ariel felt that blood drinker drew his last breath did he draw out, the already bloody ice spear.


    Letting out a breath of relief, the next moment he clutched his stomach. The sword wound was a very heavy wound due to the nature of his opponent¡¯s weapon. He saw that he was quickly bleeding out, so he tried to immediately bandage himself.


    Luckily enough, the next moment he heard the rustling of the leaves and turned to look to the left of him with vigilance. Coming out of the wood was his worn out best friend, seemingly satisfied with his job.


    After seeing the situation at hand however, Brendon instantly ran up to Ariel and spoke. ¡°You¡¯re bleeding so much. This wound is too dangerous it has gone right through your stomach. It seems this bastard gave you trouble right until the end.¡± While continuing to speak, Brendon took out something out of his bag.


    It was a flask filled with red liquid which was quite familiar to Ariel. What Brendon took out was a healing potion, something that can only be created by alchemists and is extremely expensive. However they are mostly used by adventurers or lone experts, since light magic¡¯s capabilities are still way more efficient.


    Fortunately in this situation Brendon was smart enough to bring one, and so he immediately gave it to Ariel. Chugging down the potion Ariel quickly felt his wound healing and even his Mana started refreshing itself at a rapid rate.


    As soon as he felt that he recovered to a suitable condition he looked towards Brendon and expressed his thanks. ¡°I am thankful, at least now I don¡¯t have a hole in my stomach. My opponent was quite hard to handle, it is true that experience and skill can have a huge effect on who wins.¡±


    Brendon nodded at his words and responded. ¡°Yeah, but to have defeated such a notorious person is an impressive feat in itself. We have also managed to catch most of the slavers that ran to the forest. Unfortunately the black clothed youth used some kind of strange magic resembling the darkness element to escape. We couldn¡¯t really do anything about it.¡±


    Hearing this Ariel didn¡¯t blame them and just tried comfort him. ¡°A mysterious person like him must have some measures to remain mysterious it is not your fault. You just had too little information about him I think we should be putting more energy into interrogating these guys instead of chasing that youth.¡±


    In response Brendon let out a weak smile as he spoke. ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Seeing that his friend is not downcast anymore, Ariel came up to the lying body of blood drinker and started searching it. After some time he still didn¡¯t find any useful clues and was about to give up, but suddenly a crest fell out of one of his pockets.


    Bending down and picking it up he saw that the etched crest was that of a two headed horse. Before he could even start thinking, Brendon by his side exclaimed in shock. ¡°Isn¡¯t that the crest of the Hevorin family, are they the ones behind all of this?¡± Ariel kept looking at the thing in his hands for a few seconds more before he responded. ¡°I think the Hevorin is only a tool that the mysterious organization you have spoke about, is using.¡±


    Brendon appeared to have come to the realization and silently agreed to his theory as he spoke. ¡°I will deal with this later, first we should get back to The Academy. I''m so tired I can barely stand.¡± Feeling amused Ariel simply complied and followed his friend towards the stationed knights.


    In the end all the captured slavers were brought back to be interrogated, the mission also ended almost perfectly, there were no deaths on their side and only some light injuries. With the satisfying feeling in their hearts, Brendon and Ariel quickly returned to the school grounds.


    Suddenly stopping on the road, Ariel turned to look at the school caf¨¦, remembering that Sarah and Erna were going to hang out there until late at night, at least by their words. Thinking that they might still be there he spoke out towards Brendon. ¡°Erna and Sarah should still be at the caf¨¦. Maybe we should go chat with them a bit?¡±


    His friend seemed to have not known about this and let out a surprised voice. ¡°They are? Well I guess they ¡°would¡± tell you. I also think we should go see what they are doing, it won¡¯t hurt to say good night to them.¡±


    Both of them turned to walk to the caf¨¦ at the end of their conversation, but in front of them they notice a shadow of a person running at their direction. As it got closer they instantly recognized the person due to her long blue hair.


    However currently her hair was in a mess and her face had a panicking expression on it. This visage made a bad premonition start swelling up inside them as they though of what could have riled her up like this and more importantly, why was she alone?


    ________________________________________________________________________________


    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 40 - The kidnapping

    Seeing Sarah running towards them in panic, the two friends stood there completely petrified. The person in question on the other hand revealed a look of joy on her face when she saw them. She quickly started heading to their location at a rapid pace, almost as if she would die if she didn¡¯t reach them.


    It didn¡¯t take even a couple of breaths for her to already be standing right in front of them. Although only after hearing her rough breathing did they finally snap out of their stupor and urgently ask what happened to make her so anxious. ¡°Did something happen? Why are you in such a bad condition like this?¡±


    Ariel didn¡¯t waste time on the small talk and got straight to the point. They then patiently waited for her to catch her breath and didn¡¯t rush her to speak, since it would be hard to get her thoughts together while under pressure and panting like this.


    The wait didn¡¯t take long and Sarah started speaking as soon as her breathing got a little better. ¡°It¡¯s Erna. She needs help fighting against a large group of people who attacked us. They seem to be some kind of assassins¡± Unfortunately even after this her words didn¡¯t contain the details.


    After understanding a bit of what happened, Brendon stepped up and started calming his sister down even further. ¡°Relax, take deep breaths and tell us where it took place.¡± Sarah¡¯s red eyes, that seemed to about to burst into tears, slightly calmed as she continued telling her story. ¡°At the caf¨¦, we were talking and eating, when a sudden surprise attack happened from some people dressed in black, only latter did we notice that they were assassins.¡±


    Hearing the location and the specifics of the events that took place at the caf¨¦, Ariel and Brendon felt an ominous feeling in their heart as they looked at each other. Ariel was the quickest to react and spoke up. ¡°There is no time to get more help, we have to hurry to the location, let¡¯s go.¡±


    Under Ariel¡¯s command the three of them started rushing back to the caf¨¦ at the fastest speed they could muster. Although the location was pretty close, every second mattered in such a situation so they didn¡¯t even think about resting. When they have reached the building, there didn¡¯t seem to be any other people around and also no sound coming from the actual caf¨¦.


    Feeling anxious, they quickly rushed in only to witness a bloody scene where they saw about thirty corpses of, men dressed in black, drowning in their own blood. Sarah felt slightly sick looking at this picture, but held it together.


    Ariel and Brendon had less of a reaction from it however they still turned slightly pale as they scanned the room for Erna. Noticing that their friend was nowhere to be seen they suddenly became frightened. Ariel rushed into the room and once more carefully looked it over.


    His fear deepened as he didn¡¯t see even a strand of her golden hair, only bodies signifying that she put up a good fight before being taken. However he was also glad that he didn¡¯t see her corpse as it meant that she was kidnapped and her life should still not be extinguished, for now.


    As he was furiously thinking about what to do now, he heard a grunt coming form one of the bodies on the ground near him. Just now he was about to search them to see if he could find out their identity, but luckily enough there was still a person alive, to interrogate.


    Turning his eyes to look at the direction the voice was coming from, Ariel saw another, black clothed person like all the rest, who had a medium body build. If you get a better look at them, those clothes do look like something that only a beginner assassin would wear.


    Coming closer to the person, he spoke to him with zero emotion in his voice. ¡°You have a minute to tell me who sent you and where is Erna.¡± The injured assassin however only laughed as he replied. ¡°Do you really think I would betray my comrades like this?¡±


    His words unfortunately only served to anger Ariel more as he spoke in even a colder voice. ¡°Then I will show you several of my methods to make people speak.¡± As he bent over and put his hand on the assassin¡¯s chest, a large amount of Mana started gathering around him, he didn¡¯t feel like wasting time.


    Outwardly nothing seemed to be happening, but suddenly the assassin¡¯s body convulsed and he started screaming from the feeling of pain coming from inside of him. Sarah and Brendon completely didn¡¯t understand what Ariel has done, but just in time for them to raise the question, he explained to everyone.


    ¡°This is a way of torture I invented, I am currently freezing you from inside out, your nerves, blood vessels, inner muscles, will all be slowly frozen, and believe me, the pain will only get worse if you resist.¡± The assassin got extremely frightened by his words, the pain he is experiencing couldn¡¯t be described by speech, and he would already do anything to make it stop, so without further ado he spoke.¡±


    ¡°Please no more, it was the duke of Hevorin family he is the one who sent us here.¡± His speech was disorganized due to the pain, but Ariel managed to understand the most important parts, making his hidden anger reach the boiling point.


    Before he didn¡¯t know his enemy so he was holding back, but now that he knew who the enemy was, and considering he just found out before of his ties with an underworld organization, he couldn¡¯t hold it back anymore.


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    The air around Ariel started dropping and the area started to freeze over, while silent, but piercing killing intent started emitting from his body. His friends have never seen him like this and didn¡¯t know what to do. Unknown to them, not having many people he could consider being close to, made Ariel think of them as more important than even his own life. Now that someone actually dared to kidnap one of is friends, and what¡¯s more his fianc¨¦, for the first time in his life he was unable to control his emotions.


    Thankfully his emotions soon started to recede as he managed to recall that he first had to go save Erna since there was not much time. He turned to look at his dumbfounded friends as he spoke. ¡°Latter send someone to get this guy and interrogate him.¡± He said while pointing at now already frozen, body.


    Brendon while still being lost, just nodded absentmindedly as Ariel continued speaking. ¡°It is that worthless Hevorin family again. Do you know anything about where they could have taken Erna?¡± His words snapped the siblings out of their shock and Brendon quickly replied. ¡°Of course I know. They have a mansion in this city that is used when Hevorin family members are staying here, but we should hurry out.¡±


    The other two nodded and all of them left the caf¨¦ while continuing to talk. Ariel who was leading in the front spoke to Sarah. ¡°Sarah, can you tell us how it all happened? It would be best to know all the details.¡± Agreeing to his words Sarah spoke.


    ¡°Just as you probably know, we were spending some of our casual time in the caf¨¦. It was nothing special, just a calm evening. Suddenly however, we were sneaked attacked out of nowhere, fortunately Erna managed to react just in time and we dodged their first strike.¡± It appeared that the assassins had some inside help since without it, it would be hard to get into the school grounds like that Ariel and Brendon thought this while continuing to listen.


    ¡°There were in all, about fifty of them and Erna was able to hold them back by herself for a good while, but I was just in the way and couldn¡¯t cast any spells at all, due to that she got hurt several times.¡± After saying these words, Sarah once more seemed to about to burst into tears.


    However Ariel put his hand on her head while responding. ¡°Calm down. For someone who never experienced something like this it is natural to be caught off guard and become unable to fight. This is something to be expected of a mage so you shouldn¡¯t blame yourself and continue the story so we could go help Erna.¡± It is unknown if Ariel¡¯s words helped, but Sarah smiled again as she continued.


    ¡°Now that I think about it, from the start their attacks didn¡¯t seem to be aiming for the kill, so they probably wanted to kidnap us, as the best as scenario. The battle dragged out for a while, unfortunately they realized that I was Erna¡¯s liability and started concentrating on me. At that time Erna suddenly told me to run away and get some help. I didn¡¯t want to leave her alone, but she grabbed me and threw me towards the exit while carrying on with fighting against the assassins.¡±


    Ariel and Brendon saw that Sarah was still feeling guilty for not being of any use to Erna, maybe if she had been more collected they could have fully fought off their attackers. However they let her push those thoughts out on her own, and waited her continuation, which came quite quickly.


    ¡°At that time I had already got back some of my rationality and soon understood that I would be useless by continuing to stay there, so I ran as fast as my legs could carry me to find any other people around. Strangely there was not one person near here except for you two, almost as if this area was deserted at the time.¡±


    Putting facts in their place inside his head, Ariel agreed as he spoke. ¡°There must have been some strings pulled to make the kidnapping more successful.¡± Later on he would need to look into the staff here, but now he didn¡¯t have the time as he asked. ¡°Brendon, tell me the directions to the Hevorin mansion and I will go on first. In the meant time you should go bring Henrik while you, Sarah, go inform any teachers you can find. The more people know the better.¡±


    Understanding what Ariel meant and realizing they were running out of time, both of them started doing their part. Sarah immediately left to search for anyone while Brendon started giving detailed directions. When they reached the gate, they finally said their farewells and separated to do their own tasks.


    While speeding towards the place Brendon informed him about, Ariel felt the rage and killing intent boiling inside of him, ready to explode at any time. He will never let off anyone who hurts his friends, not until he is still alive.


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 Chapter 41 - Infiltration of the mansion

    The moon was currently quite high in the sky and the surroundings have already been plunged into the silent night for a long time. At the far side of the city, there stood a medium sized mansion which looked quite desolate if seen from far away.


    Only two people were standing guard at the gate, in case someone decided to come at such a late hour. However just as the two people were talking while being lax, about their job two ice spears came out of nowhere and impaled both of them to the wall.


    Right until the end they didn¡¯t understand what actually killed them tonight, only Ariel who came out of the shadows the next moment, knew that he was responsible for it. Although he would usually not kill recklessly, today he didn¡¯t have time to see if these people were innocent guards, or just the same like the slaver he had met today.


    To him Erna¡¯s life was much more important so he managed to ignore his own nonchalant killings while entering thought the gate. After crossing the line he saw a well taken care of front yard, which now was unfortunately still ruined by the night¡¯s darkness.


    Ignoring the other sights he could see, he directed his gaze towards the manor¡¯s front entrance. Even if he was in a rush he didn¡¯t forget to always be cautious, and this time it came through for him. Thanks to his special sight, he could see a large amount of Mana and Mana sources behind the door, signalling that there are undoubtedly people waiting to ambush him, inside.


    However Ariel continued without fear and slowly pushed open the big wooden doors. The inside was similarly to the outside, also covered in darkness, unfortunately for the ambushers Ariel could easily see where they were due to their emitted Mana.


    As he was carefully walking into the room, he soon heard a voice just as expected. Only the voice didn¡¯t seem fully human and was mixed with a robotic or an artificial voice, ¡°So you really have came brat. We were told you might come, but we really didn¡¯t think you would be actually so stupid to arrive here alone.¡±


    The person¡¯s words had clear mockery in his voice, since to him a boy coming here like this is truly suicide. In the meant time, the room has been lit up by the suddenly igniting candles and Ariel could finally see what he was facing.


    In front of his stood several sturdy, giant stone golems, making a small encirclement surrounding him. Ariel was taken a back for a moment, but then he remembered some old news of how the Hevorin family had bought a large amount of remote controlled golems before.


    If he had to guess right now, this was the reason they bought them, not to guard against intruders but to be of help in their devious scheme when needed. At this time, while Ariel was still thinking, to the people controlling the golems it appeared as if he was scared of them, which encouraged them to be even more aggressive with their words.


    ¡°It is too late to regret now, you are surrounded and the only option is for you to defeat us. However that¡¯s unlikely, these golems have almost no weakness, and even if we would stand and let you shoot us as much as you want, you wound run out of Mana before killing us all, so just peacefully give up.¡±


    The person behind the golem seemed to be quite confident, but unknown to him Ariel had been absentminded and his words made him return to the matter at hand. Feeling amused, he looked towards the golem, who was the only one to speak until now and responded. ¡°Are you really so sure of yourself? I think if it is, an apparently stupid person like you, controlling it, the golem is nothing dangerous.¡±


    The person who spoke before became dumbfounded for a while, but the next moment he became furious after getting back his wits. ¡°You little¡­ Let¡¯s see you being brave after I crush your legs and arms.¡±


    Suddenly the golem in front of Ariel started charging towards him without any indication, it was obvious that his opponent though to be invincible and charged without fear, and that is just what Ariel wanted. This time unlike the rest, Ariel didn¡¯t summon his ice shields cause he felt like he wouldn¡¯t need them right now.


    Casually dodging the golem¡¯s fists, he stepped around it as easily as walking down a road. This only further infuriated the first golem since guy though he was being taken for granted. However all the rest of the golems have also got closer into the hitting range.


    Unfortunately for them, they just stepped into Ariel¡¯s trap, he had wanted to draw in the rest of the golems closer to take care of all of them in a single strike. The reason he was planning like this was because due to his Mana sight he could quickly detect where the golem¡¯s cores were.


    However he didn¡¯t know if the creator of these golems was lazy or just and idiot, but all of the golem cores seem to be in the very same place, their neck. Though this only helped Ariel, since even if he knew the location¡¯s of the cores, if his enemies notice that he could so easily find them, they would be much more guarded against him, but right now he can easily do it in a single movement, and finish them off all at once.


    As the surrounding golems jumped to attack him, Ariel casually cast a single ice slice in a roundabout motion, instantly decapitating all of them. ¡°This can¡¯t be¡­¡± Even in defeat the person who spoke previously seemed to be unable to notice his own faults.


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    The golems fell to the ground and crumbled into pieces. Without a Mana source they were nothing more than rocks put together so this outcome was expected.


    Making sure that all of golems were out of the count, Ariel gave a quick look around the mansion with his Mana sight. Through the walls he could see several places where there were groups of people doing something and didn¡¯t know to which he should head to, however just before he was lucky enough to see one of the groups, suddenly become extremely disorganized.


    If he had to guess, it must have been the people controlling the golems he just fought, and if he had search the manor room by room, he felt it would be good to take care of them as soon as possible, since there are probably many more golems in this mansion and he didn¡¯t want to waste too much time and Mana fighting them.


    That is why he, without hesitation, walked down one of the narrower corridors, leading straight to the group in question. Although while rushing in a hurried pace, Ariel still managed to observe the interior and evaluate it, and just like one would expect, the Hevorin family sure liked luxury. Most of the walls were decorated by expensive art and exquisite carpets were put down along the floor. There were also plenty of golden chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and many pedestals whit precious items on them.


    Just with the amount of wealth in this mansion, you could probably sate several villages for dozens of years. However all of this was just staying here, gathering dust pointlessly. This really made Ariel feel quite frustrated at the injustice, but he didn¡¯t dwell on it for long, since he was already close to his destination.


    Seeing the double wooden door, soon he heard voices behind it, speaking in a fearful manner. ¡°Get the other golems ready, quickly, we don¡¯t have much time.¡± The first voice was quite similar to the person who was trash talking Ariel before while the second one was more scholarly. ¡°It takes longer than you think. If you hadn¡¯t been so arrogant and assured of yourself they could have been ready form the start.¡±


    From the conversation Ariel understood that the ones behind the door must be the fighting team and also the supporting team. However, they also seem to be about to break into fighting amongst themselves out of desperation.


    On the other hand this didn¡¯t really mean anything to Ariel, since he always adopted the policy that if no one bothers him, he won¡¯t bother them as well, but of anyone even tries to do anything to him, he would make sure they end up dead.


    Because of this he barged into the room with the intent to kill everyone inside. Entering he saw that there about a couple of dozens of people inside, more than half of them dressed as guards while the rest of them like the old researchers of the middle ages.


    The room itself looked to be used for magic rituals and sort of a magic lab. It looked like this was the place the golems are prepared to be used and Ariel got lucky enough to come here first.


    His arrival however brought complete despair to the people inside, as they looked towards Ariel as if he was the grim reaper himself, coming towards them. They got especially frightened when they saw countless ice spears manifesting in the air around him.


    They all were about to plead for his mercy, but Ariel didn¡¯t give them the chance. With a snap of his fingers, all of the ice spears flew, impaling themselves into at least one person, and sometimes two. The scene quickly turned into a picture of hell as the blood covered the ground entirely.


    In the end there were only a couple of survivors after Ariel¡¯s first barrage of attacks. The person who spoke before, to the guard turned pure white and started shaking in fear as he pleaded for his life. ¡°I was ordered to do it please spare me. I swear I will never cross you ever again.¡±


    Ariel only sneered at his words as he replied. ¡°By following a person¡¯s orders you take up all the sins that come with it.¡± The next moment the man felt his body grow cold and hit the ground lifelessly. From that, Ariel continued finishing off the survivors with ice slices until there was no one left alive.


    When the last one fell to the ground Ariel finally let out a sigh of relief. Even for him such a massacre took a toll on his mind. After Reorganizing his mind, he turned and was about to head towards the other places full of people, but just at that time, he noticed that there was another hallway leading from the room he was in, to a place with the largest amount of people in the mansion.


    Looking at the dreadful pathway, Ariel felt hesitant, but after a moment of doubt, he resolutely stepped towards the ghastly corridor, with the intentions to see what was on the other side.


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 Chapter 42 - The mage of the church

    Chapter 42


    As he walked down the hallway he didn¡¯t see anything strange about it, but the foreboding feeling was still there. Like this he walked for several minutes in a rushed pace, trying to save some more time.


    Not long passed until he came to the end and saw another wooden door, although a bit larger than the previous one. Taking a look just in case with his Mana vision, he luckily noticed that there seemed to be another ambush behind the door, and this time there appeared to be some mages mixed in as well.


    Thinking about what to do, Ariel came to the conclusion that it is better to just do it how he always does. Casting the usual ice shield, he carefully opened the door. However he didn¡¯t expect that the people behind the door wouldn¡¯t even talk with him before ruthlessly attacking him.


    The mages at the back each cast a spell of theirs, creating a barrage of magic attacks coming straight towards Ariel. Choosing the only option he could, Ariel used the ice wall spell several times to create a layered defence. The ice walls rose up in a second, just in time to block the incoming spells, nullifying the attack with only some visible damage. Unfortunately quantity sometimes beats quality as the large amount of mages continued their attack, destroying one wall after another in a short amount of time.


    Ariel was left in a deadlock not knowing what to do since usually mages would quickly use up all of their Mana by now, but due to his special eyes Ariel could see that the enemy mages keep drinking something with large Mana concentration that restores their own Mana pools.


    At first he felt befuddled, but soon he understood what those were, the only things which restore Mana and could be bought in large amounts were Mana potions. They were equivalent of health potions, but a lot cheaper since only mages use them, who are a bit scarce, compared to warriors.


    Unfortunately Ariel didn¡¯t have any of those since there weren¡¯t times he would need them. Because of this, he knew he would lose if this battle of attrition continues further. Racking his brain, there was only one thing that came to mind which could help him in this situation.


    That thing was the spell which he is working on and is yet to master completely so right now is a bit hard to use. However he didn¡¯t have much of a choice and decide to at least try. First step he had to do to use it, was to have surface under his control near the enemy, in the other words, a place he could lay his Mana veins down at.


    Thankfully none paid mind to the ice which was slowly covering the ground all around the room and even the mages concentrated on casting spells. Due to this, the preparation quickly came into their places and now he could try casting his spell ¡°Ice spike¡±.


    It is truly as simple as that, the premise of the spell is to manifest an ice spear out of any surface surrounding the enemy to kill him, truly a very simple yet effective way if attack. Of course he had to succeed at it first. Just like that he calmed his heart and slowly started casting with all of his hope on the line.


    A moment has passed and Ariel¡¯s eyes suddenly got coloured by excitement, the spell succeeded perfectly this time and was ready to cast. Looking in front, he could see that there was only a single ice wall left, but Ariel only felt satisfaction instead of fear from this and calmly activated the spell.


    The mages didn¡¯t even understand what happened and neither did the vanguards that stayed out of the way to not get hit by the spells. Spikes made entirely out of ice suddenly emerge from the ground and pierced the bodies of those using the spells to attack, easily killing them.


    When the last Mana source at the back disappeared, Ariel understood that he had properly killed all of them, not leaving any other mage that could attack him. Since there were no mages left, he casually pulled own the ice wall in front of him and fearlessly looked towards the remaining warriors.


    The people in question felt a chill go down their spine, seeing the devastation that Ariel caused in a single second they couldn¡¯t, help but become scared. Slowly they started to back away in fear, unfortunately for them, Ariel wasn¡¯t about to let them go, and so another massacre began just like that.


    All of the warriors were quickly dispatched by Ariel¡¯s spells which either, pierced, crushed or sliced them, there were quite a few ways Ariel could go about killing them. Soon they were all dead and the chicken slaughter ended.


    However Ariel didn¡¯t let down his guard yet as he heard slow clapping coming towards him form the side and a voice speaking in an amused way which accompanied it. ¡°Impressive, variants truly live up to their name, so powerful.¡± Looking towards the place where the sound was coming from, Ariel could see a middle aged man with black hair and eyes simply standing there.


    Though Ariel wasn¡¯t surprised at this since he had noticed him a long time ago and just didn¡¯t want to call out to him, and fight against him and the other people at the same time. However what did catch his attention were the clothes the man was wearing, a black gown just like the other person who was making the deal about the slaves before.


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    He understood that they must be connected trough the same organization, but he also didn¡¯t think that this person will willingly give him any information if asked. While he was thinking, the man continued speaking. ¡°I would like to invite you to join our church since your power would be absolutely valuable. What do you say?¡±


    The man was obviously quite confident in himself and the previous ambush was probably his idea, but Ariel saw that the man was on the same level as him, a late stage elite so there shouldn¡¯t be much of a power difference between them. That¡¯s why he immediately refused to join the shady church. ¡°I have to decline, my apologies. I dislike being associated with trash like you.¡±


    Ariel¡¯s reply seemed to hit a nerve, as the man didn¡¯t seem as calm as before and now had a glint of savagery in his eyes. ¡°If it is so, then I won¡¯t be leaving you any time to regret it.¡± Finishing his words the man instantly attacked. Apparently it was either joining them or death, but Ariel wouldn¡¯t take it as easily as that.


    From the very start Ariel knew he was a mage and the spell that the man used for his first move, was some kind of bolt made entirely out of darkness. So most likely he was a darkness mage, but Ariel didn¡¯t let down his guard in case he was a dual mage.


    In retaliation, Ariel started using his own spell to deflect the enemy¡¯s, creating a stalemate due to their equal levels. As they continued their ¡°game¡±, Ariel seemed to slowly gain an advantage due to his spell control. Although their power was the same, Ariel could do things like changing the trajectories mid air and using one spell to block two, making the black clothed man a bit powerless, more so considering that Ariel wasn¡¯t using chants.


    Soon however, Ariel¡¯s mysterious opponent seemed to have enough as he began speaking again. ¡°You brat, you might be happy to be pushing me back but I will show you the mage duels never go as planned.¡± Ending his sentence, the man retreated and started chanting something which looked to be extremely dangerous.


    Fortunately this was also part of Ariel¡¯s plan and he just smiled inwardly as he activated his trap. When he was slaughtering the warriors, at that time he shot several frost bolt, but didn¡¯t activate them to hide their power, and several of them landed exactly where the black clothed man was currently standing.


    While his opponent was concentrating on casting his spell Ariel activated the frost bolts, making the shard fly out towards his enemy. The man barely managed to react and tried dodging them quite unsuccessfully, and had his right arm pierced by several of them, it didn¡¯t end there, Ariel soon cast ice spike from right behind him where he was about to land which pierced the man¡¯s left leg, which was a bit risky.


    Before, he was quite careful and avoided the ice around him, but now he didn¡¯t have time to look and entered Ariel¡¯s zone of control. Seeing his own predicament, panic appeared on his face, but he soon sent a resentful look towards Ariel and quickly started chanting something.


    Not knowing what he was doing, Ariel was a step too late and the man completed his spell. Suddenly an evil looking gate appeared from the ground, leaving Ariel dumbstruck. He had heard about this and saw several illustrations of it in books, so he knew what it was. A demon gate, black magic used for either summoning or transportation.


    Ariel was still dazed while the man stepped into the portal and said his last words to him in a low tone. ¡°When we meet again, I will definitely kill you. The church will not forgive you for this.¡± Only when the gate finally closed did Ariel get his wits back together.


    However it is not surprising, black magic is forbidden and extremely rarely seen. Black magic and darkness magic are two different concepts as darkness magic is basically using pure darkness to attack and defend, black magic however, is several forbidden branches of magic in one, like necromancy, curse magic, or even blood magic.


    He didn¡¯t know about what kind of church the man was talking about, but he will have to inform some one about it soon. Right now however, he had to quickly find Erna, unfortunately he had little Mana left, so he first decided to run up to the bodies of mages he killed and drink some Mana potions they have.


    Luckily there were still plenty of them and his Mana was fully restored, he was about to continue his search of the manor, but suddenly he notice a letter on the ground, coming closer and getting a better look he saw a strange symbol on it, a gate with a skull in the middle of it which was being chained.


    It was quite strange and Ariel was about to open the letter to read it, however the next moment he heard a loud scream, and a familiar one at that. Undoubtedly it was Erna¡¯s voice, coming directly from bellow him, Ariel stopped paying mind to the letter and started to franticly run towards where the scream came from, in his mind praying that Erna would be fine.


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 Chapter 43 - Ice shade

    Erna¡¯s POV


    In a dark damp place, deep underground there was a young and beautiful girl with golden hair and sky blue eyes shackled to the wall by chains. Her clothes were shredded and torn with obvious signs that she had been fiercely fighting before being brought here.


    There were many wounds littered across her body, most of them were left in accordance to the tears in her clothes, indicating that they were done by bladed or piercing weapons. However there were also some fresh wounds that appear to be quite new and unlike the rest, which were inflicted by fighting, these seemed to be done to inflict pain and not any serious damage.


    Most people would think that she was half dead if they saw her horrible appearance, but even with all these injuries that made her look so miserable her eyes still held clear will and determination in them, seemingly to defy the person who wanted to break her.


    The person in question was currently standing right in front of her. He had brown hair and green eyes with a medium build and a face which could be considered handsome, but right now was ruined by a sadistic grin spread across it. In his hand he held numerous tool used for beating people, showing that he was responsible for the previously mentioned wounds.


    Erna, the girl chained to the wall, raised her head to look at the man, and spoke with a shaking voice. ¡°Why are you doing this? Our family has never crossed your path, so why must it come to this.¡± The man, otherwise known as duke Revor of the Hevorin family, laughed as he replied. ¡°You are correct, there is no bad blood between us, but the world of nobles is always cruel and everyone moves for their own interest, I am the same.¡±


    While still not understanding, Erna just kept looking at Revor with strong will visible in her eyes. The duke found it amusing and continued. ¡°Is it so hard to understand? As you probably already know, I have the trashiest talent among the dukes. Even after so many years I am barely at the early stage of the master rank, a complete disgrace to our family.¡±


    There was obvious anger and frustration in his voice, but Revor carried on with his words without pause. ¡°Almost every duke would at least reach the late stage by my age, but I am different and although the other dukes might be courteous in front of me, behind my back they always speak ill of me. I myself know that I will probably not improve much anymore, so the only way for me to gain respect of others is by advancing in ranks. Now that your family has only you as an heir, it is the only perfect time I will ever get to advance or I will forever live as a failure.¡±


    Hearing his speech, Erna could barely believe he was doing this for such a petty reason and shouted back in anger. ¡°Do you think it will go so easily!? There is no way you will be able to hide all of this under the rug!¡± The duke laughed out again as he spoke. ¡°If I was on my own it might be so, but I have the backing of the church. Its power cannot be comprehended and it has roots everywhere, for a small price of cooperation they can easily help me out in this matter.¡±


    She didn¡¯t know what was the church Revor was talking about, however if he wasn¡¯t sure to succeed he definitely wouldn¡¯t be doing such dangerous actions. Thinking about this made her despair, while Revor appeared to enjoy this look of hers.


    The next moment a voice called out form the back. ¡°Father let¡¯s continued, I want to see her scream.¡± The one who spoke was Vern standing behind Revor and was the only other person inside the room. Hearing his sons words Revor nodded while he spoke. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. There are plenty of secrets that out dear Erna still has to tell us about.¡±


    As he spoke he took one of the tools he hasn¡¯t used yet and prepared to continue the interrogation, but at that moment, the reinforced door of the room was blown apart, and a handsome youth with a cold look appeared from behind it.


    Ariel¡¯s POV


    Running down the stairs he found and rushing through the corridor, Ariel could see that he was getting closer towards the three sources of Mana he had seen before. One had to be Erna while the other two, he speculated to be the duke and someone else.


    When he reached the distance of a couple meters from the door, he had already prepared all of his crucial defences and without hesitation blew apart the door with a frost bolt. Entering the room, Ariel at first saw Vern who surprisingly hasn¡¯t been hidden by the duke, but kept by his side.


    The next thing he noticed was Erna with her haggard appearance chained to the wall and the duke with an atrocious thing in his hand standing in front of her. Rage overcame him as he saw this scene and immediately shot several ice spears towards the duke with no hesitation.


    Revor seemed to be in a state of shock from his sudden entrance, but he wasn¡¯t a master rank for nothing. Seeing the spears closing in on him he dodged to the side, making some distance between them.


    Ariel didn¡¯t feel disappointed by this since his main goal was to get him away from Erna. Now that there was no one to threaten her, he quickly jumped in front of her to shield her from any harm. After shaking herself out of the daze, Erna quickly called out with her soar throat while tears were threatening to spill out from her eyes. ¡°Ariel, you¡¯re here. It is really you.¡±


    Ariel didn¡¯t turn around and just nodded as he spoke. ¡°You can be at ease, no one will hurt you anymore.¡± While speaking he didn¡¯t take his eyes off Revor and kept up his vigilance for any move he could make.


    In the mean while, the duke managed to gather up his composure, after seeing who had come, and spoke in a lot calmer voice. ¡°So it is the young duke, and here I thought someone troubling came.¡± From his words it was obvious that he didn¡¯t hold Ariel in a high regard and was looking down on him.


    Listening to Revor¡¯s words Ariel didn¡¯t express any anger and only calmly spoke. ¡°I don¡¯t care about what you are trying to accomplish, but you should have never dared to mess with those important to me. Now I will show you what is the price of your actions.¡±


    He instantly held out his and with no warning and shot several frost bolts, expecting this Revor countered it using a short chant to create a wall of flames in front of him. Usually this wouldn¡¯t be able to stop Ariel¡¯s magic so easily, but the gap between late elite rank and a master is very large, letting such events to happen. ¡°So I guess there will be not talking.¡± He spoke.


    In response to Ariel¡¯s previous attack, Revor started chanting his own attack spell and after several seconds of loud chanting, a giant flame ball appeared heading towards him. Unfortunately Ariel understood that he couldn¡¯t move from his spot, or Erna behind him would be an easy target, so while concentrating all his Mana, he created several ice walls in front of him.


    Against most attacks this would suffice, but the fire ball instantly annihilated Ariel¡¯s newly created defence. The difference between the two was quite obvious, but he had to continue and although Revor is stronger than him, Ariel had taken a large number of Mana potions from the mages before, making it almost impossible for him to run out of Mana.


    Drinking one of them, he created a ridiculous amount of ice walls to surround Erna understanding that he can¡¯t leave her undefended and then quickly charged out. He understood from the previous exchange that he had to get closer so the duke would have a bit more difficulty in firing his larger shots.


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    Revor noticed Ariel¡¯s plan and just let out a mocking grin as he watched him com closer. While staying calm he once more began to chant. Ariel in the mean time didn¡¯t even try to dodge the upcoming attack and just kept to a straight line.


    The spell Revor used this time was a fire bolt, and although each one of these fire bolts was weaker than a fire ball, after you reach a certain level instead of increasing in power, you can shoot several of them at the same time. This was exactly Revor¡¯s idea, when he finished his chanting, five fire bolts flew out in rapid succession.


    Knowing that there is little he could do about them, Ariel simply gathered the three ice shields of his and prepared to block the attack. Unfortunately it was like hitting glass with a hammer and each fire bolt shattered one of the shields each.


    Three fire bolts were stopped like that, but at such a rate the other two would hit him, the only thing which came to his mind to do at this time was to use the ice spear he held in his had to deflect one of them. Thankfully he was fast enough and the fire bolt heading for his chest was stopped at the cost of his weapon.


    Unfortunately he didn¡¯t have any way to avoid the last one and it hit him directly in his left shoulder. Smell of burning flesh appeared in the room, making the look on the distant Revor¡¯s face become even crueler, but soon it changed to one of shock when he saw that Ariel didn¡¯t slow down at all and continued heading towards him at the same speed.


    Ariel rapidly closed in on him and when the distance was already only a couple meters in between, he did a hand motion towards Revor while casting ice slice. The duke tried to manipulate his flames to melt the ice mid air, but there was too little time and the attack got trough, managing to cut his lower hard down to its very bone.


    The pain made Revor go into frenzy as the look in his eyes stopped being one of playing around and became the look of someone wanting to murder. Holding out his hand towards Ariel, a massive fire ball appeared, catching Ariel off guard.


    Due to reading many book he understood that this was not some simple fire ball, but a fire blast, a spell several times stronger than the previously mentioned ones. However what he was shocked about was how, did the duke complete it without chanting.


    Moving absentmindedly he created as many ice shields one after another to defend himself while jumping as far away as possible, but Revor wasn¡¯t about to let him get away so easily and threw the fire blast directly towards him.


    It was too fast and Ariel didn¡¯t even notice when it arrived, before it exploded in contact with his defences. A large tremor shook the room and only Erna¡¯s distant shouts could be heard behind the wall, while the spot Ariel has been at just now, was currently furiously smoking.


    After a short while the smoke disappeared and revealed the heavily injured Ariel. He was a mess and had kneeled at the spot due to his heavy injuries as he panted for air. From the outside, the only notable damage were the two completely charred hands, however the blood dripping down from his mouth indicated that he had some serious internal bleeding.


    Enjoying this scene, the duke let out another horrific laugh as if seeing the funniest thing in the world, while his son was watching the scene with gratification. Ariel felt completely powerless seeing this, he never would have thought that Revor could use magic without chanting, and that was his biggest miscalculation.


    As if reading his mind the duke spoke. ¡°You didn¡¯t expect that I can use magic without chants just like you, right. Actually, maybe this could be attributed to my bad talent at cultivation. Due to me being unable to progress in strength directly, I continued pouring work into developing other aspects that would make me stronger, and this was the outcome.¡±


    There was obvious pride in his words and it is not undeserved. Even those grandmaster mages not always manage to learn to use magic without chants. This can only be done having a brilliant and perceptive mind, a talent of a completely different line.


    Unfortunately this was not the time to be admiring other people¡¯s talent, especially when they are about to be burned to death by the person in question. Right on queue, Revor held out his held out his hand into the air as he continued speaking. ¡°Due to your enormous talent I will try to finish you off quickly, I hope you will appreciate my thoughtfulness.¡±


    Finishing his words he began chanting, meaning that it was a high level spell that he was unable to cast without any chants. In the mean time, Ariel could only watch powerlessly, he drank another Mana potion and with all his effort tried preparing by summoning a couple of ice shields and ice wall in hopes that he will manage to survive.


    The time was slowly running out, and finally there was only a single verse left to finish before casting the spell, at this the father and son duo each let out their smirks and hurried on with the spell. Due to it being a powerful spell, the flames have already began gathering before it even finished and Ariel could only watch in despair at the display of power, which was much stronger than the last one.


    However, just when he was about to resign to fate, out of nowhere an attack come flying at the duke, catching him off guard. He could barely react and even though he retreated he still got his leg pierced by an icicle.


    Everyone was dumbfounded by this and looked towards the place the attack came from, even the duke¡¯s pain was numbed by his surprise. What they saw after a moment of searching was a strange blue coloured form that slightly resembled a man.


    The duke pair still couldn¡¯t comprehend what happened and only Ariel felt unexplainable joy seeing the creature. No matter what form it takes, Ariel can feel that it is the same ice spirit he had made a contract with.


    Now that he thought about it, a couple of days ago something happened to it and it wouldn¡¯t come out when summoned. Ariel didn¡¯t know what to do and left it to fate, but now he understood that the small ice spirit must have been evolving, and just now, it finished the final stages of its evolution.


    From what he has read, the form that the ice spirit has taken should be that of an ice shade and although it was still nothing that amazing, just and elite rank, it had decent fire power and gave a sudden, small hope for survival.


    Ariel looked towards Revor while being lost in thought. He comprehended that the only path left for him is to go all out and hope for the best. Feeling a the small chance to strive for, Ariel felt much better and began to move, while keeping his eyes on the still shocked duke.


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 Chapter 44 - The struggle

    In the dark and quiet dungeon, the duke and his son were still dazed from seeing the unexpected new foe floating in front of them, while Ariel, in the mean time, put all of his strength into his aching body to firmly stand up and chug another Mana potion.


    Only when Ariel threw down the potion bottle onto the ground, making a large amount of noise, did his opponents finally awaken. While keeping one eye on the shade and the other on him Revor spoke loudly. ¡°Is this your trump card? If this is all, I think your only outcome is death.¡±


    Although at first the duke has been shocked by the newcomer, after gathering himself up, he evaluated the situation and came to the conclusion that even though Ariel¡¯s familiar was rare and had great potential, currently it didn¡¯t pose much danger, so he managed to easily calm his beating heart.


    However Ariel wasn¡¯t interesting in making small talk. Right now he didn¡¯t want to give the duke a chance to once more start casting a powerful spell, since this time there wouldn¡¯t be anything that could stop it, so the only option he had was to engage him first.


    Ariel actually didn¡¯t have any finisher or super move he could use, which left him contemplating, but due to his creative mind he soon found a way he could attack and put the duke into a difficult spot. The duke cautiously watched from the side as Ariel manifested dozens on ice spears which he is fond of using, and most of the time had several in reserve.


    Although this time the amount he manifested shocked even Revor, making him start to brainstorm, thinking about how Ariel going to try to use them to wound or kill him, but soon he understood what was the boys plan and he felt slightly regretful for the over caution he displayed before.


    At this moment an abnormal scene began to play out, the many spears that have been created started to slowly gather into one place and stick to one another. At first, no one would be able to understand what was happening, but as time passed the spears created a more distinct form, all the ice spears combined into an actually much larger one.


    Of course it was not some kind of perfect merge, but it served the intended purpose. Ariel¡¯s plan was to create a bigger spear by gathering the small ones, making it so that they could regulate each other¡¯s temperature.


    Naturally the closer to the centre of the spear you go the colder it gets, and this is the main effect Ariel wanted. If he simply let these loose at the duke, Revor¡¯s flames would easily melt each individual spear, however if it is shot like this, at least some small part would definitely get trough.


    The duke hadn¡¯t expected such a move from Ariel and just when he understood what his opponent was about to do, Revor quickly began to prepare his own defence as fast as possible. Ariel didn¡¯t know how he was trying to defend at first, with his fire magic, but latter seeing the duke took out some small pieces of paper, he quickly understood.


    The fire element had explosive power, but one thing they lacked was duration, Unlike Ariel¡¯s ice wall, flame walls would quickly disappear after a moment of use, so a fire mage would be unable to create long term defences.


    However, one way of by passing this is by using spell talismans. Any mage can engrave a spell onto a piece of paper at a cost of loosing some of his Mana capacity in the while that the talisman still exists, making it a useful trump card.


    Like this a person can have some spells ready that could be used at the same time on combination with his other spell or just when the caster didn¡¯t have time to cast. The point is that Revor was planning on casting several spells like this, just when Ariel¡¯s attack reached him, giving the duke a chance to escape alive.


    Even though Ariel saw this he didn¡¯t stop his attack and continued stabilizing it, since he was confident that the duke will still be unable to stop it completely. After only a moment it was prepared and he shot it straight towards Revor¡¯s chest in hopes of giving him some damage. Just when the great ice spear was at the half mark distance, the duke made his move.


    All of his previously created engraved spells were activated together with his own spell he was casting. The next moment the entire area around him became complete hell, as the spell he cast himself was called flame field, an AOE attack which attacks everything at a certain distance of the caster.


    The engraved spells also weren¡¯t weak all of them were the few defensive spells a fire mage could have, like fire wall or flame barrier. As the great ice spear entered the area of effect it began to become smaller and smaller at a rapid rate, by the time it was only a couple of meters away, the spear was already at its normal size.


    However, Ariel had somewhat expected this and in the end put a much larger density of Mana in the most centre spear, in hopes it gets trough. Thankfully it paid off, the ice spear, even if it was a smaller one, stopped melting at a rapid rate and obviously had more tolerance of to the fire than the great ice spear itself.


    Noticing this, the duke felt a chill in his heart, but unfortunately for Ariel, Revor¡¯s experience was too rich compared to his. The duke quickly regained his calm in a split second and erected another fire wall while at the same time dodging around the spear. When Due to the lack of vision, event though the fire wall wouldn¡¯t be that effective to stop his attack, Ariel could don anything like directing it and so Revor easily dodged the attack.


    When the wall came down and the attack ended, Ariel and his opponent didn¡¯t continue attacking each other and only continued staring at one another. Ariel took the time and reached for another Mana potion since he wanted to keep his optimal state, but as he was about to take on out he thought about something.


    Looking at his opponent, he could see that the duke still held his arrogant and despising look on his face, however now it was much more tired and kept breathing, roughly at regular intervals. Seeing this sight Ariel confirmed his theory was correct, this fatigue of his opponent meant that the duke used up a large amount of his Mana.


    This also meant that he hadn¡¯t used any Mana potions yet which made him think. He took out a Mana potion and kept his eyes on the duke¡¯s face, just as expected, when Revor saw the potion a slight flash of frustration had appeared on his face before disappearing again.


    From this Ariel began to speculate that the duke had been too overconfident and even when expecting a fight to occur, he still hadn¡¯t prepared any potions. This was an enormous advantage for him which could end up being a way to beat him.


    Although the duke¡¯s Mana reserve probably still held more Mana than Ariel¡¯s simply due to the quality leap between Elite and Master rank, Ariel still had many more potions in his back and it was more than enough to continue this fight of attrition.


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    The duke in the mean while was thinking of a quick way to end this just as Ariel was thinking the same. This stalemate the most disadvantageous to him, he had to quickly take care of all of the evidence that connected him to this case, before any bigwig arrives.


    After both of them standing there like this for a while, finally the duke made his move, not being able to think of any distinct strategy in this situation ,he decide to simply over power Ariel, but just as he was about to do something, the ice shade also attacked once more.


    Revor was always keeping one of his eyes on it so it didn¡¯t take him by surprise and he simply dodged it to the side while letting out a sneer. However as the icicle flew by, he suddenly heard a scream behind him.


    Turning to look he saw his son, get pinned to the wall by the icicle, straight through the chest. Vern started screaming and wriggling in pain as the blood started flowing like a fountain and his skin became paler and paler.


    Becoming white from fright, the duke rushed up to his son in a matter of seconds and pulled out the icicle without any hesitation. His son fell into his arms like a doll and when the dike checked his pulse, he saw that it was already as silent as the night.


    It took several moments for him to comprehend that his son was already lifelessly sleeping in his eternal rest in his embrace, and when he finally did there was no more any expression except utter rage on his face. He started trembling as he shouted out. ¡°VERN!¡± However there was no response and he didn¡¯t move a muscle.


    Two tears started going down his check as he put the corpse on the ground and turned to look at Ariel with deep hatred which couldn¡¯t be described. The duke slowly spoke while not moving his eyes from Ariel. ¡°You took the life of my son, but I won¡¯t kill you, I will torture you to the point you beg to be killed, I will make you experience torment worse than hell itself.¡± As he spoke, flame s started dancing around him as if responding to the duke¡¯s feelings.


    Ariel only stood there and looked at the raging duke with no sympathy or care, to him the duke is already a mortal enemy and doesn¡¯t deserve pity. However his judgmental eyes seemed to anger the duke, even more. Revor¡¯s already red eyes turned redder as Mana began to gather around him.


    With no warning he started launching one spell after another at Ariel¡¯s direction and unlike before he didn¡¯t seem to be careful at all. None of his spells were meant to defence so if you look at it from the outside view it is obvious that the old duke discarded any thought of protecting himself and was only trying to completely destroy Ariel.


    The barrage of all the spells Revor was dishing out, was definitely taking its toll on Ariel. There were times where he would defend with a spell, but usually he didn¡¯t have time and had to try dodging them. Although there weren¡¯t any serious wounds, there were several places on his body that have been burned and singed.


    Fortunately it looked like the duke would run out of Mana going like this, before Ariel falls. Of course that¡¯s, if he doesn¡¯t get hit by one of those spell. Wanting to lift off some pressure, he decided to return fire so he wasn¡¯t the only one, who was dodging around.


    Like that he started shooting out frost bolts and ice spears, quite accurately, at the duke. This was very effective and the duke who abandoned his defences, started jumping around just like Ariel. Unfortunately every second was extremely, mentally taxing and due to this ongoing fight, Ariel and even Revor, found it harder and harder to cast spells, the shade had also exhausted its reserve for Mana and left, since the duke had always kept an eye on it and would sometimes attack it..


    Soon both of them felt it was difficult to even move, much less use spells. Looking at one another while having troubles standing, both of them didn¡¯t have even a single thought to give up, since this battle decides the death of the loser.


    However at this time the duke let out an unexpected smile as he began to laugh. ¡°It looks like it will be soon over. I think it is time to finish up this fight, you lasted much more than I expected.¡± His laughter dumbfounded Ariel as he didn¡¯t understand, why was he speaking like this.


    The next moment he saw a large amount of flame converge around him as he started chanting, it was the same spell that the ice shade had interrupted before, ¡°Flame strike¡±, but Ariel couldn¡¯t comprehend, why was the duke, so sure of himself. Even though it was powerful, the distance between the two was also quite far.


    Unfortunately it didn¡¯t take long for him to understand when he saw which side the duke was facing. It wasn¡¯t aimed at him, but at the defenceless Erna who had her ice wall unknowingly melted in the previous exchange of spells.


    Ariel stopped all his though processes and directly charged towards her without any hesitation. He understood that it was exactly the duke¡¯s plan, however he could never make himself to leave her like this, the whole reason he came here was to save her.


    Revor looked at this scene and seemed to even slow down his chanting, just so Ariel would make it into his shot, and just when he was on target, the duke finished casting. A giant, meteor like fire ball started crashing down towards the two.


    In the mean time, Ariel was desperate to do something, but all he could manage, was to gather as much ice as possible with his Mana manipulation and try his useless struggle. Not long after a tremor once more shook the manor. The collision was so grate that even the duke was surprised.


    However he soon he forgot about it and focused on the place Ariel was standing before. As smoke cleared, a silhouette came into vision. Surprisingly it wasn¡¯t too burned and Erna behind him was completely safe. Apparently Ariel had managed to stop the flame aspect of the spell, but the shock was to strong and left lethal injuries inside.


    The duke began to laugh hysterically while watching the scene, while Erna who was chained to the wall kept screaming Ariel¡¯s name over and over again. Both of them thought it was the worst outcome, but unknown to them, they were wrong.


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 Chapter 45 - The flower of ice

    At the time Revor laughed in joy and Erna shouted in despair, Ariel was barely holding on to the little amount of strength that he had left. However, even though he hadn¡¯t fallen unconscious, he didn¡¯t have the strength to even keep his eyes open and so his mind retreated to the inner space where his Mana core was located,


    He simply stood there while already feeling half-dead, all that was holding his soul back was only his pure will to live. He could feel how his life was slowly extinguishing and inwardly though about, what could he do.


    Ariel was pushing his limits to even stay alive and at the same time understood that it was impossible for him to continue fighting, but he refused to give up. If he died now it is unknown what would happen to Erna, and he didn¡¯t want her to experience anything horrible like torture anymore.


    Through both of his lives there were only five people he could get along with. In his previous world it was only his partner who was the first person he had ever called a friend and even gave up his life to protect. When he was reborn he then experienced parental love from his mother for the first time and it became something so precious he couldn¡¯t even explain it himself.


    Later on he made friends with Brendon and Sarah. They kept engaging him so much that in time he became close friends with them with no way to resist. Brendon took the place of his best friend, while the relationship with Sarah was a bit more complicated, since he knew that she had feeling for him, but he himself didn¡¯t know how to answer them.


    The last one he had made a connection with was Erna. She was his fianc¨¦e, and at first he was lost at how to interact with her, but very soon he found that, out of all of his close people she was actually the most similar to him. They countless shared things they like and disliked, not to mention both of them usually had the same opinion about things or events. Like that, as they spent time, she soon became as precious as the others to him and he couldn¡¯t abandon her in a situation like this, so he had came here to save her, even if it meant death.


    If she was saved maybe he could once more die happily, but right now he didn¡¯t know what could happen after he died, so he didn¡¯t want to go out like this, so soon. Ariel let out a sigh of frustration at his powerlessness as he felt his strength slowly sapping out of himself. Unfortunately there was nothing he could do, but simply slowly die here


    As all his power was leaving him he took a look at his Mana core, he always thought it was pretty and it usually managed to calm his mind. The blue sphere of coldness felt as if it was closer to him than any family could be and is also another thing he regretted. He wished that he couldn¡¯t give it a proper form before he died, but now it is out of his reach, all the same.


    Looking at it Ariel started to pander as his emotions began to lose their shackles and gush out of him. ¡°Some say the Mana core takes form of ones soul. I wonder what my soul would look like.¡± Only a silent mummer could be heard in the empty space, after which Ariel closed his eyes as he continued imagining.


    However the only thing that would always come to him as he tried to imagine his soul¡¯s form would be the ice flowers he had kept creating from when he was little. Now that he thought about it, the reason he would create them was because they felt like something important to him even in his previous life.


    To Ariel they held foolish dream that he had once thought about back on earth. On one of the lonely winter days when he was lonely and decide to wander the streets, he randomly thought while looking at the snow melting on his hand, flowers are always waiting for the summer to bloom , but if a flower was made out of ice, wouldn¡¯t that be such a cruel joke to it?


    An ice flower might yearn for the warmth of the summer, but before the summer would come it would melt and turn into nothingness in spring, forever unable to achieve its goal. Isn¡¯t his existence similar to it? He desires feelings and emotions of other human¡¯s, but somehow it is always out of his grasp, he never can achieve that wish and whenever he comes close the world pushes him back a step.


    Opening his eyes after pondering about his pitiful existence he witnessed a shocking scene. His Mana core which was formless before, slowly took the shape of a crystal like flower with unmatched beauty.


    This left him dumbfounded for a moment, but soon he let out a serene and beautiful smile as he looked at the flower and silently spoke. ¡®At least, before my death you let me witness this, thank you¡­¡± Finishing his last words he felt the dark abyss devour his consciousness.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


    After an unknown amount of time Ariel once more regained his consciousness and opened his eyes, to only be welcomed by a bright and unknown room. He felt confused and lost as he recalled the events before which happened before he lost consciousness.


    Back then Ariel thought that he would die and never see the world again, and it should have been so. Maybe he reincarnated again? Ariel tried pushing his body up and easily succeeded, indicating that his theory was wrong and that he was not a baby again, although he did feel some kind of heaviness on his stomach.


    When he get into a slightly better position he gave the room in front of him a quick look, and soon let out a sight of relief. Even though he had almost never come here, he had seen this place before. It is the room meant for long term patients of the Academy, meaning that this most likely wasn¡¯t a dream and that they had somehow made it through that event.


    As his body relaxed after confirming that everything was okay, he decided to take a look at what was weighing him down, since before.  However what he witnessed left him speechless, there were two head lying on his stomach, belonging to Erna and Sarah respectively, peacefully sleeping without a care in the world. Looking at this scene and wondering aout how long they have been here, he felt warm inside and at the same time awkward as he thought about what he will have to do after both of them wake up.


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    He let out a sigh and leaned against the edge of the bed, refusing to think about this matter any further, when suddenly he heard a familiar voice from the side. ¡°Oh, so you woke up young man.¡± Freezing for a moment Ariel didn¡¯t respond, he was completely caught off guard, even though he surveyed the room before and didn¡¯t find anything, somehow he was sneaked up on, this hasn¡¯t happened before.


    Turning his head to look, he soon became surprised because the person who spoke to him was the same elderly man that he had once met in the hallway on his first day at The Academy and also the person he tried searching before, but couldn¡¯t find any clues about.


    Right now however he was simply sitting there with a friendly smile on his wrinkly face as he sincerely looked at Ariel. Only after a couple of second did Ariel finally respond. ¡°Yes, I have just awoken. Might I ask the elder who might you be, and also who saved us back there?¡± The old man let out a bright laugh at his polite words as he responded.


    ¡°Who I am, you will find out soon enough, but don¡¯t worry I don¡¯t mean you any harm. As for how you survived, shouldn¡¯t it be me to is asking about that? From that young girl¡¯s words, it was you who saved her and yourself, but if you want more details you should ask her yourself.¡± Feeling astonished Ariel turned his eyes to Erna while trying to remember the events once again. However he was unable to recall anything about him defeating the duke.


    Categorizing this as another mystery that he will have to look in to later, he pulled his eyes away from his friend and returned them back on to the elderly man, who just at this time, spoke again. ¡°We found you two after the duke has already been eliminated and don¡¯t know much about what happened. However I am impressed by your performance, there are only few students capable of accomplishing something like what you have, that night.¡±


    The old man wasn¡¯t stingy with praise as he looked at Ariel with approval in his eyes, after which he continued speaking. ¡°Also, it is not your only merit that you have earned.¡± As he spoke he took out a very familiar letter. Undoubtedly it was the same one that the black clothed man dropped before, as it had the same symbol of a gate with a chained skull.


    After letting Ariel have a good look at it the elder spoke in a more serious voice. ¡°That letter gave us several important clues about the crisis we are facing right now, it was extremely valuable get, and you definitely achieved great service by obtaining it. However I think you should have a look at it yourself.¡±


    When he finished speaking he handed the letter to Ariel, who carefully took it and started reading. The basic idea was that the senders were part of some kind of an organization called The Church ff The Forsaken and it was addressed to Revor in hopes to cooperate with him.


    In exchange for helping him attain a higher political power they asked for help in their future tasks inside the kingdom. This was truly a traitorous act, which luckily was stopped quite soon, but now another problem had arisen in Ariel¡¯s mind.


    As if knowing what Ariel was thinking about the elder spoke. ¡°After reading this letter, we used all of our power to look into this organization. Unfortunately we didn¡¯t find much, although we did ruin several of their plans before they found out that we learned about their existence. Also, we found out that all of them are practitioners of that despicable black magic.¡± His last remark was said with visible anger.


    The next moment the elder looked at Ariel with concern in his eyes as he gave a warning. ¡°Still, we are currently powerless to do anything besides trying to stop their spread in this kingdom. You are the main reason it ended up like this, so they will most likely aim for you for revenge, so be careful. Even though they wouldn¡¯t dare to act in our Academy or the city again, if you ever travel anywhere further, make sure to pay attention.¡±


    Just when he was done giving the warning he returned to his previous atmosphere and spoke. ¡°Anyway, right now you should get some rest and think through everything. We will meet again.¡± Finishing his conscious the old man disappeared with his last words, leaving only the astonished Ariel.


    Due to his increase in strength he could discern people of even higher strength, but even now he was unable to do that for the old man, meaning he was at least higher that a Grandmaster. Shuddering from that thought, and memory of that last teleportation, he felt fatigued and completely lost about what to do. Soon he gave a slight bow to express his gratefulness. ¡°Thank you.¡± After that he once more started thinking.


    This dangerous organization had come out of nowhere and put a lot of pressure on him. Looking down at the two girls sleeping on his body he let out a sigh as he started slowly stroking their heads. Thinking about it now was a waste of time and he should simply relish in the feeling of being alive.


    Ariel slowly leaned back and closed his eyes while starting to relax, when suddenly a beautiful icy flower appeared in his mind. He was shocked at first, but soon let out his rare and stunning smile, not knowing that the girls who he had thought were asleep were there to witness it.


    Recalling his last memories Ariel completely relaxed as he forgot about the church and thought. ¡°Maybe it was impossible for a flower made out of ice to relish in sunlight in his previous world. However now I am in a place much more magical and just maybe, I will find way to achieve my dream, as long as I push forwards.¡±


    While thinking blissful thoughts, Ariel peacefully fallen into a sweet sleep, dreaming about the new possibilities, he had only though about just now, and wondered, how much can he accomplish of them.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter or two there. Feel free to visit.

 Chapter 46 - Ernas POV

    My name is Erna Alasia the only child and daughter of the archduke William Alasia. Due to this I was always treated preciously from when I was born and countless resources had been put into my future development.


    Fortunately I was very talented at everything I did and all of my parent¡¯s effort hadn¡¯t gone to waste. However, because of my talent I was made to work even harder, leaving no time to live a life of a normal child.


    Thankfully I latter managed to become friends with the prince and princess of the country and could sometimes take my time to play with them, since they were the only people who were worth spending time with instead of studying, according to my father.


    The only other thing that kept me going, were the books in the library. Since the first time I read a book, I gained a passion for them and continued quickly reading them one after another, soon this became my usual day cycle, studying and reading while sometimes having Sarah and Brendon, visit.


    After some time my parents noticed that my biggest talent laid in combat, my magic and swordsmanship were impeccable, so they found me a teacher, Arnold, an old experienced knight. His lessons were always strict and exhausting, but after some time I noticed that he was actually very caring and kind, making me grow fond of him though the years.


    During the time I had for resting there were many time I wanted to give up, not only with combat training, but with learning in general, I was just a young girl at the time and all of it was too much for me to handle. However every time I endured the desire and continued.


    The reason for this was ironically my fianc¨¦, Ariel Whitestone. I had learned about him quite a while back, but I also heard many rumors about him, he was someone with a frail body and unable to practise magic, someone you would call a trash with his only handsomeness as his redeeming quality.


    Unfortunately I hadn¡¯t met him then and didn¡¯t put much thought into him besides always using his situation as a motivation to continue going. One day however, my friends, Sarah and Brendon spoke about him. Unexpectedly they had an extremely good impression of him.


    Brendon showed a lot of respect and admiration in his tone for him, while Sarah¡¯s voice contained a sliver of infatuation that I managed to detect when she talked about how handsome he was. Although they had such a good opinion of him, I still didn¡¯t really feel like he was someone I would like and would in a heartbeat let Sarah take my place, if I could.


    Don¡¯t mistake it for me looking down on him, but due to my continued lessons and training I dreamt about marrying not only handsome, but also intelligent and extremely powerful man. There was actually a person I had witnessed and developed crush on some time ago. His name was Luke Voyar, the heir to the only other archduke of the realm.


    He had golden haired and blue eyes, with the most handsome face I had ever seen. The same as me, he was a magic warrior only he wasn¡¯t a dual one, having only the light element. However girls had fallen in love at first sight when they saw him fight in a competition and I was the same. If I hadn¡¯t been engaged to Ariel, maybe I would have been to Luke, since we were both heirs to an archduke. Thoughts like these always kept coming to my mind, even if I knew it was wrong.


    Time went by and I slowly got came to terms with it, understanding that there was nothing I could do. When finally the time came for me to go to The Academy I was very excited, but at the same time nervous. Even though it contained the freedom and friends I always wanted, I would also meet the person I will marry in the future.


    With a heavy heart I arrived at The Academy and took the test, which was quite easy for me. The day soon ended and I passed, I spent the night in my dorm where I met my friend Sarah, who confirmed that Ariel had also come. Next day I was still feeling concerned about meeting my fianc¨¦ after I woke up, du to that I took a walk through the courtyard. After some time I suddenly heard some commotion and decide to see what happened.


    That was the first time I had ever seen my fianc¨¦, the only reason I could recognize the man in front of me as Ariel, was surprisingly because of Sarah¡¯s descriptions. Even I had to admit that he was more handsome than Luke, no, the most handsome person in the kingdom.


    His looks were what you would call perfection, making even me, who was usually not attracted by looks, feel dazed. I quickly called out to him when he was about to enter the building again, I confirmed that he was indeed my fianc¨¦, the person that I was engaged to for all these years.


    Unfortunately before I could speak wit him more, Sarah arrived and interrupted out conversation. I noticed that she felt jealous, so I didn¡¯t do anything to aggravate her, unlike her brother. Although it was a bit concerning about how to deal with this triangle, I left it for the future and didn¡¯t want to think about it too much.


    I was very glad our first meeting didn¡¯t end too awkwardly, but getting used to talking with each other was still a bit difficult. AS time went by the relationship between us progressed a little, but nowhere near of being that of a fianc¨¦ and his fianc¨¦e.


    One thing that did influence us deeply was the love for books that both of us shared. We would spend time talking in the library and unknowingly grew closer due to that. However one of the biggest changes happened at the newcomer competition.


    There was an instance before when a duke heir named Vern came to pester us, or more exactly, me. Although I tried to hide my feeling, my friends probably noticed that the person repulsed me, because of his petty obsession and the way he looked at me. At that time Ariel stood up and denounced him, ending up with a situation where Vern was going to challenge him at competition.


    Naturally I was quite worried, any girl would have her heart beat if her fianc¨¦ stood up and shielded her like this, but due to this Ariel, who didn¡¯t have any strength would be in danger. But no matter how hard we tried to change his mind he refused to give in.


    Powerlessly, I could only watch to see if his confidence hid something, or hope that a miracle would happen. On the day of the competition I experienced a shock like no other. Never had I thought that he had hidden his power like this and was fooling everyone.


    Being one of the rare variants, an ice one to be precise, who also had a high rank, he crushed Vern at every confrontation. It was a dominant victory for him as he took care of everything Vern threw at him. Watching the scene I could do nothing but stare.


    Since I always revered the strong, naturally my opinion of Ariel increased by a large amount, and slowly I started to feel like he was more and more like my ideal man. Even the painting of Luke in my mind slowly started to be taken over by the absurdly beautiful face.


    As you have guest, after the competition the relationship between us kept developing and soon the second event happened, which made me look even more favourably at him, the camping of the purple wilds. It was an event where we went to special dimension to look for magic beast to contract and become out companion, this was exclusive for mages.


    To get to the point, when entering the purple wilds, all of the students were separated, although the world was quite small and you could find each other with little difficulty. I concentrated on searching for a fitting beast which would impress my friends, so there were a lot of times I was in trouble, but nothing serious.


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.However one day I got extremely unlucky, I found a heard of unicorns, I had already heard that there were some here, which were groomed by the Academy itself, but it was still a sight to behold. The unlucky part came after that, when a chimera appeared out of nowhere, almost ambushing and instantly killing me.


    I quickly tried to run, but after some time I noticed that the chimera would eventually catch up, so instead of wasting my strength I confronted it. Although I managed quite well, considering at the disparity in ranks, I was still slowly pushed back and started falling into despair.


    At that time, suddenly an ice spell hit the chimera from the side. Turning my head I felt shocked seeing Ariel running towards me. When I tried to tell him to not get involved, he ignored my words and simply cast some spells before telling me to go get some help.


    I tried to reject leaving him however he resolutely ordered me to go, leaving no room to refuse. That was the fastest run of my life as I put all of my left over strength into my legs to run just a bit faster and find someone. Unfortunately vent though I found Brendon and Sarah, by the time we reached Ariel, he had a dead chimera biting into his hand, and a ridiculous amount of blood covering him.


    Luckily he was still alive, but when he calmly spoke and told what happened after waking up, I constantly kept remembering about how he came to save me, which made my heart each time beat a little faster. This was the second thing that happened which influenced my feelings.


    The last time was just a couple of days ago. Several months had passed since the travel to the purple wilds and nothing interesting happened since. I and Sarah decide to have some girl time and meet up at the Academy¡¯s caf¨¦, spending some time chatting about all kinds of things.


    There was nothing strange at first, but slowly I began to grow more wary, I felt something was wrong, and just on cue several black clothed figures attacked us. Thankfully I was on guard and we managed to dodge the most dangerous attack, which would have instantly knocked us out.


    But Sarah seemed to have become unable to fight. She was used to battling against monsters, but humans were a bit different, and the unexpected development also juggled her mind. When she calmed down a little, I told her to leave and inform someone about this sneak attack, although Sarah was very reluctant she heeded my command.


    Soon, only I and a large amount of black clothed men were left in the room. After that, a difficult battle ensued. I fought desperately, my skill were much better than theirs, but there were simply too many of them. After downing several dozens of them I slipped up and got hit unconscious.


    The next time I woke up, I was in a dark, damp dungeon with barely nay light surrounding me. I had remembered how I was captured, just before my capturer appeared before me, Duke Revor, the father of Vern, someone who was quite likely to do such an act.


    Naturally I tried to ask why he did this, but it ended in failure as he tried to gain the secrets of our family. He used several ways to torture me without inflicting serious damage, and although it was so painful I wanted to cry, I always kept remembering my father¡¯s words to always stay strong and never to betray the house. Gritting my teeth I endured, the slowly, hellish torture, when suddenly the reinforced door of the dungeon was blown off.


    Through it came the already familiar silhouette of Ariel, seeing his handsome face I could do nothing but cry out to him in happiness. He slowly came and calmed me down with a gentle expression on his face. I had already unknowingly started feeling safe around him, and feared he would leave me.


    From then on a battle ensued between him and the duke, I myself was unable to see since Ariel put a protective wall around me. However I clearly heard when the duke¡¯s son apparently died and he lost himself in rage.


    When the ice walls got destroyed I grew fearful, but also happy that I could see what was happening and not be anxious. Unfortunately the duel didn¡¯t go in a very favourable direction as I saw the duke cast a powerful spell directly at me.


    A giant ball of flame started heading towards me, but in front of me I could see the reliable back of Ariel. I don¡¯t know when he became so precious to me and I stated to trust him so much, however I quickly started praying for his safety.


    The next moment an explosion occurred, shaking the entire manor. I waited for the dust to clear, but when I saw the bloody body of Ariel, barely standing there, I broke out into tears as I desperately called out his name.


    Ariel fell to the ground and at the same time I started to shake uncontrollably. Just at that time, the duke finally directed his gaze at me and spoke with a hysteric laugh. ¡°Really now, a prince charming tried to save the princess, but need up like this. You are probably in love with him from the way I see it. I wonder how much pain you are experiencing now.¡±


    His words gave me a realization. I might have truly fallen for him, but it is too late, what should I do now. The duke watched my changing expressions with amusement and was just about to speak again, when suddenly something happened.


    Ariel¡¯s body, which should have already grown cold, started to stand up with out a word. I was shocked, but at the same time relief flooded me as I watched him. However something was different, Ariel had and even more expressionless face and spoke.


    ¡°You had quite a bit of fun hadn¡¯t you? I think it is time form me enjoy, myself.¡± His cold words rang out as Mana started to gather around him. The duke grew panicked as he saw this and spoke while trembling. ¡°How is this happening, you should have been dead, and even if not so, you shouldn¡¯t have any Mana left.¡±


    Ariel didn¡¯t reply as he stretched out his hand. Suddenly vines made out of ice with beautiful flowers growing on them, started to spring out the ground, slowly enveloping the duke. The person in question grew horrified and tried to defend, but his Mana has already dried up.


    He screamed in pain as the vine¡¯s thorns pierced his skin, while Ariel spoke. ¡°This is your punishment, now die.¡± With his words countless more vines appeared and surrounded the duke, soon there were no more sounds heard form the other side.


    I saw Ariel give me the last final look, before he fell down on the ground. From then on it was as you already know. I and Sarah stayed by his side day and night, waiting for him to wake up. One day we had awoke when Ariel gained back his consciousness and spoke with the elder, but both off us acted as if we were still sleeping.


    Only when the elder left and we felt the Ariel relaxed, die we look up. Just in time to see Ariel make a radiant smile, the first smile I had ever seen on him and also them most beautiful smile I witnessed in my life. My face got red and my heart started beating faster.


    Recalling the words said by the duke before, I slowly started accepting my feelings. However at the same time I felt too weak, Ariel had to save my life so many times already. I knew that if I wanted to stay on his level I had to get stronger as fast as possible.


    With these thought in mind I slowly drifted off to sleep, while listening Ariel¡¯s calm breath, and making an oath to myself.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 47 - The expedition

    About three months have passed since the incident of Erna¡¯s kidnapping. Naturally the whole event caused a lot of waves, since she was an heir of an archduke, and made her father rage for many days, resulting in an increase of bodyguards for important students around the Academy.


    What¡¯s more, there was a mysterious organization uncovered about which no one had heard before, becoming another problem for the entire kingdom. A decree of the king came out announcing a high bounty for any information or the heads of the members that anyone brings.


    Due to this the last three months were extremely chaotic, as almost everyone was tempted by the reward and were searching for clues, but apart from the minor operations of the devious church of black magic, nothing important was truly found. Fortunately no similar events like an important noble¡¯s kidnapping happened since then, and Ariel with his friends could continue their peaceful life for a while.


    Although not much of their routine has changed, Ariel himself did almost everything the same as before. He studied, went reading to the library, talked with his friends about trivial things, or trained. Only thing different was that he would go do bandit hunts issued by the Academy more frequently. They were rewarded with merit points, which they had to get enough of before the school¡¯s set time period. Of course missions weren¡¯t only about hunting bandits, but monsters as well, everyone has something they prefer.


    The reason the merit points were mentioned right now, was because today was the, spoken of, deadline and their homeroom teacher Mithra will be explaining why they were needed. Right now it was morning and the whole classroom was already filled, Ariel and his friends were like usual, in the back row seats, waiting for the teacher to finally speak.


    Teacher Mithra stood in front of the class and after checking for any empty seats, seeing that everyone had come she nodded before finally speaking. ¡°Everyone is here so I will start to talk about the reason for why you are here right now, and why you have been doing those missions for so long.¡±


    Everyone quickly started paying attention to her, as many had been wondering about it. For some reason it was forbidden for the older students and teacher to speak about it to them, so no one truly knew the truth. ¡°I will first say that those who hadn¡¯t reached the desired goal would be punished and not allowed to attend the event that I will talk about from now on.¡±


    This statement served only to confuse them more, as the students couldn¡¯t think of any event which could link to this, but all the same all who got enough merit points secretly rejoiced. ¡°Okay, now I will finally announce that we will be going on an expedition to a dungeon or more precisely only you.¡±


    Loud exclamations started appearing in the classroom after her words. Dungeons were dangerous places, but at the same time something every adventurous person wanted to experience at least once. This was an amazing chance for the students and it quickly made them excited.


    Teacher Mithra didn¡¯t seem to pay attention to this and continued. ¡°The reason for those merit points you were collecting was that all of you would get some combat experience while doing different subjugation request, of course we won¡¯t be going to some kind of high end dungeon, the one which is always picked is the well known Heligath dungeon.¡±


    Everyone was keenly listening to the teacher, but although there were still some voices when she told their destination, there weren¡¯t that many since a lot of people had already guessed this dungeon, so they just continued listening.


    ¡°Now since we will soon be out of time I will tell you that we will be leaving in three days at the morning from the training grounds. During these three days there won¡¯t be any lesson because we want you to go prepare for the expedition, since your adventure through the Heligath dungeon will last for about a week, so get moving.¡± As if on cue to the teacher¡¯s voice, the bell rang and everyone started rushing out of the classroom.


    Ariel and his friends also got up and started leaving while talking between each other. Sarah pondered for a bit, after which she spoke. ¡°I wonder how are they going to separate us, since it would be too difficult for inexperienced people to go solo on this for the first time, more so, even though it is called an easy dungeon, it is the hardest of the easy.¡±


    To her side Ariel nodded and responded. ¡°We will probably be given a choice with who we can go. One of the most important things to the team is trust, so grouping random people together would end in a disaster. However this dungeon expedition will undoubtedly be interesting.¡±


    The Helighat dungeon is an extremely famous of the bunch, even more so than dungeons which are much more difficult than it is. Reason being, is that the dungeon itself is quite unique, as most dungeons would have many, many floors. Each floor usually would get harder the further down it is, the Heligath dungeon on the other hand, has only a single floor for its entirety.


    However that single floor is enormous and could be compared to ten floors combined into a single one, naturally the monsters appearing inside all are quite easy to handle. This caused many speculations, a lot of people even now think there is some kind of secret hidden in this dungeon, but no one has yet found anything and the mystery continues to this abnormal dungeon.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    Replying back to Ariel¡¯s words was Brendon. ¡°This dungeon we are going to must have some kind of hidden secrets. Unfortunately we will probably not find anything, considering for how many years people had researched it.¡±


    Rolling her eyes, Erna spoke. ¡°I know you probably are dreaming about some treasures, but stop wasting your time. If I would ever guess, who could find out the secret about the Heligath dungeon then you would be the last one on the list.¡±


    Brendon instantly looked dejected, but Erna¡¯s words weren¡¯t unexpected for the other two. From the card games they had played, which mostly relied on luck, they had long since found out how unlucky Brendon was, but not wanting to dwell on this Ariel changed the topic. ¡°Okay let¡¯s stop wasting our time. Everyone should go get their things ready and meet up again, after that we will go to the city to get things we are lacking.¡±


    Everyone nodded at his words and split up into two groups heading for their own rooms. They didn¡¯t know what to expect and kept diligently buying and packing things that they might or might not need, and soon the day finally came.


    _______________________________________________________________________________________


    On the day of leaving, Ariel and his friends headed towards the training grounds, where they will be transported to their destination just like last time. When they arrived many people were already there including several teachers, although curiously enough there were not as many teachers as there should.


    This caught Ariel¡¯s attention as he asked Brendon, who was by his side. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t there be many more teachers? Why are there only a couple of them?¡± Brendon who was quite knowledgeable about such things quickly replied. ¡°I heard that a lot of teachers will go there first and wait for the students. Supposedly there will also be some senior students who will be looking after us just like the teachers.¡±


    Ariel was a bit surprised that there would be students taking up such a job. However thinking about it more, it wasn¡¯t too hard after all. Just as he was wondering absentmindedly Sarah spoke with a lowered voice. ¡°Everyone is already here and the teacher will start to speak soon.¡±


    As if the person was waiting for the words, a loud voice started echoing through the grounds. ¡°I am glad everyone made it. I will be the person who will be responsible for transferring you and as you have already noticed, a lot of teachers are not here, but don¡¯t worry, most of them are already waiting on the other side where they will explain everything about your goals Now please everyone get closer to each other.¡±


    Even though Ariel and his friends didn¡¯t know this teacher, but they still obediently did what he said. A lot of excited shouts were heard around them as they started teleporting. Naturally many people want to feel the adventure of exploring a dungeon, and even Ariel had similar emotions as his vision turned black.


    Just a moment passed an Ariel felt that he can open his eyes again. The first thing he saw, was a crowd of people, even larger then before, taking a better look at it he saw that there are a lot more teachers and older looking students. They were apparently waiting for the newcomers to calm down and look around, before they spoke.


    Ariel decided to take the opportunity to examine the surroundings, and found that they were in some kind of deep forest with several ruined structures scattered around. At the same time his friends were doing the same, while feeling a bit amazed.


    The one to speak first was Sarah from the back. ¡°Is this where the dungeon is built? This place gives off an ancient vibe somehow.¡± Brendon nodded at the words as he responded. ¡°Yes, from what I know this looks similar to what is described at, and there should be town of Kerath not too far from here, but I guess we won¡¯t be visiting it on this trip.¡±


    Sarah seemed to be bit sad about it, so Ariel tried calming her down. ¡°This field trip is entirely based on exploring the dungeon and it is obvious that the teachers didn¡¯t have any plans on letting us go to the town. However I think we can visit it at a latter date simply for fun.¡±


    Ariel¡¯s words appeared to cheer up the travelling loving girl, and even Erna who hadn¡¯t commented yet seemed to be happy about this as she spoke. ¡°Well we have some time, so we can spend some of it looking around¡­¡± Unexpectedly, as she spoke a surprised look appeared on her face.


    Brendon and Sarah seeing this also looked towards the place Erna was watching and each had a different reaction. The brother narrowed his eyes while his sister furrowed her eyebrows and tightly clenched her fist.


    Deciding to take a look as well, Ariel turned around and immediately saw a young man walking towards them. The first thing he saw was his soft, blond hair and calm blue eyes exuding caring and friendly aura. The man also had a very handsome face while at the same time a sort of natural charisma around him, making him a deadly weapon against women.


    He wore shining, white full plate armor which had many modifications made to it and also adorned both the crest of his household and the crest of the biggest church of the kingdom. Since he had such a thing that would mean that he had become a member of the church, and from the way he looked he actually had become a paladin, it is truly a feat to do at such a young age.


    However the looks on Ariel¡¯s friends faces weren¡¯t really ones of being charmed or friendly, and Ariel naturally knew why. The person walking towards them is not personally known by him, but definitely someone quite famous who he has heard about. His name is Luke Voyar the before mentioned heir of the Kingdom¡¯s second archduke.


    Now for the question why his friends were unhappy, simply it was because of the difficult relationships between them, more precisely between Luke and Sarah. Naturally since Sarah is the only princess of the Kingdom her father wants for he to marry someone with high status and it so happens that the only male in the Kingdom who can satisfy those requirements was Luke.


    The talk about an engagement between the two has been going on for the past few years already and the only reason it hasn¡¯t been decided was because the king was still quite a good father and didn¡¯t want to force his daughter against her will. However Luke doesn¡¯t appear to be against the marriage and with only Sarah on the other side, she has been experiencing a lot of pressure from people around her.


    This of course is quite difficult for her since although it looks similar to other engagements between nobles, but unlike Erna who had come to terms with it when being young, Sarah who already has fallen couldn¡¯t make herself marry another man. At the same time Ariel is only a second son of a duke and already has an engagement.


    Sarah¡¯s only hope now was to wait it out, since she new Ariel would reach amazing heights and by then there would be a chance even if she had to become the second wife of his. Unfortunately the time for her answer was quickly running out.


    Ariel knows about this and is quite discontent with it, but right now he can¡¯t really do anything about it yet. However he is quite furious at Luke, although he might not be a bad person and didn¡¯t know what Sarah was experiencing right now, naivety doesn¡¯t wash off a person¡¯s sin.


    On another note, the person¡¯s whose reaction Ariel was most surprised with, was Erna¡¯s. From what he knew she had been a huge fan of Luke and even his admirer, right now however, she doesn¡¯t appear to be that infatuated with him.


    Unfortunately the time for thinking had already ran out and the person in question was already standing right in front of them with a kind smile on his face, while the people on the receiving end were unnaturally tense, almost like they were about to have to fight against somebody soon, and only god knows what directions this will take.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 48 - Into the dungeon

    ¡°Hello everyone¡± Luke spoke while his eyes scanned them, one by one, lingering on Sarah the longest, before returning his sight on Ariel, who was at the front of the group. He then smiled and stood there waiting for their response.


    Ariel idled for a moment before finally replying. ¡°Greetings, if I recall this should be our first meeting, so there shouldn¡¯t be a need to act so familiarly.¡± With his words he tried giving the cold shoulder to Luke, in hopes of quickly ending this random encounter, but unfortunately Luke had other plans.


    Right after hearing Ariel¡¯s reply, he simply smiled again and spoke. ¡°I may not be familiar with you, but I do know Sarah quite well so being unfriendly with her friends would be a bit awkward.¡± After finishing his sentence he casted another look at Sarah.


    His words unfortunately had some truth in them, so Ariel could only slightly furrow his eyebrows and lightly nod. After a moment his expression returned to normal and he decide to quickly ask the more important question that he had in mind. ¡°Well, since you came up to us, then you should have something to speak about, shouldn¡¯t you?¡±


    Luke didn¡¯t beat around the bush and answered accordingly. ¡°Well honestly, the one I wanted to speak with, was Sarah if you don¡¯t mind.¡± As he spoke Sarah¡¯s name his voice seemed to soften a bit.


    However as he finished talking Sarah¡¯s cold voice suddenly rang out from the back. ¡°There is nothing to speak about between us. If you are thinking about the marriage proposal, you should already know that although our parents want our marriage, I do not approve of it.¡± At her words Luke let out a helpless smile as he seemed to want to withdraw back a bit in helplessness, but he still continued his words.


    ¡°I have already heard that from you before, and I acknowledge that this love of mine might be only one sided, but you do know that time is running out and even though your father wants you to choose yourself, simply because he deeply cares about you you, soon he won¡¯t be able to appease the angry suitors anymore.¡±


    Sarah¡¯s expression slightly changed, but only for a split moment, after which she responded. ¡°When the time comes I will deal with it myself, it is honestly not your business.¡± Luke sighed while unable to understanding why was she so against him and after a couple seconds of blankly staring at her he turned to the rest of the group.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Sorry for all this drama everyone, also prince Brendon I hope in the future we can have a longer conversation about your sister, she seems to be extremely against me for some reason.¡± Brendon merely sneered at Luke, who was already walking away, almost as if trying to run away.


    When he was finally gone, Sarah suddenly turned to Ariel with a slightly panicked look. ¡°The-There is nothing between us you know, he is simply some annoying person who keeps chasing after me¡­¡± In the middle of what she was saying Ariel simply raised his hand, as if telling her that he understood, which seemed to calm her down slightly.


    When she had fully regained her bearing again, someone finally broke the long silence. ¡°That was a bit awkward, but anyways, it seems like everyone has already gathered and the event is about to begin.¡± Just as Brendon finished, everyone else of the group had also noticed that teacher Mithra had walked out into a bit of a more spacious place and was beginning to speak. They quickly forgot about Luke ands began keenly listening.


    ¡°Looks like everyone have already gathered, which means that I can begin my speech now, so shut up and listen!¡± Teacher Mithra¡¯s voice echoed through the whole clearing and soon the ruckus which was happening, died down. ¡°Ok, so as I have said before, you will be going into this dungeon right here and staying in there for a week¡± While she spoke, she pointed at the cavern with an old looking entrance behind her, which had an unnaturally dark atmosphere about it.


    ¡°Of course you won¡¯t be going into there for a picnic. This will be a fighting exercise for everyone. Your merit will be counted the same way adventurers do it, and since some of you probably don¡¯t know about it I will explain.¡± Stopping mid conversation, the teacher took out something from her bag, and showed it to everyone. ¡°This is an ear of a goblin, the most basic of monsters, to get points you will have to bring some kind of proof for defeating a monster and depending on the quantity and strength of the defeated creatures you will be rated.¡±


    While putting away the ear she continued. ¡°Naturally there will be some safety measures. You probably have already noticed that there are some teachers and senior students around, they will patrol the dungeon and will try to save anyone in desperate danger, but don¡¯t let your guard down, they might not always be there to help, and if you do die, we won¡¯t be taking responsibility.¡±


    Teacher Mithra¡¯s words were hard as iron and didn¡¯t give any room for disagreements so the students could only accept their fate. Seeing that none of the students had any important questions, the teacher immediately shouted at them. ¡°What are you waiting for?! Do you think by standing here you will get any stronger?! Get a move on!¡±


    Her shouts frightened the students as they began to quickly head towards the dungeon entrance. In the mean time Ariel and his group were moving a bit more relaxed, although there were still some people who felt uncomfortable about this dungeon raid. ¡°Will everything be fine?¡±


    Sarah was quite meek, but it wasn¡¯t unexpected, even tough she had fought monsters before, going into a dark dungeon for the first time, still had some impact, not to mention that the last event had unexpected danger in it. However now it was already too late for regretting and the rest of the group could only nod as their silhouettes merged into the darkness.


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    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 49 - The first taste of the dungeon

    Deep in the darkness of the Helighat dungeon sounds of battle have been ringing out constantly. On a closer inspection, one would see lights from magic spells and razor sharp swords, flashing by. There, in one of countless, common tunnels of the dungeon a fierce fight could be seen going on.


    The currently winning side was a party of humans, who were fighting a group of goblins with some wolves mixed among them. Naturally, those humans are Ariel and his friends that have already been venturing through these corridors for several hours with a couple of battles on the way.


    However this newest battle was a bit more difficult, since compared to the previous fights, this one was much bigger. At the beginning there were almost two dozen goblins and wolves, all prepared to fight. Thankfully since the start of the battle only a couple of goblins and a single wolf were left.


    Right now Erna was standing at the front of the group facing off against a goblin with a shield and sword, as well as another goblin with a spear riding a wolf. Behind her, in the middle of the group was Brendon responsible for the support, while to the left and right of him was his familiar and his sister Sarah. Brendon¡¯s ancient turtle was supporting the group with water spells just like himself while Sarah was another attacker with her acidic magic.


    Unfortunately her purple panda was still too young to do anything and Erna¡¯s unicorn would be unable to do much in these tight corners, so both of them weren¡¯t part of the battle. Only Brendon¡¯s ancient tortoise and Ariel¡¯s ice shade, both of which have reached middle Elite rank, with the ice shade surprisingly being on the edge of breaking through, were participating.


    On the topic of ranks actually, Ariel was still at the same level as before while all of his friends have already reached late Elite rank for a while now. The sequence from fastest to slowest was Erna, Sarah and last but not least Brendon. However although Erna was the fastest, right now it is unknown, who will break through first since this will depend not only on magic talent like before, but also on their comprehension of their soul.


    Back to the situation at hand, the previously mentioned ice shade was currently leisurely floating at the ceiling while continuously peppering the enemies with its ice magic. His master on the other hand was doing the same thing, but from the far back of the group.


    Due to the fight going like this, it is easy to guess that Ariel and the group would soon win, and the goblins probably understood that as well, however for some unknown reasons they couldn¡¯t retreat, so instead they became even more aggressive than before.


    Both the sword wielder and the rider charged at Erna and attempted to quickly take her down in their last ditch attempt, but she simply slashed out with a sword covered in light, creating a deadly wave of energy which decapitated the sword wielding goblin. The other one however, was a bit luckier and barely evaded it, but after seeing what happened to his comrade, he changed his target and immediately started closing in on Sarah.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    Unfortunately for him this action didn¡¯t change the end result, as several magic spell immediately pierced his and the wolves body just as he turned, ending both their life and the battle. After the monsters took their last breath, Ariel and his party finally let out a sigh of relief. Although it looked like it was easy for them during the battle, it was actually extremely tiring for them.


    Let¡¯s not even talk about how Erna and Sarah had some trouble killing anything remotely humanoid at the beginning, simply continues fighting and walking without rest was extremely taxing for them while at the same time they had to be constantly on the alert. So it was rare for them to have even a bit of time to relax, since it could cost them dearly, just like this time.


    As Ariel began heading towards the front of the group, Erna, who turned back to look at the others suddenly had her face dyed with shock as she screamed out. ¡°Dodge!¡± Ariel didn¡¯t understand what was happening and was barely able to react on reflex as he fell to the side, just as an arrow flew by, slightly clipping his shoulder.


    Fear showed in the expressions of the group members, especially the girls, who were first to rush over. Erna was the fastest, as she used wind magic to enhance her speed and rushed directly at the goblin archer who stood a bit further behind Ariel.


    The goblin didn¡¯t have enough time to react before his vision was already spinning and his lifeless body fell to the ground, while Erna without even looking at it, quickly closed in on Ariel. Sarah was already there with Brendon applying healing magic.


    When Erna finally got near the two, she could only watch and try to not get in the way, since she unfortunately, completely ignored the healing aspect of her light magic while growing up. Also she didn¡¯t have holy magic like those paladins of all the churches, who were quite well rounded in all aspects.


    Ariel in the mean while was trying to calm down the panicking Sarah. ¡°Don¡¯t worry at best these goblins only use paralyzing poison. It isn¡¯t enough to kill even a normal human, with just a scratch like this.¡± Sarah eased up a bit at his words, but still frowned and responded. ¡°You never know, so it is better to be safe than sorry, in case there is an infection.¡±


    The others didn¡¯t speak, but also gave slight nods in agreement. Ariel could only sit and obediently let Brendon patch him up. This was actually the result of the most important Ariel¡¯s problem. Besides not having anywhere to rest and constant fighting, Ariel¡¯s most trusted tool for danger, his magical left eye didn¡¯t seem to work here, or maybe it is more accurate to say that it is too useful here.


    As it is already know, dungeons have an enormous amount of Mana in them, be it monsters or even the walls around it. In the same line of thinking, Ariel¡¯s left eye, which could see Mana was almost as good as blind here, everywhere Ariel looked was Mana, it was like trying to see what was dyed in paint while standing in front of a single colored wall.


    Because of that he couldn¡¯t differentiate monsters from simple scenery, and couldn¡¯t predict when they would come out. Of course it wasn¡¯t a problem with the eye, but more of a problem with him, as he isn¡¯t accustomed to such situation. However he felt that this wasn¡¯t an unfixable problem, but he still needed time to adapt, so right now it was quite a stressful journey for him because he couldn¡¯t rely on the eye right now.


    Right after Brendon finished his healing, Ariel stood up and spoke. ¡°We should move a bit quicker right now and try to find a place to rest, if we don¡¯t. it will only be harder as we tire more and more.¡± The group understood this point well. They already could hardly keep their eyes open after all the energy they wasted fighting, so they quickly got ready to move again.


    However as they finished harvesting the trophies and were about to go on their way, once more they heard footsteps coming from up ahead of their path. It didn¡¯t seem to be just a single entity, so they immediately raised their guard, in preparation to face the upcoming danger.


    ________________________________________________________________________________


    If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/</a> I will always have an extra chapter there

 Chapter 50 - The meeting

    Moments passed and as the footsteps grew closer, Ariel and the group could finally make out the shadows of the approaching beings. Surprisingly however, when they finally stepped into the light it wasn¡¯t a goblin hoard that they were expecting, but a party of four humans.


    The other side also seemed to be a bit amazed seeing them, but they came to much quicker. In the party there were two women and two men, seemingly a balanced ratio of genders. One of the women was a middle aged lady with an average face, blue eyes and long brown hair tied into a ponytail, she also had a bow in hand and a quiver on her back. The second woman, or rather girl, was assumingly in her teens with a childish, but cute face, short black hair and grey eyes, her weapon of choice seemed to be two daggers strapped at her waist.


    Men of the party were a bit more grizzled, both of them were between late twenties to early thirties. The first one was clearly a warrior with heavier armor, shield and a sword, contrasting that he had quite a gentle face, with short brown hair and eyes.


    His partner appeared to also be a warrior, however of a different type. He had a two handed sword in hand and his garb was quite a bit lighter than his friends. Not only that, but he also had more aggressive features messy long, blond hair and piercing green eyes.


    From the travel meant clothes and armor that the four wore, Ariel and his friends connected them to being adventurers, but didn¡¯t let down their guard due to that and waited for the other side to speak first. Especially Ariel and Brendon who at the Academy had already taken missions to kill human bandits, they personally knew that humans could sometimes be even scarier than monsters.


    The adventurers clearly noticed the opposite side¡¯s skepticism, so to show their good will they either put down or sheathed their weapons. Then the warrior with a gentle face at the front of the group, who seemed to be the party leader, spoke. ¡°This is truly surprise to meet you four here, but there is no need to be on guard young masters and misses.¡±


    Words spoken by the man were quite peaceful, but Erna hearing some unexpected titles grimaced and asked. ¡°How do you know we are nobles? It is not like any of our group go on parading around much like most nobles.¡± The friendly adventurer merely laughed and then responded. ¡°Well we definitely don¡¯t know which families you are from, but simply from you noble auras and uniforms we could easily guess.¡±


    The group looked down at their clothes after hearing that, and although they were modified to be fit for dungeoneering they were still their usual Academy uniforms. Before they had enough time to look up, the man continued. ¡°Although not all people from your Academy are nobles, but from what we know it is quite a safe guess.¡±


    Honestly they couldn¡¯t argue with such logic, so Ariel and his friends could only nod their heads. However even if this was true they still didn¡¯t have a reason to ease up so Brendon soon spoke. ¡°Since it is like this, then we can all go our separate ways now.¡±


    As the adventurers heard that they suddenly seemed to want to say that, but held back, leaving the talking to their leader. ¡°You don¡¯t have to be in such a rush, and don¡¯t worry, your Academy does this event every year so there is no way they would let any humans hurt you, so we would never do anything of harm, against tracking magic we are quite powerless. What is more, we want to make a deal with you.¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    At his new words the one to step out was Sarah, since Ariel and Erna honestly weren¡¯t too good at dealing with people and Brendon usually let his sister do the job. ¡°What kind of deal could there be among us? We don¡¯t even know any of you?¡±


    The warrior smiled as he replied with haste. ¡°You see, through the years, adventurers and the Academy made a sort of an unspoken pact in this dungeon. Every year, when you students come here for experience, sometimes students and adventurers team up. This isn¡¯t forbidden by your teachers as it is something like a trade. The adventurers teach wisdom they gained through the years, while the students help out in fire power when killing monsters. Although we are older and more experienced than us, you should have noticed that our power levels are quite low in comparison, and none of us can use any magic.¡±


    Ariel and the rest simply nodded at his words. Although usually only a Master rank person can determine someone¡¯s strength without being told about it, but some talented people are able to feel it by simply looking at someone. Especially since Ariel was already Master ranked and could clearly distinguish that the three older adventurers were only at the late stage Elite rank and the young one barely an early stage Elite.


    What is more, they were definitely not the strongest of their level and not one of them had any Mana, only warrior¡¯s inner energy.


    Since they already heard them out and didn¡¯t notice anything suspicious, they slowly put down their weapons. After doing so, they turned back to look at Ariel, seemingly inquiring what to do about the deal the adventurers offered. Only after some time passed and they saw that he agreed with it, did Sarah once again speak. ¡°Fine, we don¡¯t see any demerits as well as have something to gain from it, so teaming up would be fine, but first we have to find somewhere to rest since we are a bit tired right now.¡±


    After witnessing that they agreed, the party of adventurers let out a sigh of relief and their leader answered while smiling. ¡°Hahaha don¡¯t worry, honestly we were out on patrol right now to take care of any monsters around the vicinity before going to rest. You are quite lucky you know. Most of your students usually have a rough time if they don¡¯t encounter any adventurers who know some good places to stay, please follow.¡±


    While laughing the friendly looking adventurer signaled to follow. Ariel with his party simply followed and soon without any fights they reached a slightly large crevice with some camping gear in it. Obviously this is the place they stay at.


    The adventurers quickly went in and started preparing for having a rest by lighting the fire and taking out some food. Their leader lightly motioned to Ariel¡¯s side to come over and sit down. They didn¡¯t act politely and did just that, also similarly to the adventurers, they started taking out some food from their storage items.


    Seeing it, the adventurers were a bit surprised at the magical artifacts, but soon got over it. Like this, everything was taken care of in about half an hour. Soon they were about to eat dinner, but the atmosphere was still a bit cold. Thankfully the same friendly adventurer came over to break the ice.


    ¡°Actually I have forgotten something.¡± The man¡¯s voice attracted everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°All the way until now we haven¡¯t told each other our names yet.¡± When Ariel and his friends heard that they made slightly stunned expressions.


    After witnessing this scene the man continued speaking, and immediately started the introductions. ¡°My name is Henry and as you might have guessed, I am the frontline fighter as well as the leader of the group, the angry looking guy is Vor, who is our main melee attacker. As for the two women, the older one is called Tera and she is our archer, responsible for the groups support. The younger one is Camila, she usually duel wields daggers and is tin the rear guard, while sometimes taking care of the rogue type work.¡±


    When Henry was done with the introductions, Tera spoke out while sneering at him. ¡°You forgot to tell them that I also take the job of being the mother of you three.¡± Henry let out an awkward laugh at her words and added something to his previous introductions. ¡°You see, sometimes we do some reckless stuff and Tera is in charge of stopping us at those times, but don¡¯t take what she usually says seriously.¡±


    Tera was quite displeased with Henry, but she obviously didn¡¯t want to waste her time arguing with him so she simply began ignoring him. Due to that, the introductions of the other side quickly went on their way. ¡°My name is Sarah. This is my brother Brendon while the blond haired duo, are Erna and Ariel.¡±


    While introducing everyone Sarah did it quickly, and tactically didn¡¯t tell them their last names in case the cooperation would become a bit awkward. The other side also liked it, since it meant there were no statuses involved and they could act a bit more at ease.


    After that the rest of the night went smoothly as they chatted and got to know each other a bit better. When they were done with that, they soon went to rest, in preparation of the upcoming day. Back then they didn¡¯t yet know that it would not only be a hard one, but also a tragic one.

 Chapter 51 - Deeper we go

    Next morning as soon as everyone had awoken, the group set off deeper into the dungeon. At the beginning it was quite a peaceful journey, only after some time of walking did they finally began encountering monsters. Luckily, something like meeting an extremely powerful monster right from the start didn¡¯t happen and at the beginning they only found a small group of goblins.


    Due to that however, Henry¡¯s party was able to gouge Ariel¡¯s party¡¯s strength and usefulness. Same goes for the other side as well, although the adventurers weren¡¯t very strong, but their calmness and efficiency in dealing with monsters amazed them Ariel and the others.


    For several hours they continued encountering such small monster groups and kept improving their teamwork more and more. Henry and his friends were really amazed at both the strength and the speed at which the young nobles adapted. Of course this only made them happier, since it meant they got even more than they bargained for from their deal.


    Like this, time continued to pass and only until some time later did they finally meet a real threat. Currently the team was in another dungeon corridor no different from the others, however a bit further in front of them was a large pack of well equipped goblins and wolves, not only that, but in the very middle was a creature a bit different from normal goblins, it seemed taller and more intelligent with an appearance similar to humans, only his green skin and pointy ears betrayed who he really was.


    Even Ariel¡¯s party, which had little experience, could recognize that it was not a goblin, but a hob goblin. Henry, who was at the front of the group silently motioned the others to stop walking as he whispered. Thankfully the monsters were a bit occupied and still haven¡¯t noticed the intruders. ¡°This will be a bit different from the previous fights it will not only be a lot harder, but also more dangerous. We need a good plan for this.¡±


    Obviously everyone was a bit cautious, in all, besides the hob goblin there were also 26 goblins and 7 wolves. After Henry finished speaking, he looked everyone for suggestions. The group stayed quite for several minutes until finally someone spoke from the back, which was Ariel. ¡°I have something in mind, do you see those goblins?¡± Everyone immediately began listening as soon as they heard someone speaking and when they saw that Ariel was pointing at something they followed his finger with their eyes.


    What Ariel was pointing at was about 12 slightly different looking goblins. They were either archers or shamans which usually were a real pain in the ass to deal with during the fight. However none of the party actually understood right away for what reason did he point at them. Ariel didn¡¯t draw it out and started explaining in a cold voice. ¡°Sarah has quite a deadly AOE spell, if we managed to start the fight and hit that back line with that spell as soon as they get into formation we would not only eliminate a whole bunch of goblins, but also get rid of the most annoying ones.¡±


    Everyone¡¯s faces lit up at Ariel¡¯s words. If all went as planned, then the most troublesome part of the battle would be dealt with. Tera looked towards Sarah with an astonished expression and spoke. ¡°If miss, Sarah really is capable of that, then it would be wonderful. Usually it would be a gamble if they would organize properly, but since there is a hob goblin leader it is almost certain.¡±


    Henry was also quite happy with hearing such a plan and once again thought that the idea to invite these four was a great one. Unfortunately he didn¡¯t have time to revel in it, as he had to continue commanding the party. ¡°Okay, we will do as Ariel suggested, first we will have to engage in battle against them to make them group up, then Sarah will cast her spell.¡±This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    After he finished speaking, the first one to speak up was once again Tera. ¡°Understood, then like usual, I will be the one to pull and Camila will be the one in charge of taking out the leader.¡± Henry nodded at that and the preparations were soon on their way.


    When everyone was finally ready, the battle began. The first one to make a move was, like previously discussed, Tera. She shot an arrow directly into the head of an unsuspecting goblin. Naturally, it died without being able to make a sound, but since they were all quite close, the other goblins immediately noticed that they were being attacked.


    However Ariel and the rest were quicker. Erna casted some wind spell on the whole party for speed, while Brendon did the same with water magic for protection. The three front line fighters Henry, Erna and Vor dashed out just as the arrow hit and were the first ones to be seen by the goblins, while the archer and the mages stayed in the back.


    The hob goblin reacted surprisingly fast and in a moments time began giving instructions to get into formations. Those 12 ranged goblins and 4 wolf riders stayed at the back to support while the other 3 wolf riders and 6 grunts charged at Ariel¡¯s group. Unfortunately the goblin archers and mages started bombard before Sarah could finish her spell, and they immediately launched a volley of spells and arrows.


    Thankfully, both Ariel¡¯s and Brendon¡¯s familiars were already out. Brendon and his turtle together had set up a water shield protecting their group from projectiles. Ariel¡¯s shade on the other hand was, also bombarding the upcoming attack in case they had enough firepower to break through.


    At the same time, a heated melee battle has begun between the three humans and goblins. Erna and the other two were obviously more skilled, but unfortunately the numbers were against them and they had hard time keeping up, especially Vor, who was more of a damage dealer than a defender. Right now he already had several cuts on his body.


    Finally when he made a slight slip a goblin with a spear managed to pierce him in the shoulder. Vor felt a scorching pain and he could barely continued defending. Then, when his weapon was just about to be knocked out of his hands, suddenly three spears made of ice flew by and pierced three goblins. He then soon felt a warm feeling flow through his wounds as they began closing up.


    He understood that it was Ariel and Brendon who helped him out this time and he was extremely grateful, but right now he didn¡¯t have time to thank them as he had to continue to fight. In the mean time, the on who helped Vor in killing goblins was coldly observing the battle. He noticed that the front line was getting to much pressure so he decided to do something about it.


    Ariel concentrated his Mana into his hands and then sent it up to the front, towards the ground beneath the goblins. Soon ice began appearing on the surface stone making it horrible terrain for those who stood on it. For the goblins it was quite unexpected and they began falling down on the ground due to slipping. The melee group quickly capitalized on it and they managed to slay the three wolf riders, now only 3 grunts were left.


    But it was not all good, because the barrier protecting them from the projectiles was actually about to break from all the projectiles hitting it. Looking up at it Ariel let out a frustrated sight, he didn¡¯t want to use too much mana in a single fight, since mages tired much more easily than warriors and took much longer to recuperate. Unfortunately he had to do something about it and didn¡¯t have much time, so he stretched out his hand readying it to cast a spell.


    However just then, Sarah, who was beside him, finished chanting and began letting out strong waves of mana from her body. Acidic clouds started to gather above the goblin back line. Soon drops of acid began to fall on top of them and started burning their bodies. The goblins screamed and tried getting away, but they were much too slow and were completely dissolved.


    With the goblin archers and shamans as well as other grunts dead, the volleys of projectiles stopped coming and the pressure on the party lessened. When the hob goblin saw what happened, he immediately tried to run, unfortunately for him Camila was already behind him and just when he turned, his neck was immediately sliced open.


    Goblins at the front didn¡¯t see their leader get killed, but they also wouldn¡¯t have the chance to run anyways since against the smaller group of enemies, Erna and the others could easily push up and slaughter the remaining ones. Only after all the goblins were checked to be dead, did the team finally relax.

 Chapter 52 - Treasure chest, found

    Several minutes have passed by after the battle without the party doing anything else but resting. Only when everyone felt that they had regained most of their strength did the cleaning of the aftermath began. The adventurers scavenged equipment and items that were still in a sellable state while Ariel¡¯s side was collecting the trophies they needed for their Academy score.


    However not long after they started doing that, Camila who sneaked off somewhere without anyone knowing suddenly returned while happily shouting at all of them. ¡°Everyone, I found something great!¡± From her cheerful smile everyone understood that she discovered an object or place which was even more precious than anything they got so far or she wouldn¡¯t be this excited.


    When the girl had calmed down, Henry was finally able to ask what she found while wearing an amused expression. Camila obviously was overexcited as she began talking immediately. ¡°It is a chest, a treasure chest.¡± After they heard her words surprise appeared on everyone¡¯s faces.


    Treasure chests were another unique quirk of the dungeons. No one knows how or why they appear in the dungeons, but most of the time, if it is not a trap, you fill find something worth your time. Henry was one of the first ones to snap out of his daze and he hurriedly asked Camila. ¡°Did you open it? If you did that was reckless it could have been a trap! Where is it?¡±


    From his face you could see that Henry was quite worried about what Camila might have gotten herself into, to the point that he even messed up his sentences, but the person in question only laughed and answered. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Even I know so much at least, follow me.¡± After ending her words she started leading the group towards the location of the chest.


    After some time everyone saw a silver rimmed chest with a lock on it placed in a small closet sized room. Most likely this was something the goblins were guarding. It is quite common for the dungeon monsters to do that. While thinking so everyone quickly gathered around the chest, but still kept some distance, then Tera questioned Camila while acting cautiously. ¡°Are you able to open it, also is it trapped?¡± Since they didn¡¯t know what was inside, they couldn¡¯t recklessly smash the chest open, so they had to let Camila use lock picks.


    Camila quickly answered Tera¡¯s questions with a confident smirk. ¡°I can definitely unlock it, as for traps¡­ At least I myself can¡¯t find any, but since this is quite an easy dungeon and we aren¡¯t too deep, I speculate that the chances that it is a trap are quite low.¡± Just as Camila finished her analysis, Brendon gave a quick warning. ¡°Even if it is a small chance, we have to be careful while we open it just in case.¡±


    The rest of the group seemed to agree, so Henry immediately spoke in a commanding tone. ¡°Everyone step back. If anything happens I will charge and protect Cam while the mages will try to do anything they think will help.¡± Everyone nodded and quickly got into their positions.


    Thankfully nothing went wrong with the chest. Camila scrambled with her lock picks for a while and soon there was a click signaling that the chest was unlocked. As they opened it there were no traps and after checking a few more times everyone finally gathered around to see what was inside, with relieved minds.


    What they found was that the chest was quite full. The most numerous were coins and potions which simply from their amount already made a small fortune. Then there was also some quite decent equipment, a couple of fine swords and a buckler, all of which could be sold for a pretty penny.


    However, what attracted everyone¡¯s attention was a beautiful, finely crafted bow. Ariel¡¯s group immediately noticed that it wasn¡¯t a simple bow, but a magic weapon. The adventurers although weren¡¯t mages and not strong enough to see mana, still had a lot of experience and were able to come to the same conclusion after some observations.


    This chest truly had more than they bargained for, but now came the most important part, the loot distribution. Henry after being bewitched for a while soon came to and spoke with some reluctance in his voice. ¡°Honestly, if it weren¡¯t for you four, we might have had an extremely difficult time defeating this group of monsters, so it is only fair that you would be first to chose what to get.¡±


    All of the adventurers stayed silent and watched to see what Ariel and the rest would do, especially Tera, who although looked composed, still constantly threw glances at the bow. The spokesperson of the group, Sarah, seeing this situation didn¡¯t know what to do so she quickly gathered with the others into a circle and discussed a bit with them.


    After a couple minutes she once again stood in front of their party and with a smile spoke. ¡°We will be taking some potions and all the gold.¡± Her answered shocked the adventurers quite a bit, Henry even hurriedly asked while his mind was still in a daze. ¡°Are you sure, this is a magical item you know?¡±


    Sarah slightly shook her head and replied ¡°That is true, but have you forgotten our identities? Although magical items are still precious to us, they aren¡¯t too rare and expensive us as well. Also, you have helped us learn a lot in these past few hours so it can be like repayment, not to mention that with Tera having this bow the rest of the battles will be a lot easier.¡±


    The adventurers didn¡¯t know what to say, they were extremely grateful to Ariel¡¯s group. Tera hurriedly ran to the front and gave a bow. ¡°Thank you for this generosity. You don¡¯t know how much this means to me. If there is anything you need of me, you can ask anytime.¡±If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    While Tera was still continuing to thank them, Brendon casually spoke. ¡°There is no reason to be thankful to us for such a small reason. It is better if we skipped such details and hurry. There is still a lot of walking for us to do.¡±


    Although after hearing Brendon¡¯s words the adventurers soon calmed down, but gratefulness was still visible in their eyes as they returned to their previous location. Only after thanking Ariel and the group once more after reaching the place, did they start the cleaning again.


    With their newly found enthusiasm the job took shorter than expected and soon enough everyone was already getting ready to move on. At that time, as Ariel was checking if everything was in place, suddenly Vor stepped in front of him. At first it seemed like he was heavily contemplating something until finally he spoke while looking at Ariel. ¡°Thank you for your help.¡± He thanked for the support Ariel gave him during the fight.


    Unlike he usually spoke, Vor¡¯s voice was quite weak, from the way it looked, you could tell that he wasn¡¯t used to thanking people, However after a couple seconds of watching him, Ariel turned back to continue doing his checkups with out saying a single word back.


    Seeing his, Vor felt extremely embarrassed, he already wanted to lash out a Ariel with no care that he was a noble, but he immediately remembered that Ariel was his benefactor, so he simply stood there, not knowing what to do. The others clearly saw what happened, but most of them didn¡¯t know what to do to ease the awkwardness either. Thankfully Henry walked up to Vor and after placing his hand on his shoulder spoke. ¡°Ariel is a bit reserved, but I don¡¯t think he meant to be rude to you, don¡¯t take it to heart too much. How about you go prepare to leave and calm your emotions in the mean time?¡±


    Although still grumbling, Vor obediently left to do his own thing. Unknowingly, while Henry was speaking to Vor, Sarah had come closer and spoke as soon as Vor walked a little further away. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for what happened, that is just how Ariel is, but he isn¡¯t as arrogant or coldhearted as he acts, simply a bit distrusting. I hope you can forgive him.¡± Henry merely laughed at her words and replied. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I believe that none of us were actually offended. Rather I would want to talk about another topic I have. Do you mind?¡±


    Brendon who was beside his sister had his curiosity peaked a bit from hearing that, so he questioned Henry. ¡°There is something so important to speak about that we can¡¯t talk about after finding a place to rest first?¡± At his words Henry slightly nodded and spoke. ¡°Actually I want to ask about the end goal of this dungeon expedition and what you think. You see, it seems that with your magic we can take care of hob goblins quite easily, so I was thinking if you were interested in trying out fighting against the hob goblin boss, from what I know its would be on our way deeper into the dungeon.¡± Surprise immediately appeared on the siblings faces after they heard Henry¡¯s suggestion.


    However before any of the two could answer, Erna and Camila, the two tomboyish girls who were getting along quite well and were talking with each other just now, jumped after hearing the ongoing conversation. Both of them had exited expressions as they closed in on the others, especially Camila who was practically glowing.


    ¡°Did I just hear you saying that we will fight a boss?¡± Her voice seemed to be almost shivering from expectations and although Erna was a bit quiet, her eyes easily betrayed her thoughts. Seeing this, Henry helplessly confessed. ¡°We are only thinking about it, we won¡¯t do it if it is too dangerous, you should know that boss monsters are unbelievably dangerous.¡±


    Dungeons bosses were like the treasure chests, both appearing randomly in dungeons. However while chests had either treasure or traps, bosses always had some good loot on them, but also certain danger. For example, naturally born hob goblins are somewhere at Disciple rank with the chance to reach Elite rank. On the other hand, there are those who evolved from goblins, to do that, they have to reach Elite rank while still being a goblin, which is beyond difficult. Of course there are good points to that, they are much more powerful than those who are already born as hob goblins and have more potential, letting them to immediately become an orc after reaching Master rank.


    The problem is that, in the dungeon, all monsters are on the same level as those who evolved, so due to that their strength and talent are quite amazing. In the mean while, bosses are cream on the crop. It is unknown why, but their power is enormous for their levels no matter what rank they are. To show the point, the hob goblin boss is most of the time at late Elite rank, but his actual strength is about that of an early Master rank or even a weak middle Master rank.


    From this, one can see how special they are, but risk always comes with a reward so many adventurers put their life on the line to hunt bosses. Henry¡¯s party knows all of this information quite well, but Camila still seemed eager to fight one. The usually cheerful party leader was racking his brain in how to pacify this tomboy girl. Just as he was doing that, Erna who was at Camila¡¯s side spoke. ¡°It is not like we have to jump right into a fight, at worst if he is too strong we can simply retreat.¡±


    Erna¡¯s sudden words had some reason to it, so Henry stealthily looked at his other party members. Vor seemed to be ignoring him, but the usual person who took care of them, Tera, seemed to have given it some thought and when she met his gaze, she spoke. ¡°If it is just to take a look, I don¡¯t think there is a problem with that.¡±


    Brendon who was at the side also spoke while cheerfully laughing. ¡°I also thing we should at least look, if we need to run away we have many spells that will come in handy.¡± Very soon everyone came to and agreement about it. They will find the lair and observe if they have a high chance of winning against the boss, if they do, they will fight, if not, they will run away.


    Everyone was happy with such a plan and after a bit more time, they were on their way. During their trip they had encountered hob goblins more and more frequently, but with their overwhelming strength they easily blitzed through them. After several hours of such travel, deeper in to the dungeon, their instincts soon started telling them that they were getting closer and closer to something dangerous, and soon enough after turning a corner they saw a big gateway with its actual wooden gates almost completely rotten away, without any of their previous majesty left.


    However none of them dared to belittle the room behind them since they know that the most difficult battle they will experience in this dungeon might be just beyond that gateway.

 Chapter 53 - Boss fight! part 1

    As the party finished examining the entrance from a distance, they started silently walking closer to it. However the closer they were the more they tried keeping next to the walls. After slowly creeping for a while, they reached the gate and could finally sneak a peak at what¡¯s inside.


    Henry was at the front so he was the first one who had a go at it. As he peaked out and threw a glance at the inside of the room, he immediately noticed that it was much bigger than most dungeon spaces. The room¡¯s size was almost as big as four big living rooms combined, while the largest ones they encountered previously were only about bedroom sized.


    The interior itself was nothing special, just the usual grey dungeon walls and ceiling, with no decoration on them at all. Inside the middle of the room however, was a wooden dining table with some stuff on it and six chairs next to it, in them sat 6 decently geared hob goblins wearing worn leather armor and some iron weapons. They were creating a lot of noise and chatter while they gambled and talked with one another in an unknown goblin language.


    Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, the most eye catching thing wasn¡¯t them, but a shabby throne made of wood standing at the far back of the room. On top of it sat a slightly larger hob goblin, equipped with chain mail armor, next to him on the right there was a big steel sword, radiating some kind of Mana and a giant tower shield on the other side.


    Thankfully, although the hog goblin on the throne was facing the gateway, he had his eyes closed and didn¡¯t notice Henry peaking out his head. Due to that he was able to immediately step back after observing the entire room without being seen.


    Looking back behind him, Henry saw the members of his group intently staring at him, with curiosity hidden in their eyes. He quietly motioned them to follow him as he retreated further away from the gate. When they were some distance away, he finally spoke.


    ¡°It is just like we have guessed. It is a boss room. The room itself is about several times bigger than the usual ones we encounter and rest at. As for the enemies, we have six well equipped hob goblins sitting at a wooden dining table, spending their time leisurely doing their own thing, and also the hob goblin boss sitting on a throne behind them, he seems to wield a powerful sword, which might even be magical, and an enormous tower shield, not to mention that he has decent chain mail armor, for a hob goblin that is almost too good..


    After hearing out everything Henry said, all the party members had furrowed their eyebrows. When some time passed, Tera was the first one to speak after Henry. ¡°It is not impossible, I would say that it is even quite doable, but right now I think we are all quite exhausted, so we should first find a place to rest and discuss our plan and what to do.


    No one, including Henry, disagreed, so the party left in search of a camping spot. Soon enough they found one and did their usual routine as well as speak about the matter at hand, in the end ending up agreeing to the fight, after which they went to sleep. Like this they spent their night right until the next day, which would be filed with many difficulties as well as tragedies, unfortunately the group hadn¡¯t know that at this time or maybe things would have gone a bit differently.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    The next morning they were already back at the gate. They have checked inside and nothing much changed, making them let out a sigh of relief. When everyone was done with gathering their resolve, Henry¡¯s face hardened as he began speaking.


    ¡°Okay, we are all rested now and in fighting condition, I hope everything will go as planed.¡± Since this was the first time fight for most of the group, they were a little nervous and didn¡¯t fully well know what they should be doing, so the plan had to go accordingly, or the morale would plummet.


    ¡°Just like we decided yesterday, Sarah, Ariel and Tera will begin the battle by launching some ranged attacks at the common hob goblins, but only once, after that we will charge in while you watch, if the boss involves himself, you will have to immediately attack him, if not, save you energy until we finish our fight and then attack the leader together. Camila will stay hidden until we begin battling the boss and Brendon will stay back to support us if we are in critical dangers, but it is best if you don¡¯t reveal yourself if you can help it.¡±


    The plan was simple, but effective, so everyone understood what they had to do. They took several minutes to collect themselves and then they finally attacked. Ariel stood besides the two women as he casted his spell. However, these hob goblins were on a different level than the ones they met before. Even though it was a surprise attack, Tera only managed to hit ones shoulder, while out of Ariel¡¯s three ice spears, one hit into the chest of a hob goblin, killing it immediately, one was blocked by a hand which was right now bleeding profusely, the last one was blocked with an iron buckler.


    Sarah¡¯s spell was less deadly, but it hit everyone leaving several large and painful acid wounds on their bodies. Erna and the others except for Camila charged in like promised and engaged the hob goblins, Camila, who managed sneak in and was currently waiting for the moment to attack the boss. The back line was, like told, observing the leader.


    Thankful, after noticing the invaders and shouting something in goblin language, he simply sat there, doing nothing. Due to that the two mages and the archer also didn¡¯t need to do anything, so and simply conserved their strength. On the front however the battle was still raging on. Even with one dead, the hob goblins weren¡¯t in any panic and acted accordingly.


    Erna faced off against two of them, one with a spear and the other with an iron sword. With her wind magic casted on herself she was extremely quick and her rapier danced around the opponents. Although she couldn¡¯t land any decisive blows, she left countless smaller wounds on them and only the onlookers from the side could see the dangerous levels of blood that was dripping from the two hob goblins.


    When the melee battle hit the 3 minute mark, the two goblins, who were quite skilled and were holding out decently well against her, started feeling faint, which let Erna land several good blows. From then on, it all went down hill for the hob goblins and soon only two dead bodies were left laying there on the floor.


    As this Erna¡¯s drawn out fight was happening, Vor was clashing against another hob goblin who wielded a two handed great sword, similar to Vor himself. Naturally, it was quite a different battle from Erna¡¯s, since the two of them relied mainly on strength and experience.


    Their battle was much shorter and simpler. It basically concluded in several clashes, ending with Vor knocking the hob goblin¡¯s weapon out of his hand and then swiftly decapitating him. Unfortunately, while the two managed to finish their fights quite easily, Henry was having a harder time.


    He was most excellent in defending, but lacked the attack power so he was severely suppressed, but thankfully after Erna and Vor finished their hob goblins, they helped eliminating the ones attacking Henry. With that none of the grunts were still alive and only leader was left.


    Honestly, the whole thing happed way too fast and the hob goblin boss was unable to react, when he finally snapped out of it, it was already too late and all he saw was hob goblin bodies littering the ground. His eyes immediately turned red and he roared in fury while shouting something in the goblin language, as he took his sword and shield.


    The party was frightened merely from the power in his roar and involuntarily heaved a deep sigh, since they knew that the real fight will start only now.

 Chapter 54 - Boss fight! part 2

    The stare down between both sides continued for a while, until it was finally broke by Ariel shoot an ice bolt at the boss. The spiky ice ball was quite fast, but unfortunately this hob goblin had an incredible reaction speed and was able to pull up his shield in front of him, just in time.


    Ariel¡¯s attack however, did leave some large indents on the tower shield and at the same time was the signal for the others to attack. Both Sarah and Tera began their bombardment with magic and arrows, while the others made a perimeter around them.


    The hob goblin boss was under quite the fire power, but thanks to his massive shield, he wasn¡¯t hit, and even had the strength to slowly move closer. The party however, unfortunately, had to stay where they were, since if they let up even for a second, the hob goblin would have enough room to immediately start charging.


    Due to that, the fight dragged on like this for a while and ended only when the boss finally reached them, due to that, although there were no injuries inflicted on him, some fatigue could be seen on his face. Their melee fighters, on the other hand, were still in almost top shape, and just as the hob goblin came into range, the three of them attacked.


    Henry was at the front and quickly started blocking the oncoming swings, while Vor simply went into a rampage and started lashing out at the enemy with no desire to defend. Unfortunately, with the good weapon and shield, the hob goblin could take the two of them on without a problem, and his swings with enormous strength were rapidly tiring Henry, if not for Brendon using magic to ease their fatigue, they might have already fallen.


    The one who truly did some damage was Erna, she used her quickness like usual, and while the boss had its hands full with Henry and Vor, she constantly stabbed and slashed him from where he didn¡¯t expect it, leaving a few nasty wounds.


    In the mean while, Ariel and the rest, who were at the back, were unable to continue recklessly bombarding since now the boss was in a close proximity of their comrades, so they had to attack more carefully and accurately.


    For Tera it was the easiest because she could simply shoot like usual and was able to hit a few of the boss¡¯s joints, but besides that, nothing major. Sarah and Ariel however, had to wait for the right opportunities, since their attacks could cause some large splash damage to the party.


    Thankfully there were some opening and both Sarah and Ariel could do something. Sarah¡¯s magic, couldn¡¯t really penetrate iron armor quickly as of yet, but it didn¡¯t cause her any problems because she just attacked from above. Her acid easily reached the hob goblins skin and even flown under his armor through some cracks and gaps.


    Ariel was much more straight forward and tried several things, icing the floor didn¡¯t succeed since the boss seemed to be quite heavy and had good balance, but some good, old fashioned ice spears with out any effort penetrated his body, and even those which were blocked by armor and shield were able to make some openings for the other party members.


    With such constant pressure, the battle went fine for a while, but as the boss got more injured, he also became angrier and started fighting more aggressively. The battle began to change when the boss suddenly stopped paying attention to Vor and let him land a heavy hit, while he himself concentrated everything on Henry, and after a quick succession of a strike and a shield bash Henry was sent flying towards the back group, barely getting caught by the others.


    Immediately after that, the hob goblin charged at Vor, shield first. All Vor could do was try to block with his own sword, but the strength behind the tower shield was too much, it knocked him of balance and soon after that the boss¡¯s sword cut down on Vor¡¯s shoulder.


    Luckily Brendon noticed this and quickly reacted, casting a healing spell on Vor and Henry. Thankfully the boss also didn¡¯t continue pressuring them and seemed to need a breather so he jumped back some meters and merely watched the party while he was catching his breath.


    The group also stayed back, their front liners were injured and needed some time to heal, so they didn¡¯t want to engage the hob goblin immediately. Like this the stare off started once again. For a moment neither side budged even slightly and simply waited for a signal to start fighting again.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    Unfortunately, the hob goblin boss was intelligent enough to see that if he left Ariel¡¯s group alone to heal, he wouldn¡¯t have a single chance to win anymore, so he suddenly attacked, before the two melee fighters were in a fighting shape again. Just as the party saw that, Henry unexpectedly shouted out. ¡°Do it, now!¡± As his words rang out, out of no where a shadow appeared behind the boss, and only after closer inspection did the others recognized, that it was Camila.


    Camila after appearing behind the boss, stabbed into his side. A painful groan came out of the hob goblins throat, but just when they expected that he would back off further, he instead swung his right hand, backhanding Camila¡¯s body with enormous strength.


    She flew over 10 meters and the others could hear her bones brake, by the time she landed, she was already unconscious. Some of the group members, like Tera and Erna after seeing this happen screamed out, their faces white with fright.


    Brendon, who was the only healer of the party, thankfully was fast enough and was able to cast a healing spell on her quite quickly. However, on a closer inspection, sweet could already be seen on Brendon¡¯s face, healing three people at the same time was putting quite a strain on him, not to mention that his healing spells were less effective and took longer than their counterparts on the light magic side.


    The truly unfortunate thing was that, after seeing them react like this, the cunning hob goblin immediately noticed how important Camila was to them. With a sinister laugh, he began quickly heading towards the laying Camila. This made the others almost faint from fear.


    Tera tried to shot him with an arrow as soon as possible, but he still had his guard up and with such distance could easily dodge it, same with Sarah¡¯s magic as well, it was unfortunately too slow. Their two melee fighters were still in no shape to fight, so only Erna could sprint out. However she couldn¡¯t fight one on one against him by herself, so she decided to get next to Camila and protect her, as her last resort, if the boss managed to reach them.


    Luckily it wasn¡¯t as hopeless as it seemed, though. While the boss was advancing towards Camila keeping an eye on the rest of them them, he didn¡¯t have the ability to keep attention on the surroundings. Just at that time, Ariel, who was standing at the back, seemed to slightly wave his hands, unseen to anyone, but just after he did that, Ariel¡¯s previously released ice bolt which was still there laying on the floor after the impact against the shield, shot out its spikes.


    All the party members were quite far and weren¡¯t really affected by the sudden ice spike attack, but the hob goblin boss was in an unfortunate spot and many of them easily dug into his body. Very soon after doing this, Ariel started moving towards him as well, not wanting to let the chance go.


    From further away he already had began shooting ice spears to pressure him, but only the first one managed to hit in a surprise attack, others were either blocked or deflected. Of course he could simply tank through it with an enormous amount ice spears like most other mages, but being in a dungeons wasn¡¯t a situation where recklessly spending Mana was the right choice.


    Due to that, when he advanced near enough he changed his tactic. While still shooting a couple ice spears from above to distract the boss, he also swung his hand and casted ice slice. A blade of frosty and sharp ice left Ariel¡¯s hand and cut across the hob goblin¡¯s stomach.


    It was still protected by armor, but after some heavy beatings on all over the armor, it became a bit more fragile and at some places Ariel¡¯s attack actually penetrated, and even there where it didn¡¯t, it left cold frost, cooling off the armor enough to give itss wearer frostbite.


    Right after this strike of his, Ariel wanted to continue, but he wasn¡¯t fast enough. The hob goblin boss, who was already enraged to the point where his skin changed color, swung his sword towards Ariel with all his strength.


    Ariel didn¡¯t have the time to dodge with his slow speed, so he could only rely on his ice shields. However, the hob goblin¡¯s sword moved, it suddenly lit on fire and with its frightening power immediately broke two out of the three ice shield from a single clash. This clash pushed Ariel quite far backwards, to the point that he could taste iron at the back of his throat.


    Pushing back the feeling of wanting to cough blood, Ariel looked towards the newly lit sword. From a single glance he could tell that this was most likely the effect that this magical weapon had, and not some cheap trick.


    Thankfully the hob goblin didn¡¯t chase Ariel and it also seemed like the continuously inflicted pain made it go into a complete, uncontrollable rampage. He swung his sword all over the place, being completely random. The bad thing was that, although Ariel could easily predict his attacks, he also couldn¡¯t land a decent hit, with him like this.


    He, as well as both Sarah and Tera, who came, closer started bombarding him, but almost nothing hit. As they were doing this, Tera suddenly recalled something and drew out her bow string without releasing it. Seeing this from the side, both Sarah and Ariel understood that she was finally planning on using her bows magical ability. Ariel even put in some effort and locked down the boss¡¯s feet with ice.


    Mana quickly gathered around the knocked arrow and although it didn¡¯t have any element added to it like the hob goblin¡¯s sword, but it was obvious that the arrows penetrative aspect was enhanced. When Tera was at last done aiming the bow, she let the arrow loose and it flew like wind, embedding itself into the hobgoblins armor, completely ignoring it.


    The pain seemed to wake the boss from his frenzy a little as he looked towards the party. Unfortunately, although the arrow caused a lot of damage it wasn¡¯t enough and he began to slowly wobble towards them, with killing intent visible in his eyes.


    But just then, Erna, with out anyone¡¯s notice ran up to the boss and jumped onto him. Due to the wounds and fatigue, the hob goblin¡¯s guard was down and he couldn¡¯t react in time. Erna¡¯s swift sword easily sliced open his throat.


    He still wanted to grab her, even as blood was rapidly leaving his body, but Erna was too fast and already left his side. With no one in reach, the boss tried struggling against death, but as more and more blood left his body his eyes slowly grew lifeless and his body fell to the ground, dead.

 Chapter 55 - Its a trap!

    After the hob goblin boss lost his last traces of life, all of the party members let out a breath of relief and tiredness as their bodies went a little limp. Some of them, like Erna and Ariel immediately found some place to sit down and rest a bit, to regain their usual state.


    Others, who didn¡¯t have to tire themselves physically, did a short search for any other hostiles, and after finding none also got back to rest. Those who were injured were naturally resting right from the beginning. No one even started looting the corpses for a good hour, until everyone¡¯s bodies became completely relaxed and rested.


    Only then did some people stand up to go search for things, that including Erna, Tera and Sarah. The first body they looked at was of course the boss who had given them so much trouble, but on their faces pride and excitement still couldn¡¯t be hidden. It is a huge achievement to hunt down a boss of their level, be it for the adventurers, members of the military or any other organization.


    As they began searching the hob goblin leader¡¯s corpse, the first thing they looked at was his weapon and shield. The tower shield was a bit damaged and dented from all the attacks, but if they were to fix it at a blacksmith it would be as good as new, and much better than the one Henry uses.


    His great sword on the hand was something even more precious. All of the people here saw that it was magical, and also how powerful its effect was. Unfortunately only one member of their group uses great swords and such, so it is probably going to go to him.


    When these two items were put away, the search continued. The mail armor was unfortunately almost completely destroyed, but the boss had some other things that put a smile on the search group¡¯s faces. Apart from a decent amount of gold, there was a little, shinning, yellow - brown object that looked to be a mix between a gem and a crystal.


    All of the people here knew from first sight that this was a magic crystal, an upgraded counterpart of a magic stone. It had a much denser condensation of Mana and was overall more pure. Unfortunately they were even more difficult to get a hold of than magic stones, so there isn¡¯t a lot of supply for it. Most of them come from dungeons, and sometimes it can also crystallize in some strong monsters, but something like mines are rarer than rare.


    From the color, the type of magic crystal they acquired was of the earth element, it would be very beneficial for an earth mage, but it is useful even for those who aren¡¯t. They can either sell it for a lot of money, gift it to a powerful person to get into their good graces, or ask a crafter to make a magic item for them, although the last one would need more than simply the magic crystal.


    The party didn¡¯t stop at finding these, and continued to search. Unfortunately, other hob goblins weren¡¯t exactly rich, and besides their weapons and trophies, they only found some gold pieces. However they weren¡¯t really upset since what they got from the boss was definitely worth the risk, so after they were done searching they returned to where the others were and sat down to wait for the wounded people to get better.


    _______________________________________________________________________________________


    Some time passed and everyone was pretty much rested and healed. Henry, Vor and Camila each drank a health potion for good measure right after getting up, since they didn¡¯t want to take chances in a dungeon.


    Soon after, when the rest of them were also done with their things and were ready to continue their travel, a discussion started after a long while of not talking.


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°I never expected for that hob goblin to be so nuts, if I didn¡¯t slightly let down my guard, maybe I could have noticed that something was wrong.¡± Henry spoke while sighing and massaging his left shoulder. In response, the one who spoke out was Vor. ¡°You are not to blame, the guy let himself get slash with a two handed sword to simply try and finish us off faster, no one sane would do that while being outnumbered like that.¡±


    Ariel, who was usually quiet, also responded. ¡°What Vor says is true, although your reaction to this event wasn¡¯t the best, it also can¡¯t be blamed on you. Thankfully we won so instead of sulking about what might have happened we should continue down the road further, while learning from our mistakes.¡±


    The words Ariel said slightly comforted Henry and the next moment he was already laughing while talking about a different topic. ¡°Alright, maybe I will do what you say. The boss is dead and that is that, but we still need to split the loot.¡± He then quickly glanced at Ariel¡¯s groups. ¡°And this time, once again, all of you were the reason we stayed alive, so you can choose first.¡±


    Everyone of the group let out small smiles. Sarah looked at Ariel and seeing that he didn¡¯t have the intention to speak anymore, stepped out. ¡°There is no point is talking about who will choose first, it is better to divide it by utility. Both the shield and the magic great sword do not suit any of us, so it should belong to Henry and Vor. Of course since there is nothing that we actually need here, we can take the money and the magic crystal, similar to before.¡±


    All four of the adventurers nodded. Even tough the magic crystal was precious, the other side¡¯s contribution was even bigger, they wouldn¡¯t mind even if they took more. However since they left such wonderful items for them, the gratefulness they felt only increased even further.


    Henry, after a couple seconds of thought, spoke. ¡°Okay, then we won¡¯t decline your offer.¡± With that, everything was split amongst the group and they were ready to leave. After half an hour they did just that, since even if they were tired from the battle it still actually only took a couple of minutes and they have the entire day ahead of themselves. They can¡¯t simply sit there doing nothing all day, can they?


    After setting off towards the tunnels behind the hob goblin boss room, Henry spoke while walking. ¡°Unfortunately I don¡¯t know much of what is further, but I am certain that it will be more difficult and dangerous, so everyone, be on your guard.¡±


    All the party members nodded showing that they understand, and proceeded forwards. It is unknown for how long they were walking, but after some time they relaxed a little due to only encountering one or two straggler goblins or hob goblins once in a while.


    Brendon started cracking jokes on the road, with Sarah besides him, who sometimes spoke in between Brendon¡¯s words. Erna was constantly chattering with Camila about all kinds of thing, from fighting to social life, not forgetting to sometimes speak with the others.


    The adventurers also contributed and chatted with everyone, making quite a casual atmosphere. Only Ariel still seemed to be quite tense. Others noticed this and tried to ease him up, but he replied. ¡°Something feels wrong you shouldn¡¯t let down your guard.¡±


    All of the adventurers didn¡¯t know what to make of it, but then Erna intruded into the conversation. ¡°Ariel is usually able to notice some things that others can not, so his words are quite credible.¡± From Erna¡¯s words, the other¡¯s gained some understanding and heeded Ariel side¡¯s warning.¡±


    They were a bit more alert, but that didn¡¯t stop them from continuing to converse. Seeing this, Ariel let out a helpless sigh and turned back to look at what was making him worry. His eye that was useless until now started to get better the more they moved inward, but it was not because of him getting used to it, but because something was going on with the dungeon.


    The further they went, the more structurally sound the Mana in the walls, ceiling and the floor, looked. This didn¡¯t bode well for the groups, since some kind of warnings were flashing in Ariel¡¯s mind, warning him that something bad might happen, very soon, but he didn¡¯t have any proof, so he could only continue forward.


    Like this they travelled for quite a long time and everyone¡¯s guard besides Ariel, soon relaxed. No one can blame them tough. Watching the same grey walls for so long won¡¯t make you feel tense, or excited. However very soon something changed.


    After many turns and corners, the party came to a very defining line, where the usual grey stone changed into grey brick. Obviously this was something different, which they had not encountered before. The problem was that the warning signs in Ariel¡¯s head were flashing more than ever before.


    Due to that, he quickly warned. ¡°Something is not right her we should head back.¡± His friends seemed to notice his anxiousness, and their expression changed as they started taking this more seriously. Henry unfortunately, after seeing that nothing happened after Ariel¡¯s previous warning, thought that he was only over reacting.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry it is just some bricks, watch.¡± As he spoke, he began heading further into the brick tunnel. Ariel¡¯s face slightly paled and he stretched out his hand while starting to speak. ¡°Do no...¡° Just when he wanted to stop Henry a brick tile underneath his foot sank in and a flash of light whizzed by.


    Everyone stood there watching in horror, as Henry¡¯s now headless body, slumped to the ground and his head, still with that smiling expression flew through the air. That day, only a high pitch shriek of shock and terror, with many pale from fear faces, were there to witness this scene.

 Chapter 56 - The farewell

    In a nameless passageway of the dungeon, seven people were standing around a headless body, with blood from it spilling everywhere. Sarah, Erna and Brendon hadn¡¯t known Henry for that long, so besides regret and frustration they didn¡¯t have any other feelings and right now only stood there, staring in horror.


    Unfortunately, the other three had been a part of the same party and had been already adventuring together for a very long time with him. Due to that they were close to breaking down. Camila was already on the ground shrieking and crying with Vor by her side trying to comfort her, while Tera simply stood there completely frozen in place as she stared at Henry¡¯s lifeless body.


    Only Ariel seemed to be almost unaffected. Only slight regret in his eyes betrayed that, he felt anything at all. He was also the one, who decided to take Henry¡¯s body and head, and transport it to a different place while everyone else still didn¡¯t know what to do as of yet.


    This death decimated everyone¡¯s thoughts of advancing further, and for a while they only sat, grieving. However their shrieks and shout had most likely been quite laud, because soon, out of the dark corridor came the sound of a person¡¯s footsteps. Thankfully the party still had some sense left in them and they immediately prepared for battle, just in case.


    But what came out from the blackness was not a monster, but a human. From his clothes Ariel¡¯s group discerned that he was also from the Academy, and the person¡¯s seemingly older age indicated that he was one of the patrols that were sent to keep and eye on the students.


    When the person in question noticed the seven people near a headless body, he immediately ran up shouting. ¡°What happened, is anyone else hurt beside the person on the ground?!¡± Worry could be heard in his voice and seen on his face as he came closer.


    Sarah was the first one to respond to him. ¡°Everyone else is alright, but¡­ Our comrade died due to a trap.¡± The further she spoke, the quieter she got.¡± Even Sarah was affected by this and couldn¡¯t muster her usual noble elegance.


    The newly arrived patrol heard the suffering in Sarah voice and decided to bring up the topic as little as possible. ¡°Well. My name is Robert and I am one of the people in charge of patrolling the dungeon. Unfortunately, even in these circumstances I cannot raelly take you out before the time is up, unless you experience some serious danger, or choose to give up. What I can do however, is to bring out the rest of theses adventurers, since they don¡¯t seem to be in a state to continue anymore.¡± Everyone at the scene saw that Robert was truly earnest to help and relaxed.


    Vor was still unwilling to accept this and was about to say something, but Tera put a hand on his shoulder and while shaking her head spoke. ¡°There is nothing we can do about what happened, we can¡¯t even take revenge. It is best to at least bring out Henry¡¯s body out of this cursed place.¡± Hearing her words, Vor let down his head in frustration, because he knew that Tera was right.


    Soon enough everyone agreed on Robert taking the three adventurers to the outside. However they still took a rest before going, simply to relax them a bit. When they were ready, they started walking back the way they came, but not before Tera could come up to Ariel¡¯s party and bow to them.


    ¡°Thank you for all the help you have given us. If Henry was alive he would have thought the same, without you we all could have died multiple times, so we are grateful. Also, you shouldn¡¯t blame yourself, if for some reason you are you should know that death is something all adventurers should be prepared for and it is something only the person in question can avoid.¡±


    The party let out their sighs and nodded, after this everyone made their good byes, Erna was especially sad because she and Camila became quite close, but soon enough they had to bring it to an end, and Robert with the adventurers eventually left the premise.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Ariel and the other, who were left the standing felt a bit out of place and decided to stop for the night. They went back a bit and looked for a place to camp just like they were taught. It took them a bit, but after some time they finally noticed a decent crevice and set up camp. No one really wanted to talk and the time went past solemnly until they all went to sleep.


    The next day, all of them felt a bit better from a good night¡¯s sleep. Brendon then, decided to ask the important question. ¡°Do we continue? These traps are extremely deadly and more difficult to deal with than simple monsters, not to mention that we don¡¯t even have someone experienced in this area.¡±


    The girls went into deep thought after hearing Brendon and stayed quite, Ariel however immediately spoke up. ¡°If we leave like this, then in the future this moment will be engraved into our mind and will become a thorn that will hamper our training.¡±


    His words broke everyone¡¯s absent mindedness and their face turned more serious. Ariel seeing this continued. ¡°So I think we should continue delving deeper, also, I actually have some experience with traps. Unfortunately I hadn¡¯t known we would encounter them here, or maybe I could have done something, but there is nothing we can do now.¡±


    Ariel in his previous life commonly had to work with all kinds of similar trap like devices, as well as sometimes make them himself, so he did know a bit about how to avoid them. The rest of the party felt a bit relieved after hearing what Ariel wanted to say, and trusted his decision.


    What is more, they knew about the problem Ariel spoke of, and actually didn¡¯t want to deal with it later on in their life. Due to these reasons they carried on exploring the dungeon after they were done with their further preparations.


    Thankfully the journey wasn¡¯t as treacherous as they expected it to be. Ariel was very careful, as now he was leading the party while walking at the front, he checked everything he thought was suspicious, and although most of the time it was nothing, but some of them were truly deadly traps. Because of such dedication another event like with Henry didn¡¯t happen, and so they moved on.


    Strangely, or maybe not, there weren¡¯t a lot of monsters here, only one or two lone goblins. It might be from all the traps, but no matter what, it was helpful for the four to get their teamwork back in a proper shape. While they were traveling with their short term comrades, they got used to a different formation, and now that they separated, Ariel¡¯s group had to get used to the old one.


    Time passed like this as they delved deeper into the dungeon. It was unknown how much time truly passed, but they had already rested a few times by now, when they reached a dead end. What they saw was merely stone wall, and although it seemed to be decorated a bit, it was still a dead end.


    Of course it is only one of the passages they found and all they needed to do was head back. However Sarah for some reason found the ornaments on the dead end wall a bit strange and decided to investigate them. Erna, who was ready to start going back and was a little frustrated, called out to Sarah. ¡°It is just a wall, we should get going, this is the fourth dead end that we found and it is stressing me out.¡±


    Sarah was slowly gliding her fingers over the wall as she heard Erna¡¯s words and replied. ¡°It just seems a bit different to the previous three, I will be done soon.¡± While Sarah continued what she was doing, Ariel was also staring at the dead end.


    He didn¡¯t know what it is, but some why he was feeling like there was something unusual about this wall. Several minutes passed just likes this. When Sarah had finished going through the lines on wall for the seventh time, she was finally was satisfied and called out to the group. ¡±I can¡¯t really make out anything from this, it is unfortunate, but we should move on.¡±


    Hearing her words Brendon and Erna, who were already quite tired from waiting happily jumped up from where they were sitting, ready to go. Only Ariel still kept his eyes on the wall and due to that he saw how, as Sarah began walking away from the wall, a tile beneath her foot pressed down and light started shining from it.


    His body instinctually moved as his mind immediately deduced that it was a trap. However, just when he managed to run up and hug Sarah to try to get her away from the spot, the floor and the dead end opened into a ramp going straight into complete darkness.


    All Ariel managed to do was to turn himself mid air to cushion Sarah¡¯s way down. From then on everything went by way too quickly. Both Ariel and Sarah disappeared in an instant, and before Erna and Brendon could do anything, the entrance closed.


    They of course ran up right after and tried to open the passage way, but nothing worked. Sweat began to run down Brendon¡¯s face and Erna screamed out. ¡°Ariel, Sarah!¡± Unfortunately only silence came after, and her voice echoed through the abysmal shadows of the dungeon.

 Chapter 57 - The cavern of the lake

    Ariel¡¯s and Sarah¡¯s slide down the slope through the darkness took only a couple seconds, until they could finally see some light. Unfortunately just as they left the tunnel, they realized that they are now falling downwards from several metes height.


    There was no time to use magic, so they landed on to the ground with a heavy thud. ¡±Aaa! Ugh!¡± Sarah thankfully didn¡¯t feel much of the impact due to Ariel, who was breaking her fall underneath her, but the man in question felt indescribable pain running down his back after the landing.


    To let Ariel get up Sarah immediately stood up and helped him stand while speaking to him. ¡°Maybe you should sit down instead and check if everything is alright. You might have broken a bone from that impact.¡± However Ariel wasn¡¯t quite pleased with the situation both of them are in, and although Sarah suggested him to rest a bit, he first quickly looked around them to find some cover.


    Luckily there were quite a lot of large rocks scattered around in this place, wherever this may be. After deciding on a place slightly far from their location Ariel quietly whispered to Sarah, bringing his mouth close enough to her to make her turn red from embarrassment. ¡°Please help me and go over there. I feel like finding cover is of most importance right now in case we are not alone here.¡±


    Sarah could only helplessly do as Ariel asked while still feeling a bit embarrassed from the close proximity. ¡°Okay.¡± Like this, they began heading towards the rock which was near one of this room¡¯s walls. It didn¡¯t take a lot of time for them to reach the destination and when they finally did, Ariel immediately slumped to the ground.


    Out of sight he felt a lot more relaxed and could finally pay some attention to his injury. Sarah, seeing Ariel relax at last, spoke. ¡°Let me check out your back to see the situation.¡± Since Ariel previously acted a bit rude with her, letting her check out his injury was the least he could do, so he complied.


    When Sarah got a look, she noticed that Ariel¡¯s entire back was red and a bit swollen. Thankfully there were no open wounds that she could see. Still, she wasn¡¯t knowledgeable in medicine and couldn¡¯t deduce if any bones were broken due the fall.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    What is even more regrettable is that none of the two could use any healing magic to heal his back just in case. Noticing this worried look on Sarah¡¯s face Ariel quickly took out a red healing potion, that he recently knowledgeable, out of his storage ring and immediately downed it.


    This action made Sarah a bit surprised, but soon a smile appeared on her face, as she saw the red on Ariel¡¯s back slowly disappearing. When it was completely gone, she turned to Ariel¡¯s face and spoke with a pout. ¡°You should have used it immediately from the start.¡±


    Ariel avoided her gaze and replied. ¡°There was not time, also these are quite expensive and I do not have many of them.¡± At his careless words Sarah narrowed her brows and scolded. ¡°Your health is still more important, so you shouldn¡¯t withhold on such incidents.¡±


    At her words Ariel obediently nodded, understanding that he wouldn¡¯t win if he dragged on this topic any longer. To break the awkwardness Ariel began paying more attention to the surroundings. Now that he gave it a better look, he noticed that they were sitting in a large, seemingly natural, cavern.


    Stalactites were hanging all over their heads and the opening in the ceiling which they had fallen down from could still be seen. Unfortunately as they were sliding down they saw the entrance they fell through close, so trying to get back up the same way is most likely impossible.


    After seeing that they can¡¯t do anything but move forward Ariel directed his gaze towards the inner part of the cavern behind the rocks. There he saw an underground pool of water which took up almost half of the cavern. Around which were all kinds of rocks, one of which they used for cover, however he didn¡¯t detect any life around them, only due to his eye was he able to recognize that they were still in the dungeon.


    The only possible exit Ariel saw was a tunnel at the far right of the cavern. However it is questionable if it is truly an exit, since if this is a trap then it is unlikely that the dungeon would make a way out for the intruders. Ariel understood this and immediately turned to look at Sarah.


    ¡°I think for now you should stay here while I go to check out that passageway.¡± Hearing Ariel¡¯s words Sarah quickly protested. ¡°Going there might be dangerous, we don not know what is inside there.¡± After letting out a long sigh Ariel responded. ¡°It is true that there might be danger, but I at least have some defensive spells that can buy be some time to escape, while your magic only does damage and doesn¡¯t have much other utility.¡±


    Sarah wanted to refute, but Ariel¡¯s resolute gaze shut her up and with a weak nod she agreed. Ariel¡¯s face then relaxed a bit and he spoke a bit softer. ¡°While I am gone stay behind this rock and be careful, that lake seems a bit suspicious to me.¡± Once again Sarah nodded, and after checking that everything was comfortable for her, Ariel started sneaking towards the tunnel.


    He circled the lake that had a unique feeling about, and after reaching the opening, entered it in hopes of finding a way out of this damned place.

 Chapter 58 - The remains

    Ariel has been walking through the tunnel connecting the lake cavern to something else for quite some time already. While he moved, he constantly made sure that there were no traps ahead. The previous two accidents with his companions which happened due to traps made him extremely wary of them.


    However all of this inspection slowed down Ariel by a lot. Thankfully he still managed to keep a decent walking speed, after a couple of minutes of travel he didn¡¯t find any traps or strangeness about the place and slowly relaxed. What he did notice tough, was that this passageway wasn¡¯t naturally constructed by nature, but crudely carved out by man, and it became more and more apparent the deeper he went into it.


    He finally saw the walls turning completely smooth and he found the end after he turned the corner to see a giant stone gate with a lot of scriptures engraved on it. Ariel stopped for a moment after witnessing this and then stepped closer towards this door, but every step of the way he made sure there was no danger.


    After another several minutes of ¡°exemplary¡± carefulness, he reached the door and immediately scanned over the inscribing on the gate with his eyes. From what he could discern with his extensive knowledge from reading, was that these were not just some random symbols done for decoration, but magic glyphs.


    From the crudeness and the ancientness of the place he could guess that it was at the very least few hundred years old. It was unknown if it was still in working condition as well as for what these glyphs were used for, so Ariel didn¡¯t try to recklessly open the gate.


    Instead he took a deep breath and closed his right eye, while opening his special vision. He immediately saw the enormous amount of Mana in the area, and while keeping his mind together directed his gaze towards the giant door.


    What he saw was actually quite different from what he had seen in the dungeons previously. Unlike the dungeon walls which were completely made out of Mana, this stone gate appeared to be made out of natural material that had Mana running through it instead.


    After noticing this point, Ariel stopped for a moment and instead of continuing to look at the gate swept his glace around his surroundings. He quickly understood that he wasn¡¯t in the dungeon anymore. The walls of the corridor barely had any Mana inside them, and even the little amount they did have, came from above.


    As he looked above Ariel saw the already familiar walls created out of pure Mana which were part of the dungeon. With this last piece of information he now could come to the conclusion that this place was under the dungeon, but not part of it.


    This meant that theoretically he and Sarah could dig out from under the dungeons if they wanted to try that. Unfortunately since Sarah¡¯s and Ariel¡¯s magic wasn¡¯t really meant for that, it was almost impossible to do in practice.Stolen story; please report.


    Letting out a sigh Ariel returned his gaze to the gate, although he didn¡¯t get much useful information about getting out of this place, it still had its merits. Ariel didn¡¯t know if the dungeon or the place behind the gate came into being first, but there still might be a way out of here through this entrance.


    While making sure that he wouldn¡¯t get too excited Ariel began carefully and slowly analyzing the gate to understand how to open it. Soon he figured out its peculiarities and a cold shiver went down his spine while continuing with his work. What he saw was a lot of lines, similar to a person¡¯s blood circulation pathways covering the gate with Mana constantly running through them.


    A normal person wouldn¡¯t understand this mechanism, but Ariel could barely remember something about this from the Academy¡¯s library. If he was correct, then this was a lock mechanism they used in more ancient times to keep out other people, it was even used by kings of that time. Unfortunately the knowledge of how to create such locks has long since been lost.


    The thing which unnerved Ariel was that now he could see that there were many magic sigils across the gate connected by the previously mentioned Mana, all of which will release powerful magic spells at the intruder it hey are triggered. Someone without Ariel¡¯s special vision or the ¡°key¡± needed to open this place would be quickly turned to dust.


    Thankfully all Ariel needed was time to figure out the entire system without really risking anything. Like that an entire hour passed, showing how difficult it was to crack the lock even with such advantages. Luckily this one hour was enough and just when he reached the end in the Mana maze, the gate rumbled.


    With a gust of dust and heavy sound the stone gate began to slowly open itself. Ancientness was practically steaming from this place, showing how long it has been since anyone entered here. As the gate was opening, Ariel could see some light on the other side, and thankfully due to it he didn¡¯t need to step inside to have a good look of the place in case of danger.


    As the gate opened, Ariel looked ahead and interest immediately appeared on his face, which was quickly changed by shock. Inside was not too spectacular, walls didn¡¯t have lighting and you couldn¡¯t really make out anything on them, while in the middle of the room there was just a pool which had a pathway across it towards a large bed at the center of it, the bed being the actually unusual thing here.


    After having a look at the entrance and not finding anything suspicious, Ariel started heading deeper into the room. Step by step he closed in on the pool and after reaching it continued walking down the, bridge like, pathway. Due to it being made out of pure stone he didn¡¯t feel that there was much danger of it collapsing, nor did he feel any movement he would from something like a rope bridge.


    When he reached the small platform with the bed on it he stopped and once again examined the surroundings. There were no unnatural sounds or sight of anything dangerous, but he couldn¡¯t help but feel weird about this situation.


    However that thought of his lasted only for a moment, after which he spread open the canopy of the giant bed to have a look inside. Surveying the interior he immediately noticed a conspicuous skeleton sitting on a bed in a meditative pose. Ariel stepped back a little from shock of this sight and only after carefully examining and making sure that this skeleton wasn¡¯t going to comeback to life did he come closer again.


    Without needing to worry about the dead bones anymore he scanned the rest of the bed and could see that not counting the skeleton there were two things there. One was a book looking similar to a journal and the other was a simple ring.


    Although there was nothing seemingly outstanding Ariel for some reason still felt like this was a great fortune. Having his doubts he once again looked at the dead remains to figure out the cause. Only then did he notice that the almost disintegrated clothes on its body were most likely really well made and luxurious in the past. Looking at them with his special vision he also saw that they could have possibly been enchanted.


    Even though it wasn¡¯t a very powerful to the point that it would stand the test of time, it was still impressive. What¡¯s more, it meant that whatever was left behind by this mysterious figure could be really precious, so without a second thought Ariel took the journal, and began reading it to find out a little more about his.


    He found that this was a diary of a powerful magician and as he continued reading it, some truths of the world started unveiling for him.

 Chapter 59 - Austins legacy

    To whoever finds this, I am most likely already dead, and you probably even saw my corpse when you found this journal of mine. If so, then you also have found my ring alongside this journal. It is my storage space that has everything I have ever collected and to open it you have to be at least at the King rank. However before you become too excited about this treasure trove, I want to ask you, even beg of you for something.


    If you had read this diary then you might have noticed that at my time there was darkness approaching the world threatening to devour it whole. I don¡¯t know how much time has passed, but if there are similar signs even now, or maybe they have already come to light, I plead you to try and stop it from happening.


    Of course I can¡¯t force you to do this and I don¡¯t want to make you risk your life for my own reasons. Nevertheless, I hope when the time come, you will do everything in your power to finish what I have started¡­


    This was the last page of the journal that belonged to the already deceased great mage Austin. From his diary Ariel found out his life¡¯s story and how he came to be as powerful as he was.


    Austin wasn¡¯t born in some noble house or even among the middle class. He grew up in a simple village as a normal peasant, and would have probably stayed there if he hadn¡¯t been found to be a mage. According to the journal, at the time Austin lived at mages were scarce and treated as important military assets, so all information about magic and mages themselves was strictly regulated.


    However even if that meant less freedom, this new gift opened a new door for Austin, he entered a special magic school where he studied all the needed things to fight in a war as a mage. Just like today, although one on one mages are a bit at a disadvantage against melee personnel, but behind a wall of bodies their destructive power is enormous, especially against the masses of regular soldiers.


    As Austin continued studying how to survive on the battlefield, he found out that the other young mages around him were always a step behind, only then did he understand that his talent in magic could be considered genius. With that realization his ambition began to slowly grow.


    Soon after, when his home country got split by a civil war, due to Austin¡¯s desire for freedom with no strings attached he chose to fake death and leave to travel the world after making sure that his parents were alright. From then on Ariel read many heroic tales and adventures Austin experienced over and over again during his travels.


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    Strangely, as Ariel was reading through this segmented journal, even tough a lot of Austin¡¯s simple life was left out Ariel still felt that the world in those times was being manipulated by an invisible hand. Austin seemed to have also noticed and he tried getting to the bottom of it.


    After a long struggle Austin found out that there was an organization that worshiped an evil being and wanted to revive him somehow operating on the human continent, to do that, for some reason they needed a lot of malice and death, his home county¡¯s destruction was actually their doing as well. Very soon Austin lost some of the people close to him due to the organization and began to fight them. The longer he continued to do this, the more determined he became to destroy them.


    Unfortunately in doing so he found less and less time to continue improving his power. Of course he did become stronger in many different ways, but his talent wasn¡¯t enough anymore to continue letting him improve in the field of magic with almost no effort.


    Because of that he stopped at the Emperor rank, that¡¯s right, Emperor. Another important thing Ariel found out from his journal was that the Emperor level wasn¡¯t the end of the road like he initially though, after it there was still Legendary, Divine, Demigod and the speculated God rank.


    Naturally, because reaching such heights was rare even back then, as years passed most of the people forgot such things. For Ariel however this was one of the most important pieces of information he had found. Back since he first came to this world he had many times thought about how or why or how he got reincarnated here, with his memories intact.


    Now that he knew how powerful he could get it made him feel that if he reached the end of the road, he would find out these secrets. Still, Ariel knew that even a thousand mile journey begins with a single step so he shouldn¡¯t be too hasty and first deal with the problem that Austin mentioned.


    The evil organization from the journal felt really similar to the church of black magic that recently has been stirring up problems around the continent. The chances it is the same organization are quite high, since they have similar operating conduct.


    Of course this was extremely bad news for everyone who is against such practices. What¡¯s more is that even an Emperor rank mage could only slow it down, not destroy it. This shows how deeply rooted they are and that right now Ariel didn¡¯t have what it takes to fight them.


    Casting a look at the sitting skeleton Ariel let out a sigh as he spoke towards it. ¡°We might have different reasons for why we stand against the same enemy, but since we are, I will see it through to the very last day until that organization becomes cinder.


    He paid his respects in the usual way of the Galath kingdom and then turned to look at the water of the lake, excitement visible all over his face. In his journal Austin mentioned that this wasn¡¯t some random water he placed for decoration before his death, but the Dragon Tear elixir.


    Ariel, while reading those words immediately recalled that Dragon Tear was an extremely rare concoction of the ancient times with its main ingredient being a tear of a dragon. This special elixir didn¡¯t influence your strength in a direct way, but it cleaned out your pathways of both martial energy and Mana.


    As long as your body is refined in this elixir your rate of improvement will skyrocket even if your natural talent wasn¡¯t that high before. Austin¡¯s last words mentioned that this belongs to whoever finds his inheritance. That is if they can use it, since this elixir has effect on your body only if you are less than 40 years old.


    Soon after examining the liquid Ariel took off his clothes and began getting into the pool without being polite. Because there was not enough for more than one person and according to the journal after the first entry this place will self destruct on leaving, so he couldn¡¯t go invite Sarah.


    Still, he felt that this will be extremely useful for him as he began his quiet refinement.