《Magicat》 Chapter 1: The Tale Begins Part 1: It is a peaceful day in the middle of a certain forest. In this forest there is a colony of cats living together. Suddenly there is a large explosion that blows away most of the cats, killing them indiscriminately. There are two young men walking through with vicious smiles on their faces as if relishing the destruction. Man 1: ¡°Hahaha, brother you were right! this is the perfect place to practice our magic hahaha.¡± Man 2: ¡°Right? The feelin of burning and crushing these dirty things feels great! hahaha!¡± Off to the side, there is a striped gray tabby cat that is watching as his home is destroyed. Cat: [sigh. I suppose that this is as long as I can stay here. I suppose I should leave here now. I don¡¯t feel much attachment to this place either.] He walks away from the burning ruins of his past home. Cat: [I wonder where I should go¡­ I have nowhere to go now. Perhaps I should go to the rumored city that many of cats past have left to go to.] He contemplates his possible paths. Cat: [Yep, yep let¡¯s do that then.] Cat: [I never thought that such misfortune would happen even in my new life¡­ That damned truck driver that ran me over while I was walking to the supermarket to buy some food last time and now my new home has been burnt.] As he walks, he happens upon a small house with a garden and a picket fence outside. There is a woman watering the plants with a floating watering can. She has long, light blue silk like hair falling down her back almost to her waist, and has a face that would be considered quite beautiful by human standards. Cat: [Maybe I should try asking for some food from this woman?] ¡°Meoow meow meow!¡± Woman: ¡°Hm? what is it little cat?¡± Cat: ¡°Meow meow.¡± Woman: ¡°Perhaps you are hungry? Do you want some food? I only have some fish that I caught though.¡± Cat: ¡°Meow *nod nod*¡± Woman: ¡°haha. It seems like you can understand me? It¡¯s probably just me though. Come on in little cat.¡± The woman turns around and opens the door, welcoming the cat into the house and the cat follows. The house is neat and tidy inside and seems to consist of a kitchen a living room and a single bedroom. Woman: ¡°Now then what might be wrong I wonder. The only reason that there would be a cat here would be if it was adventure season where the cat colony to the north sends cats out to let them see a bit of the world, but it isn¡¯t that time of year yet and you are certainly too young to undergo the adventure.¡± Cat: ¡°Meow meow meo mea meow¡± ¡°Well, the colony is gone now ya know.¡± Woman: ¡°Hm. Well it¡¯s not as if I can understand cat speak. Hmm.¡± *Claps hands together* ¡°Ohh why don¡¯t I just keep you? How do you like that idea? Cat: ¡°Meow Mee Meow ya.¡± ¡°Not like I have anywhere else to go¡­ fine.¡± *nod nod* Woman: ¡°Great! you can sleep in this apple basket then. Have a pillow too.¡± The woman places an apple basket with a pillow inside of it in a corner. Cat: ¡°Meow mew¡± ¡°I¡¯ll just sleep here then. Good night.¡± The cat yawns widely turns a few times then falls asleep on the pillow as the woman watches over him. Part 2: Cat: ¡°Mrrw?¡± ¡°Hm? this feels good, I wonder what it is?¡± The cat wakes up to find that something is making him feel very, very good. ¡°Purr, Purr.¡± ¡°Ohhh yes. That is very nice. Right there. Mmmm.¡± The cat finally opens his eyes to find the woman laughing creepily while touching him as her fingers make strange movements. [There is some kind of suspicious aura¡­ I should back away¡­] *scooch. scooch.¡± Woman: ¡°Oh? you woke up now?¡± The aura quickly disappears as she flashes an angelic smile. ¡°Did you sleep well?¡± Cat: [Was I just imagining things?] ¡°Meow mew mea.¡± ¡°Yes, I slept well¡± Woman: ¡°Hm, Hm. Seems like you slept well.¡± The woman nods a few times. ¡°Do you want to eat?¡± Cat: ¡°Yes! Yes! I want! I want!¡± ¡°Mea, Mea, Meo, Meo!¡± The cat had not eaten since his escape after all and despite the offer from the Woman the day before, they had forgotten about the issue completely. Well, the cat was also too tired after seeing the place he lived in burn to the ground. Woman: ¡°Good, you seem quite energetic so here ya go.¡± The Woman sets down a plate with a fish on it. Cat: [It looks like one of those cartoon fish¡­] The cat shrugs and proceeds to eat the fish. Only leaving the fish bone. Woman: ¡°Good it seems like you have an appetite.¡± The woman smiles as she watches the cat down the fish. ¡°Now then, what should I call you? Do you have a name?¡± Cat: ¡°Mea, Meow.¡± ¡°We as cats do not receive names we tell each other apart by scent.¡± The cat shakes his head from side to side. Woman: ¡°Hmmm. I guess we can call you Yen then. Seeing as you don¡¯t seem to have anything else to go by. Do you like it?¡± The woman looks at Yen inquisitively. Yen: ¡°Meow meow.¡± ¡°That sounds good¡± [I wonder what she is called.] Laia: ¡°You can call me Laia then! I am a local mage for the village near to us.¡± The woman makes a twirl fluttering her one piece dress while introducing herself. Yen: [That was¡­ quite interesting¡­] *nod nod* Laia: ¡°Good good. Now then¡­ Let. Me. Pet. You. Mehehehehehehe.¡± Laia starts to emit a strange aura again and approaches Yen step by step and then she pounces onto Yen. -Chaos Ensues- A half hour or so later a tired Yen is sitting in the lap of Laia getting pet in the middle of a battlefield that was once the innards of a magnificent, peaceful house. Yen: ¡°You¡­ You are quite good at this¡± ¡°Me.. Meaaa¡± Yen is enjoying the petting greatly while purring softly despite the strange aura that was encroaching on him a few moments ago. Laia: ¡°Ufufufu. You seem to be enjoying yourself under my practiced hands. I have pet thousands of cats in my journeys as an adventurer and have acquired countless amounts of experience in petting.¡± The woman¡¯s hands seem almost ethereal as they massage Yen. He willingly gives his body to her soft, capable hands and proceeds to fall into a light sleep. Part 3: It is now the next morning. Yen wakes up while stretching with large movements. Arching his back then lowering it to the ground. Yen: [Mmm that was quite nice. Hm? What is Laia doing?] ¡°Myaa mya?¡± ¡°whatcha doing?¡± Laia: ¡°Oh Yen you are up now. I¡¯m going to go on some chores in the village I¡¯ll be back soon okay? There is some fish on that plate over there if you are hungry.¡± Yen: ¡°Meowsh¡± ¡°Okay I¡¯ll wait for you¡± Laia: ¡°Bye Bye~~ <3¡± Yen seems to have a pleasant look on his face as he turns around and ponders what he should do for the day. Yen: [Hmm I wonder what I should do while she is gone. I have seen some of the writing and it seems that I can understand it strangely. Okay! I¡¯m going to read random books!] Yen looks around at the various bookshelves that are arranged neatly on one wall and one book catches his eyes. Yen: [Oh? Is this a magic book? Introduction to Elementary Elements of Magic huh¡­. talk about repetition.] Yen swiftly positioned a pillow below the bookshelf, jumped onto the shelf, lightly bit down on the spine of the book, and dragged it off of the bookshelf so that it fell on the pillow with a slight flop. Yen: [Gotta respect books after all.] Yen then leaps off of the bookshelf and opens the book with his mouth. Yen: [Hmm so¡­ ] ¨CMagic is an effect brought about by the usage of mana mixed with imagination. There are a large amount of elements but this book only goes over the basic ones. The basic elements are: fire, water, earth, wind, light, and dark.¨C Yen: [So the elements are basic fantasy elements huh. What else is there in this book?] ¨CTo see if you have magical capacity please breathe in and breathe out and repeat as you relax in a nature filled area. While you do so please attempt to sense the mana that flows in the environment. There are many ways to perceive mana. Some see it as strands floating in the air while some see it as flowing liquid. The look of the mana DOES NOT affect aptitude.¨C This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Yen: [So in and out and in and out. Hmmm Hrrm Hrrgrgrgr Mugrgrrgr Myaaaa!] Suddenly the air around him exploded into a large assortment of iridescent, floating, dandelion fluff, causing Yen to jump in surprise Yen: ¡°Me Myaaa!¡± [Holy crap that scared me!] Then he heard the door open and saw Laia enter the house. Laia: ¡°I¡¯m hooome Yen!¡± She bursts in and immediately spots Yen. Laia: ¡°Muhuhuhu let me cuddle you!¡± She jumps at Yen, picks him up, and begins to rub him against her face. Yen: [It¡¯s not like I don¡¯t enjoy this¡­ but it feels like my chastity is in danger even though its not¡­ Oh! I know! Why don¡¯t I try out some magic Hrm¡­ Imagination and mana¡­] ¡°Myaa!¡± ¡°Water ball!¡± Suddenly two light blue fluffs float into his body and a slightly darker blue energy flows out and forms a ball of water that drops down onto their heads and thoroughly douses them. Laia: ¡°Pwahhh did you just use magic?!¡± Yen: ¡°Pyeeh Pyeh Peh Myohohohoho Myaa mea.¡± ¡°Hehehe yes look at me and revel at my greatness.¡± Laia: ¡°Oh my! Oh my! That is so great! Now we can take a bath together and I can cuddle you in the tub! Hehehehe¡± Yen [Wait wait wait! that wasn¡¯t the reaction I was looking for!] ¡°Myooooooooo!¡± Yen howls in despair as a smiling Laia carries him into the bathroom to his doom. Part 4: Laia walks out of the restroom with an extremely content expression on her face. So content in fact that it was as if she had donned a sparkling aura. Laia: ¡°Ahhh that was refreshing. Don¡¯t you think so as well Yen?¡± Laia looks behind her towards the door of the restroom where Yen slowly walks out. Contrary to Laia¡¯s refreshed expression Yen looked as if he had aged a few cat years. He had bags under his eyes and had an aura of defeat shrouding him like a mantle. Yen: [Never again. Never again. Never again.] ¡°Me-Meaa¡­¡± ¡°Ri-Righht¡­ definitely¡­ definitely¡­¡± Laia: ¡°Ufufufu. Here have some milk.¡± Yen: ¡°Meow.¡± ¡°Thanks¡± Yen takes a few licks of the milk then begins thoroughly enjoying life after surviving his grand ordeal of the bathtub. Yen: [It seems that contrary to my old world this world¡¯s cats did not evolve lactose intolerance. That is very nice.] Yen licked at the plate of milk till there was not a single drop left inside of it. This was when Laia walked into the room with a silver necklace. Laia: ¡°Hmmm let¡¯s try this now.¡± Laia gently places the necklace around Yen¡¯s neck. The necklace automatically adjusted itself around his neck with a few clicking sounds followed by the chains receding into the center piece. Yen: ¡°Meaya?¡± ¡°What is this? It is kind of pretty.¡± Laia: ¡°Now I can check what your status is. Isn¡¯t that great?¡± Yen: [Status? Like how healthy I am?] Laia reaches over to the necklace and a few puffs of mana flow into the necklace. Despite her usage of mana though, the mana around them was completely undisturbed. After this procedure is completed the necklace started shining blue and the previously inserted mana flowed out and formed a blue screen in front of them. Yen: [Wooow.] ¡°Me Meo?¡± ¡°What is this?¡± Laia: ¡°Oh you are wondering what I just did? I inserted some of my mana into the necklace and this prompts the magic inscribed on the necklace to form a status screen of the wearer. Most mages can block others from accessing it by forming a thin mana barrier around it. Now let¡¯s see what your status is like. ¡ª¡ªYen¡ª¡ª -Status- Level: 1 Health Points: 100/100 Mana Points: 0/0 Strength: 10 Intelligence: 15 Endurance: 20 Mind: 10 Dexterity: 20 -Skills- Language Interpretation- understands all languages and can speak all languages that the race¡¯s vocal chords allow for. Mana Perception- Can see mana Mana Conversion- Can take mana from environment and convert it to a spell directly. Mana points are eternally 0. Also means that you have no specific element that you are better at you just need enough environmental mana to sustain your spells. Magic- Can use imagination and mana to form spells -Titles- Laia¡¯s Plushie- You have resigned yourself to being a hug toy for Laia- gives a permanent rise of 10 endurance points. -Race Bonus- +10 dexterity due to extremely flexible body Dexterity, Intelligence, and Strength increases more easily Laia: ¡°Oho. You have quite some interesting stats there I can¡¯t see your titles though. It is quite interesting that you have no internal mana though.¡± Yen: [¡­what is this¡­ this title¡­ It is a good thing that I hid it immediately when it came out.] Yen heaves a deep sigh due to the unusual title that the gods have gifted upon him. Laia: ¡°Hm? why are you sighing? Well it¡¯s no matter. I want to talk to you though¡­ Hmmm Oh! why don¡¯t you become my familiar? That way you can talk to me and I will understand it!¡± Yen: [That seems to be one of my better choices. Being able to communicate with someone would be nice. Also I trust Laia a lot. Hmmm not like I would do anything else¡­ fine lets do it] Yen nods to Laia to signal that he was okay with becoming her familiar. Laia: ¡°Great! Now we just have to perform the contract. Let¡¯s see¡­ Voila!¡± Laia places her hands on a sheet of paper and performs magic. Glowing blue words appear on the paper stating a that Yen would henceforth become Laia¡¯s familiar. Laia: ¡°Okay! Now you just need to inject a bit of mana into it!¡± Yen: ¡°Mea.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Yen gathers a few balls of mana from the surroundings and injects them into the paper after they passed through his body. The Contract shines gold and disappears into nothingness. *ping ping*-You have gained the title Laia¡¯s eternal plushie. Your dedication to Laia as her plushie has bestowed upon you a raise! You now get 15 permanent Endurance points as well as +5 to all other stats if you use this title as your visible title. Yen: [f*ck] Laia: ¡°There! The deed is done!¡± Yen: ¡°Okay can you understand me now nya?¡± Laia: ¡°Yep yep. I hear you loud and clear now!¡± Yen: ¡°Hmm well take care of me from nyow on.¡± Laia: ¡°Mhm me too.¡± Laia suddenly yawns. Laia: ¡°That exhausted my mana just now. I¡¯m going to sleep to recover it.¡± Laia quickly picks up Yen and drags him to the bed with her. She then falls asleep while hugging Yen to her face. Yen: [Oh well I might as well sleep like this.] *Ping ping*-Thanks to your dedication to Laia rising even higher, your title has been upgraded to include a +2 to endurance. You now gain a bonus of +17 to endurance and +5 to all other stats! Congratulations! You are now the Eternal Loving Plushie of Laia. *Ping ping*- The title, Eternal Loving Plushie of Laia is now your permanent title there is no way to change this! Congratulations! Yen: [F*uck] ¡ª¡ªYen¡ª¡ª -Status- Level: 1 Health Points: 100/100 Mana Points: 0/0 Strength: 15 Intelligence: 20 Endurance: 27 Mind: 15 Dexterity: 25 -Skills- Language Interpretation- understands all languages and can speak all languages that the race¡¯s vocal chords allow for. Mana Perception- Can see mana Mana Conversion- Can take mana from environment and convert it to a spell directly. Mana points are eternally 0. Also means that you have no specific element that you are better at you just need enough environmental mana to sustain your spells. Magic- Can use imagination and mana to form spells -Titles- Eternal Loving Plushie of Laia- You have resigned yourself to being an ETERNAL hug toy for Laia through your dedication and love to her- gives a permanent rise of 17 endurance points. Gives +5 to all other stats if equipped. -Race Bonus- +10 dexterity due to extremely flexible body Dexterity, Intelligence, and Strength increases more easily Chapter 2: A New Companion Author''s Note. So here is the next chapter. Chapters are only going to be weekly while I have chapters stocked. (Like 7 Chapters) :P so yeah. Enjoy! Part 1 Yen wakes up slowly. As the light flows into his now opened eyes he finds that he can¡¯t move himself at all.He looks over at Laia¡¯s face and sees an extremely content expression on her face. Though the expression is content it is borderline perverse. Yen: [Uuu. I am trapped. Laia please wake up and correct your expression soon. It is creeping me out and I feel uncomfortable.] ¡°Laiaaaaa~~ Nyaa~~~ Wake Up.¡± Laia slowly stirs and hugs Yen to the point of suffocation then opens her eyes and looks over at Yen in her arms. Laia: ¡°Good morning Yen. Did you sleep well?¡± Yen: ¡°Yes *cough* I slept well. Is your mana replenyished?¡± Laia: ¡°Yes it is fully replenished. Usually one night¡¯s good sleep is enough for most people though some people with less affinity for magic will take a while longer.¡± Yen: ¡°That is goodnya. So¡­ what are we going to do today?¡± Laia ponders for a few seconds and the claps her hands together cutely as she smiles at Yen. Laia: ¡°How about we go to the village? You haven¡¯t been there before after all. In the meanwhile you can see what I do for a living in the village.¡± Yen: ¡°That sounds goodnya. I am curious as to what happens outside of this house too.¡± Laia: ¡°That settles it then. Now. What do you want for breakfast?¡± Yen: ¡°Anything is good. Everything that you have given me so far is delicious so I trust your judgement.¡± Laia: ¡°Okay then. How about some fish for the both of us along with some milk and eggs? That sound good?¡± Yen: ¡°Yes!¡± Laia goes to the kitchen counter and starts preparing the breakfast while Yen sits on a wooden chair at the table. Yen stares at Laia in anticipation. Once Laia has finished the preparations she sets the table and sits down across from Yen. They both begin to dig in. Yen: ¡°What do you normally do in the village Laia?¡± Laia: ¡°Well I usually do odd jobs like healing minor injuries, killing wild beasts, or generally helping the village.¡± Yen: ¡°Hm hm. That seems interesting. I¡¯ll look forward to seeing the town as well. Yen and Laia finish up their breakfasts and prepare to leave for the town. Laia takes a straw hat with a blue ribbon wrapped around it. Yen looks up at Laia. Yen: [Hmm that looks like it would be a nice place to sit¡­] Laia: ¡°Hm? Do you want to sit on my shoulder?¡± Yen: ¡°Yes please!¡± Laia: ¡°Alright! Up you go!¡± Laia hoists Yen up to her shoulder and Yen perches upon it and looks down at the ground. Yen: ¡°This is quite enjoyable nya.¡± Laia: ¡°Make sure you massage my shoulders for me when we get home okay?¡± Yen: [Seems like a good trade. I think that she would just hug me before I can finish the massage though.] ¡°Okaaay.¡± Laia: ¡°Good now lets get going! Onwards!¡± Yen: ¡°Oooh!¡± Yen and Laia burst out of the door and move down the dirt path leading to town. Yen is excited and Laia seems to be enjoying the hug toy on her shoulder. Part 2 Yen sits on Laia¡¯s shoulder enjoying the breeze as well as the view from up high. They have already arrived at the village. It is a small village. There is a shop that sells all base needs for the village. There are no specialized shops for weapons or armor but there are a few stalls selling food and little doodads sprinkled sporadically along the main street. Yen: ¡°This is quite a nyice village isn¡¯t it?¡± Laia: ¡°Yes, the villagers have put a large amount of work into bettering the village.¡± Yen: ¡°So where nyare we going?¡± Laia: ¡°We are going to the doctor¡¯s house to help out with some of his patients. There is always someone there as there are many monsters in the forest where the villagers hunt.¡± Yen: ¡°Heeh¡± [I didn¡¯t encounter a single one on my way here though¡­] Laia: ¡°We have arrived at the doctor¡¯s.¡± Yen and Laia stop in front of a small brick house. It has a slanted roof and faint moans can be heard emanating from within. Yen: ¡°That is kind of creepy nya¡­¡± Laia: ¡°You get used to it eventually.¡± Laia shrugs as she enters into the dimly lit insides. There are curtains covering the windows. Suddenly there is a shifting noise coming from a pile of papers and a man with dead fish eyes slowly rises. Yen: ¡°IT¡¯S A ZOMBIE! HISSSSS¡± Laia: ¡°Oh shush you.¡± Laia looks over at the dead eyes man. Laia: ¡°You should really stop sleeping like that Dr. Seine¡± Yen: [This guy¡¯s a doctor? He looks like he¡¯s one of the patients¡­] Dr. Seine: ¡°Oh is that you Laia? There isn¡¯t really a patient today but please make yourself comfortable. I see you have a new friend there.¡± Laia: ¡°Yes this is my new plu- *cough* familiar, Yen.¡± Yen: [You definitely almost said plushee¡­] Dr. Seine: ¡°I see I see. Do you want something to drink?¡± Laia politely declines with a slightly stiff smile. Dr. Seine: ¡°Hmm your loss.¡± Dr. Seine takes out a mug filled with a strange purple substance and starts sipping on it. Yen: [Pretty sure something is still alive in there¡­] Dr. Seine: ¡°So¡­ do you want to¡­ go out for dinner later or something?¡± Laia: ¡°No¡­ thank you for the offer but I don¡¯t think so.¡± Dr. Seine: ¡°¡­okay¡­¡± Yen: ¡°History?¡± Laia nods to Yen. Laia: ¡°I still have some business to talk about with Dr. Seine. If you want to go explore on your own that would be okay.¡± Dr. Seine starts shivering. Yen: [Is he cold?] ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll take my leave for now then.¡± Yen takes a slight bow and exits the dreary house, leaving Laia and the Doctor to their conversation. Small explosions can be heard from within the house. Part 3 Yen walks down the main street that runs through the town and views the various people that walk by him. He sees a fried fish vendor and walks towards it. Yen: ¡°Meowa¡± ¡°One fish please¡± Yen paws some copper out of a pouch that is usually around his neck but is on the ground at the moment and places them onto the vendor¡¯s table using his amazing neck strength. The vendor looks at Yen dubiously. Fish Vendor: ¡°Do ya want a fish? Yer Laia¡¯s cat that she was walking around with huh.¡± Yen nods a few times and looks up at the vendor. Fish Vendor: ¡°Well heres a fish fer ya.¡± The vendor holds out a fish and yen holds it in his mouth and walks away. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.Fish Vendor: ¡°What a strange cat¡­¡± Yen continues to explore the small town and happens to go down a slightly shady alley. Yen: [What do I do now¡­ I don¡¯t quite know where I am¡­ ahh who cares I¡¯ll just wander back while following my scent.] Yen keeps walking down the alley and stumbles on two creepy men holding a moving bag. Sketchy 1: ¡°Hehehe we gon mek bik bucs today hehehe.¡± Sketchy 2: ¡°Ye ye hehehe.¡± Yen: [Wonder what they are doing holding that bag. Is there an animal inside?] Baggy: ¡°Mpff ff muff mf mm!¡± Sketchy 1: ¡°Oi! quet don in ther.¡± Sketchy 2: ¡°Ye ye we gon sell ya so wes can¡¯t injur ya tu much.¡± The men give the bag a few punches and it stops moving. Yen: [Hmm that doesn¡¯t seem like its just an animal. Should I do something about this? But what?] Yen thinks for a few moments and then he smiles as if he thought of something fun. Yen: ¡°Nya.¡± ¡°Hide.¡± Yen absorbs a black puff of mana and his silhouette begins to disappear. Yen: [Seems like it worked out well. I probably shouldn¡¯t talk or do anything to give myself away though.] Yen stealthily follows the two sketchy men and thinks about what he should do to save the person in the bag. Yen: [Ahh screw it!] ¡°Mya Mya!¡± ¡°Lightning shock!¡± Yen¡¯s hide spell wears off and he absorbs two fizzy puffs of mana. This mana is expelled as two strands of electricity that quickly hit the necks of the two sketchy men. The two men immediately fall face down on the ground and start having seizures. Eventually the eyes of the two men roll up though they are still breathing. Yen quickly approaches the bag and undoes the knot at the mouth of it. Yen: [Quickly Quickly.] Yen peers into the bag only to see two eyes looking back at him. Those two eyes turn out to belong to a little girl with two cat ears and a tail. Girl: ¡°Kitty!¡± The girl crawls out of the bag and picks Yen up. Yen: ¡°Mya Mya!¡± ¡°We need to go!¡± Girl: ¡°Hm? We have to go? Where should we go Mr. Kitty?¡± Yen: ¡°You can understand me?¡± Girl: ¡°Yep.¡± Yen: ¡°Ahhh whatever let¡¯s go that way!¡± The girl grins at Yen and starts to run away from the two sketchy men. Yen is pointing out where to go despite still being confused as to why she can understand him. The two eventually make it out onto the main street where people can see them again. Part 4 The cat-eared girl is looking around the street gleefully despite having sprinted down an alley for a few minutes. Girl: ¡°Mr. Kitty! Mr. Kitty! Where are we going to go now?¡± The two suddenly hear a low growl. Yen looks up at the girl. The girl looks at her stomach and looks at Yen pleadingly. Yen: ¡°Hmm why don¡¯t we go over there then? You look like you might be hungry.¡± Yen points toward the fish vendor that he had previously visited. Girl: ¡°Okay!¡± The two walk to the fish vendor and the vendor looks at Yen then he looks at the girl in surprise. Fish Vendor: ¡°Hey hey hey. Where did you find this cat girl?¡± The fish vendor asks Yen with slight panic. Yen simply looks up at the vendor and places enough copper for three fried fish on the table. Fish Vendor: *Sigh* ¡°Fine fine. Here¡¯s three fish fer ya two. Take it.¡± The girl takes two of the fish skewers and Yen takes another. The two start walking where Yen finds Laia¡¯s scent. The girl has already finished 1 of the fishes and is started on the second. Yen: [Oi how hungry can you be?] ¡°Let¡¯s go see my master then.¡± The girl looks at Yen with her head tilted to the side for a moment. Girl: ¡°Okay!¡± The two continue walking until they reach the house where strange sound come out of. The girl looks at the house inquisitively. Girl: ¡°Hey Mr. Cat is this place a ghost house?¡± Yen: ¡°I don¡¯t really know either but my master should still be inside of it.¡± Girl: ¡°Muu? Okay?¡± The two enter the house. Yen: ¡°Laaaiaaaaaa!¡± Yen waits for a response from Laia and sits down in the middle of the hall. Girl: ¡°Hey Mr. Cat what is that shadow in the cieling?¡± Yen: [Don¡¯t look Don¡¯t look Don¡¯t look] ¡°Probably nothing just ignore it.¡± Yen feels cold sweat despite the fact that cats cannot really sweat. This is when footsteps come from down the hall. Yen: [It is probably Laia it is probably Laia.] Laia walks out from the shadows and looks at Yen. Yen: [Phew] Laia: ¡°Did you have fun Yen? Who is this that you brought with you?¡± Yen: ¡°I found her getting dragged around by two sketchy people.¡± Yen explains what happened while out in the city. Laia: ¡°Hmm okay. We¡¯ll keep her!¡± Yen: [Probably because she looks like a cat¡­] Suddenly Yen realizes something. Yen: ¡°Hey Laia where is the doctor?¡± Laia: ¡°Oh him? He overworked himself a bit too much and needs some rest.¡± Yen: [There were no customers though] ¡°O-oh okay.¡± [Just go with it Yen just ignore the break in logic] While they are having this conversation the girl is playing with some strange censored red mass in the corner of the room there seems to be some white mixed in. Laia: ¡°Hmm girl you shouldn¡¯t play with that thing. If you do you might catch the Do- its disease. Yen: [Ignore it Yen] ¡°Hey what is your name? I¡¯m Yen and this is my master Laia.¡± Girl: ¡°I don¡¯t have a name Mr. Ca- Yen.¡± Laia: ¡°She understands you?¡± Yen: ¡°Hm? Yeah it was pretty surprising.¡± Laia: ¡°Hmm that is interesting. Well we can investigate that later. How about we call her¡­ Plush-¡± Yen: [Oh no you don¡¯t!] ¡°Ailith. Let¡¯s name her Ailith.¡± Laia looks at Yen angrily and pouts. The girl, now Ailith, looks at Yen happily. Ailith: ¡°Okay Mr. Yen!¡± Laia: *Sigh* ¡°Well now that it¡¯s decided lets go back to the cabin as I have finished all I needed to do today.¡± Yen: ¡°Okay. Come along now Ailith.¡± Ailith: ¡°Call me Ai.¡± Ailith looks at Yen and pouts. Yen: ¡°Okay Ai. Come we are going home now.¡± Ai: ¡°Okay!¡± Ai picks up Yen in her arms and the three exit the dark home, leaving the mass of red and white in the corner. They walk away despite the small call for help that can be faintly heard from the red mass. Chapter 3: A Dream Author''s Note: As stated I am very slow. Thank you for your consideration. Part 1 Yen, Ai, and Laia arrive at the house and are currently standing outside. Ai is looking around excitedly. Yen: ¡°This is your new home Ai. This is where you will live from now on.¡± Ai: ¡°Ohhhh!¡± Laia: ¡°Let¡¯s go inside then it is approaching dinner time now and I¡¯m sure Ai is still hungry after eating two fish.¡± The three of them enter the house and Laia removes her outside clothes and hat and places them on the hat stand near the door. Laia: ¡°So what should we eat? We still have some fish that I can cook and there are enough ingredients to make a nice soup. Yeah we¡¯ll go with that.¡± Laia begins preparations while Yen and Ai sit on chairs at the dinner table.Yen starts questioning Ai about what happened to her. Yen: ¡°So how did you end up in a bag?¡± Ai: ¡°Umm I only remember waking up in the forest and wandering into the town where two men said they could give me some fish¡­.¡± Yen: ¡°So nothing else? You don¡¯t know where you were before then?¡± Ai: ¡°Noope!¡± Yen: [Amnesia? But how did she end up in the forest?] As Yen was brooding about Ai¡¯s circumstances Laia had finished cooking and setting the table. Laia: ¡°What are you thinking about now Yen?¡± Yen tells Laia Ai¡¯s circumstances. Laia: ¡°Hmm amnesiacs aren¡¯t uncommon in this world. There are many times where some future hero or heroine wakes up somewhere without any idea of who they are.¡± Yen: [So summoned hero perhaps? Ah who cares we will know eventually I¡¯m sure.] ¡°Laia do you still have any of the status necklaces?¡± Laia: ¡°Do you want to give one to Ai?¡± Yen: ¡°Yeah I was thinking maybe we could find out more if we looked at her status.¡± Laia: ¡°Okay I¡¯ll go find one of my extras after dinner.¡± Yen: ¡°Okay.¡± Ai: ¡°???¡± Despite Ai¡¯s confusion, the three begin to eat dinner. Yen is eating and happens to look over at Ai for a moment. Ai is already completely finished with her soup and fish and is patting her belly satisfiedly. Yen: [How¡­] The three finish their dinners and Laia disappears to who knows where and returns with a sliver necklace. Laia puts the necklace on Ai¡¯s neck and injects some mana into it just like how she did it with Yen in the past. Yet again a blue screen apears in mid air showing some stats. ¡ª¡ªAilith¡ª¡ª -Status- Level: 1 Health Points: 200/200 Mana Points: 50/50 Strength: 25 Intelligence: 7 Endurance: 25 Mind: 7 Dexterity: 10 -Skills- Heroic Teachings- past heroes will tutor you when you reach a certain point in strength. Defense Aura- Will double Endurance when active ¡°Try Piercing through this shield hahaha¡±.-1 hour duration. Strength Augmentation- Increases physical prowess by a slight amount ¡°Ha my strength is increasing!¡±.-3 hour duration. Light magic- Can control the elements of light to use light magic. Bling bling. Water Magic- Can control the elements of water to use water magic. Drip drip. -Titles- Reincarnated Hero of the Vanguard- The hero of the vanguard has been reincarnated. HUZZAH! Provides increased base Strength, Endurance, and HP. (Also not the brightest) (Cannot Be Hidden) -Race Bonus- Increased growth in HP, Strength, and Endurance but decreases growth of MP, Intelligence, and Mind. Yen: [Wooow a hero huh. What the frup is up with those quotes and sound effects though¡­] Laia: ¡°Hehe so you¡¯re a little hero huh?¡± Ai: ¡°Hmmm?¡± Yen is thinking about the absurdity of it all while Laia looks at Ai proudly. Ai is just confused. Part 2 Laia: ¡°I know!¡± Yen: [Know what?] Laia: ¡°You can be my daughter from now on! I¡¯ll hug you and kiss you and shower you in love!¡± Yen: [You do that to plushees too¡­] Ai: ¡°Okay?¡± Laia: ¡°Yaay!¡± Laia begins shiver with joy and rushes up to Ai for hugs. Ai is slightly disturbed at first but quickly smiles and hugs Laia back. Ai then falls asleep just like that. Laia: ¡°Oh. Perfect. Now I can hug her in bed without any unnecessary movements.¡± Yen: [May god bless you in the next life comrade.] Yen bows his head down and sends a silent prayer to whatever god or gods in honor of Ai¡¯s sacrifice. Laia: ¡°Oh! I almost forgot about you Yen!¡± Laia picks Yen up with nary an effort and brings both Yen and Ai to her bed to cuddle with. Yen: [Whatever its warm in the bed. Yeah I definitely have not given up its just that the bed is comfy.] The three fall asleep in the bed and quickly sink into dreamland. However, before that happens Yen seems to hear a small ping. ~Dreamland~ Yen is standing in what seems to be a field. There is a small wooden sign in front of him. Yen: ¡°Welcome to Dreamland¡­. This is quite strange.¡± Yen looks around him briefly and when he turns back to the sign there is a table and two chairs in front of him. One of the chairs holds a presumably buff man in a suit of shining silver and gold heavy armor. Yen: ¡°Who are you?¡± Buff guy: ¡°I am the memory of the soul of the Hero of the Vanguard. Welcome to Dreamland this is where the reincarnated heroes learn their heroic skills.¡± Yen: ¡°And what might I be doing here?¡± Buff Hero: ¡°I called you here to help me form a connection with the new hero. You should have gotten a skill called ¡®Dream Travel¡¯ before you fell asleep.¡± Yen thinks for a moment then pushes some mana into his necklace. The status screen appears with a small jingle. ¡ª¡ªYen¡ª¡ª -Status- Level: 2 Health Points: 110/110 Mana Points: 0/0 Strength: 16 Intelligence: 23 Endurance: 28 Mind: 17 Dexterity: 26 -Skills- Language Interpretation- understands all languages and can speak all languages that the race¡¯s vocal chords allow for. Mana Perception- Can see mana Mana Conversion- Can take mana from environment and convert it to a spell directly. Mana points are eternally 0. Also means that you have no specific element that you are better at you just need enough environmental mana to sustain your spells. Magic- Can use imagination and mana to form spells Dream Travel- Can travel through the dreams of others and bring them to your dream. Only able to do so when asleep. -Titles- Eternal Loving Plushie of Laia- You have resigned yourself to being an ETERNAL hug toy for Laia through your dedication and love to her- gives a permanent rise of 17 endurance points. Gives +5 to all other stats if equipped. -Race Bonus- +10 dexterity due to extremely flexible body If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.Dexterity, Intelligence, and Strength increases more easily Yen: [It seems my Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance rose from walking around in town and my Mind and Intelligence rose from the magic I¡¯ve used recently. My level rose as well.] Buff Hero: ¡°Just so you don¡¯t have any misconceptions. The level only raises your HP while your stats rise from acts. Raising your level only tells people how much experience you have. There can be level 100 Tailors that are extremely weak and level 10 Warriors that are very strong. Though it doesn¡¯t happen often.¡± Yen: ¡°I see. So what am I supposed to do with this new skill?¡± Buff Hero: ¡°I would like you to bring Ailith to Dreamland when I need her.¡± Yen: ¡°How will I know when I must bring her?¡± Buff Hero: ¡°You will get a message from your necklace.¡± Yen: [How omnipotent.] Buff Hero: "Though it''s usually random! HAHAHAHA" Yen: [D*mn it!] Buff Hero: ¡°Well then it is about time for you to wake up so good luck in the morning.¡± The surroundings grow foggy and Yen can no longer see. Slowly it all turns dark. ~The Bed~ Yen wakes up to the feeling of being squished. He looks around and sees that instead of the usual Laia it is Ai. She slowly starts stroking his tail in her sleep and even starts to lick Yen. Yen: ¡°GYAAA NOOO THEY REALLY ARE MOTHER AND DAUGHTER!!!¡± *Ping* The title of The Vanguard¡¯s ¡°Helper¡± has been awarded! Congratulations! Yen: ¡°NOOOO¡± Yen¡¯s suffering is heard by no one. Ai simply continues molesting Yen in her sleep. While Laia sleeps on the other side of the bed. ¡ª¡ªYen¡ª¡ª -Status- Level: 2 Health Points: 110/110 Mana Points: 0/0 Strength: 16 Intelligence: 23 Endurance: 28 Mind: 17 Dexterity: 31 -Skills- Language Interpretation- understands all languages and can speak all languages that the race¡¯s vocal chords allow for. Mana Perception- Can see mana Mana Conversion- Can take mana from environment and convert it to a spell directly. Mana points are eternally 0. Also means that you have no specific element that you are better at you just need enough environmental mana to sustain your spells. Magic- Can use imagination and mana to form spells Dream Travel- Can travel through the dreams of others and bring them to your dream. Only able to do so when asleep. -Titles- Eternal Loving Plushie of Laia- You have resigned yourself to being an ETERNAL hug toy for Laia through your dedication and love to her- gives a permanent rise of 17 endurance points. Gives +5 to all other stats if equipped. The Vanguard¡¯s ¡°Helper¡±- You are a toy. That is it. Gives +5 to Endurance. -Race Bonus- +10 dexterity due to extremely flexible body Dexterity, Intelligence, and Strength increases more easily Part 3 Yen is sitting on a chair at breakfast with a despirited look. Ai and Laia are both eating a breakfast of eggs and bread. Laia: ¡°Why the depressed look Yen?¡± Yen snaps out of his momentary lapse in perception and looks at his breakfast then looks back to Laia. Yen: ¡°Nothing. It¡¯s nothing.¡± [You would be like this if you were hugged and licked all over too.] Yen starts to nibble on his bread. Laia: ¡°So what do you want to do today? Do you want to actually tour the village with me? You didn¡¯t really get a chance to yesterday did you?¡± Yen: ¡°I think I can do that at a later date. You can bring Ai with you to tour the village. I want to test out some more of my magic.¡± Laia: ¡°Okay I¡¯ll just tour the village with my little girl then!¡± Laia hugs Ai and starts petting her ears. Ai: ¡°Muuu.¡± Yen: [Why can¡¯t you be that gentle with me?] Laia clears the breakfast table and prepares for the day ahead while Ai waits for her at the door. Ai: ¡°Mommy let¡¯s gooo!¡± Laia: ¡°Okay my sweetie say goodbye to Yen.¡± Laia and Ai depart from the house while saying their goodbyes to Yen. Yen: ¡°Now what should I do now?¡± Yen looks around for a decent place to train his magic. Yen: ¡°A place that is clear is preferable but it also needs a fair bit of magic power. Hmmm.¡± Yen walks behind the house and decides to clear out a bit of forest using magic. Yen: ¡°I¡¯ll clear some of these trees out of the way so that I can practice magic. I shouldn¡¯t use fire magic so let¡¯s experiment with some of the other elements first.¡± Yen activates Mana Perception and looks around at the various puffs of mana surrounding him. Yen: [There is a fairly large amount of water, earth, and air. Okay!] ¡°Water Blade!¡± Yen gathers some water mana and forms a crescent moon of water in front of him and throws it at a tree. The water blade does almost nothing. Yen: ¡°Success! Wait¡­ no, no. I wanted the blade to cut through the tree. If it did anything then it just made the tree cleaner. perhaps my Intelligence is not high enough?¡± Yen gathers some more mana and fires another water blade at the tree. Still nothing. Yen: [How about air?] ¡°Wind Blade!¡± The blade of wind looks just like the water blade except it is made of greenish air due to the air being infused with mana. The blade cuts into the tree¡­ by about a millimeter¡­ Yen: ¡°¡­At least it cut a little bit¡­ seems like I¡¯ll have to work for this.¡± Yen sighs dejectedly. Suddenly he notices something. Yen: [Oh? The light mana is slowly increasing? Is this because the sun is rising higher in the sky? I¡¯ll try a light spell next.] Through Yen¡¯s hazy memory of his past life he remembers some game that had strange monsters fighting each other and decides to emulate a spell for there. Yen: ¡°Hyper Beam!!!¡± Yen shouts the spell name with gusto and collects a large amount of light mana. Then he expels the light mana in the form of a giant beam of energy that cuts through the tree! Or not. The beam that comes out is a beam the diameter of a human male¡¯s thumb and has the intensity of a magnifying glass. Yen: ¡°This¡­ it seems the power of the spell is extremely reliant on status no matter how vivid the image is.¡± Yen promptly decides to rid the yard of ants to train his magic. By noon his status had risen slightly. ¡ª¡ªYen¡ª¡ª -Status- Level: 3 Health Points: 120/120 Mana Points: 0/0 Strength: 16 Intelligence: 30 Endurance: 28 Mind: 19 Dexterity: 31 Yen: [So my level rose by one which brought my HP up by ten. And my Intelligence and Mind rose slightly thanks to my practice.] ¡°Yup! Today was certainly fruitful.¡± Suddenly a bush nearby starts shaking. Yen: ¡°Hm? What is that?¡± Side Story 1: Ai and Mom Author''s Note: Some love for Ai here! It may be too early for an Side Story but meh. Enjoy. ~Ai Perspective~ Ai and Laia are walking around town sampling the goods from the stalls. Laia: ¡°How do you like the fish Ai?¡± Ai: ¡°Mmm! It¡¯s good mommy!¡± [Mommy is so nice! She is a lot like Mr. Cat!] Laia and Ai arrive in front of a store front. Ai: [Adventure Galore: For all of your adventurley needs] ¡°Mommy what is this place for?¡± Laia: ¡°Hmmm well I thought that I should get something to protect yourself with. Seeing as how you are the Hero of the Vanguard you probably need a shield and a sword.¡± Ai: ¡°Hm?¡± [I don¡¯t understand these things muuu.] Laia and Ai walk into the shop and see an elderly man with small spectacles sitting at the counter. He has a white goatee and a wooden cane sits next to him. He slowly looks up from what appeared to be a sleeping position and cracks a smile. Old Man: ¡°What can I do for the great adventurer Laia the Drowned Healer? Heheheh.¡± Laia: ¡°Oh cut that out old man Zelan. I¡¯m an inactive adventurer now and I¡¯m not nearly as famous as you.¡± Ai: ¡°Drowned?¡± Laia: ¡°Oh my sweetie that is just what people called me in the past. You don¡¯t have to worry about it.¡± Zelan looks at Ai inquisitively then turns back to Laia. Zelan: ¡°Who is this little cutie? I can¡¯t imagine that you would actually take your obsession so far as to have a child with a beast man.¡± Laia: ¡°Ah! my familiar saved her from some kidnappers and I adopted her as my daughter! Isn¡¯t she just the cutest? Ehehe.¡± Zelan: ¡°That so? Well, let¡¯s get to business. Though I wouldn¡¯t put it past you to just go and show off your new daughter to the world, that isn¡¯t what you came for right?¡± Laia: ¡°Ohh as perceptive as you always are Zelan. Yes, I came here to buy a small shield and short sword for Ailith here.¡± Laia pats Ai¡¯s head and Ai closes her eyes content in the comfort her mother supplies. Ai¡¯s tail starts waving back and forth as well. Ai: [Feels gooood hehe.] Zelan looks at Ai for a bit then turns back to Laia. Zelan: ¡°Isn¡¯t it a bit early for her?¡± Laia: ¡°Well¡­ She is the Hero of the Vanguard so the previous heroes will probably start to teach her soon so I thought that it would be a good idea to give her something real.¡± If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Zelan: ¡°Ehh well your choice. Would a simple wooden round shield and a short sword work for her?¡± Zelan pulls out a small round shield fit for a ten year old and a short sword that is about .75 meters long. (Ai is 140 cm) He hands them to Laia and Laia fits them onto Ai¡¯s little 10 year old arms. Laia: ¡°How much are they?¡± Zelan: ¡°Well I¡¯ll give you a discount so how about 10 silvers?¡± Laia: ¡°Hmm 8 silvers.¡± Zelan looks at Laia for a moment. Zelan: ¡°9 or no deal.¡± Laia: ¡°Deal~¡± Ai: [How much is silvers? All Mr. Cat ever used was the brown coins.] Laia looks at Ai while she takes out the money to give to Zelan. Laia: ¡°Are you wondering how the money works Ai?¡± Ai nods her head. Laia: ¡°Well coppers are the lowest coin. Silvers are equal to 10 coppers and gold is equal to 100 silvers. The currency is called nez. Got it?¡± Ai: [Not really but okaaay.] Ai nods her head despite not understanding it at all. Laia: ¡°Okay. Thanks Zelan!¡± Ai: ¡°Byee old man!¡± Zelan: ¡°Come again I suppose.¡± Laia and Ai leave Zelan¡¯s shop and walk down the road sampling more goods. They walk around until it starts to get dark then start to walk home on the dirt path. Suddenly there are two shadows that walk out of the forest in front of them. Shadow 1: ¡°Hehe to think we found our merchandise again. hehe right Bro?¡± Shadow 2: ¡°Yeah lets get them it¡¯s just a little woman that is with the goods easy pickins.¡± Laia walks past them ignoring them. Shadows: ¡°¡±Eh? Come back here and give us the merchandise or we¡¯ll shiv ya!¡±¡± Laia turns back to them and casts a spell. Laia: ¡°Drown¡± Water traps the two sketchy men and Laia approaches them. She takes out a mace from nowhere and manipulates the water to bring them closer to the surface. The faces of the two men contort in fear as Laia approaches them menacingly. ~A few bloody moments later~ Two blobs of red liquid remain on the ground. They occasionally twitch here and there. Laia: ¡°There! lets go home now Ai!¡± Ai: [Mommy is so cool! I wanna be like her when I grow up!] And so, Yen¡¯s troubles increased by many folds. Though, that is a tale for another day. Chapter 4: The Encounters Part 1 The bushes rustle as something emerges from them. Yen looks at the newcomer inquisitively. Yen: [Mmm it is perhaps an elemental?] A gathering of wind and water with shining eyes peers at Yen from the edge of the forest. Yen: [Hmm should I try talking to it? I might want to just back away from it though¡­] ¡°Hello? what might you be doing here?¡± The elemental moves towards Yen while Yen backs away from the elemental. This repeats for a minute or so until the elemental becomes visibly upset. Yen: [Uh oh.] The elemental generates a spear made of water and propels it towards Yen with the assistance of wind magic. Yen: [That is much much much worse than my water blade! It looks like it can pierce through at least 10 of me!] Yen immediately starts to gather mana and fires off a spell. Yen: ¡°Wind Barrier!¡± Yen forms a shield of wind in front of himself. The shield is swirling and sloped so that it deflects the water spear elsewhere. Yen: ¡°Hope this works!¡± Yen hides behind his shield and hunkers as low to the ground as possible. The elemental fires the water spear at Yen and it hits the surface of the shield. It begins to go through but in the end is deflected to the right thanks to the swirling currents of wind. Yen: ¡°Phew that was close I should retaliate now though. How about this!¡± ¡°Light Ray!¡± Yen fires off a beam of energy at the elemental but unlike before when he tested it on ants he pumped as much mana as possible into the spell and then fired it. This resulted in a large beam about 3 feet in diameter firing towards the elemental. Elemental: ¡°GRUOOOO!¡± The elemental evaporates into steam and all that remains is a gemstone with some blue and green swirls inside it. Yen: ¡°Hm? What is this? I wonder what happens if I try this¡­¡± ¡°Identify!¡± Yen gathers some light mana, shapes it into a cat head, and fires it at the gemstone. The glowing cat head swallows the gemstone and appears to chew for a second. Then a sound like an oven makes is emitted from the cat head. A glowing yellow screen appears before Yen with some information about the gemstone. ~Elemental Core~ This gemstone is the core of an elemental. Can be used as an augment for wind, water or any sub-categories of those two elements. Can also be used to summon a friendly elemental. The power of the summoned elemental is largely reliant on the summoner¡¯s potential. Elemental will be fully loyal to the summoner. Elemental will usually be of an opposite gender from the summoner. Summoner rights can be transferred to another individual after the initial summoning but the ritual requires more elaboration on the usual summoning circle. Yen: [Summon a new elemental? That doesn¡¯t sound too bad. I wonder if there are any books in the house about elementals.] Yen picks the core up in his mouth and returns into the house with it. Part 2 Yen is perusing the bookshelves yet again. He scans the bindings of every book on the shelf looking for a book on elementals. He finally finds one after two or three moments. Yen: ¡°Here¡¯s a book that I might be able to use. This is¡­ Elementals and Co.¡¯s General Guide to Elementals.¡± Yen jumps onto the bookshelf and pulls the book out so that it falls onto a cushion. He then jumps down and gingerly opens the book. ~Elementals~ ¡ª Elementals are masses of magical energy that acquire a soul. Despite possessing a soul, most elementals do not possess personalities. The only ones that have personalities are high elementals. Elementals are separated into three known tiers by their strength or whether or not they possess a personality. Those tiers are: Low, Middle, and High. Now keep in mind that even if the elemental is weak, as long as it possesses a personality it will automatically jump to High tier. Also keep in mind that High tier can be reached by all elementals given that they possess enough strength. There are elementals for each of the simple elements but there are also multi-elementals and complex elementals. Multi-elementals are elementals that possess more than one element. Complex elementals are a step higher than that and completely mix elements together to create complex elements. The High tier multi-elementals also often have more than one personality due to the presence of two elements as well as the fact that most elementals become multi-elementals by absorbing another elemental¡¯s core. ¡ª Yen: [So the tiers are not restricted based on strength. I should also look out for complex elementals and multi-elementals. All of this is interesting but it¡¯s not what I am looking for. Onwards!] ~Cores~ ¡ª All elementals have cores. These cores are what store the soul of the elemental. When an elemental is destroyed the soul is released just leaving the core gem. This core can be used to augment magic or apply properties to weapons or armours. Armors and weapons can only be enchanted with a single core which cannot be taken off afterwards so be careful! ¡ª Yen: [Armor and weapons don¡¯t have anything to do with me and I still haven¡¯t found anything that tells me about summoning. Oh? This next part looks useful.] ~Summoning Your Own Elemental~ ¡ª Summoning an elemental is essentially binding a new soul to an empty core. Despite how difficult this sounds it is actually relatively simple. All that is necessary is an elemental core, magic paint of the necessary elements (Just add elemental mana to some paint), some blood, and some feed for the elemental (some materials of the elemental¡¯s elements. ex: fire for fire elemental, water for water elemental, etc.) Once you have all the necessary materials paint the magic circle with magic paint. (In the case of multi-elementals, paint the magic circle with the differing elements equally. ex: wind-water elemental use half water paint and half wind paint.) The magic circle should be one larger circle with five smaller circle inside. Once the circle is drawn you should drop blood in the center circle (just a small amount) and draw any images that come to mind in the other four circles. These images will help the new elemental get to know you better. After all of this is done just pump mana into the circle and wait for the ritual to finish. Congratulations! You are now the parent of a newborn elemental! ¡ª Yen: [Oh¡­ seems I found what I need to do. I should get started before Laia and Ai return I suppose.] Yen begins his preparations to summon an elemental and looks around the house for the necessary ingredients. Part 3 Yen has gathered all of the needed materials to summon a new elemental. He draws the circles and drops some blood into the center circle. He then stops and ponders what he should draw. Yen: [Hmm what would be good to put in the circle? Hmmm.] ¡°Well whatever. What goes in the circles doesn¡¯t matter much anyway¡­ right?¡± Yen draws a cat in one circle, a pillow in another, a stick figure in another one, and a dagger in another. Yen: ¡°Meh too late to take these back now. I guess I put the core in the center circle? The book didn¡¯t say anything about it.¡± Yen places the elemental core into the center circle next to his blood and begins pumping ambient mana into the magic circle. The magic circle begins to glow in green and blue. The blood, the core, and the pictures float into the air and the pictures turn upright. The pictures start slowly swirling around the core and blood but gain speed with time. Yen: [This is like a washing machine¡­ is that what is was in my past life?] This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. The blood suddenly seemed as if it was being absorbed by the core and soon there was no longer any blood in the middle of the formation. The pictures began to slow down and finally came to a halt. Yen: [What now? Is this all there is to it?] Though there was no longer any blood, the symbols and core still floated in the air. Yen: [Does it need more blood?] Yen makes scratches on one of his paws again and drops more blood into the formation. The core pulsates as if happy with the offering. It slowly starts beating like a heart and absorbs the elemental mana from the elemental paint. The magic formation fades away as the mana is absorbed and water and wind gather around the core. Yen: ¡°Come on! It seems like you are so close to completion!¡± The wind and water starts to form into a more humanoid shape and before long takes on the form of a small girl with 2 blue and 2 green quadrilaterals floating behind it. Yen: [Isn¡¯t this quite an intricate elemental?] Suddenly Yen blacks out. ~Dream World~ Yen wakes up in a field with dandelions lazily swaying in the breeze. There is a huge lake before him and there is a bridge leading to an island in the center of the lake. Yen looks around and reads the sign that was in front of him. Yen: ¡°Come this way¡­ It is pointing at the island too¡­ This is somewhat suspicious but I suppose I might as well.¡± Yen begins walking on the bridge as he feels the wind flowing around the area and sees the peerlessly calm lake that reflects all that is above it. Yen: ¡°This place is quite nice. If I weren¡¯t still suspicious I might have taken a nap here.¡± Yen arrives at the island and sees a white table set in the middle of a field. There are two people sitting there, a man dressed in an emerald green military officer uniform with wavy blonde hair that seemed to move with nonexistent wind and a woman dressed in a blue dress who had eyes that seemed as calm as the lake that the island was situated in. Green Man: ¡°Welcome to dreamland my feline friend! Would you like some fish? hehehe.¡± Blue Woman: ¡°Stop that Ventus. We welcome you to our little plot of land in dreamland Yen.¡± Ventus: ¡°But why Aquia?! I just wanted to have fun with him.¡± Aquia: ¡°Shut it my dear husband. Your eccentricity is what I love about you but please restrain yourself in the face of a guest.¡± Ventus: ¡°Fine~~~¡± Yen: [Quite the interesting pair huh.] ¡°So who are you two and what did you guys need me here for? I just finished summoning an elemental.¡± Aquia: ¡°Well Yen, my name is Aquia and I am the highest water elemental so you could call me the water queen and this man here is Ventus the king of the wind elementals. We have summoned you here today because it is about that elemental you summoned.¡± Yen: ¡°What about her?¡± Ventus: ¡°It¡¯s our daughter! Yay! You just happened to create an optimal body for our little precious so we forcefully planted her consciousness into it! Rejoice! You get a high elemental right from the get go!¡± Yen: ¡°Is there any catch to it?¡± Aquia: ¡°Well, yes. There is something we want you to do for us.¡± Ventus: ¡°Teach our kid the outside world! She has no experience with life in general and has the mind of a child! So teach her about the world and other things!¡± Yen: ¡°I see¡­ well I¡¯m fine with just that.¡± Aquia: ¡°Thank you Yen.¡± Ventus: ¡°Yes, yes, have fun go away I have some business with Aquia right now!¡± Yen¡¯s vision starts fading but he can faintly see Ventus grabbing Aquia by the waist and flying away while kissing her. Yen: [You are already going to make more children?! Isn¡¯t it too early?! Your kid just left the house and you are already doing pervy things!] While calling Ventus a bad father and cursing him out, Yen returns to the real world. Part 4 ~Real World~ Yen wakes up in the house sprawled eagle. A small girl (about 9 cm) is sitting on his stomach. She is more like a fairy than a small girl though. She looks into Yen¡¯s eyes intensely. Yen: ¡°So¡­ what is your name?¡± [Can she understand me?] Fairy: ¡°Yes I can understand you. I can also hear you through a telepathic link.¡± Yen: ¡°Oh. So do you have a name?¡± Fairy: ¡°Yes I am Mist, the daughter of Ventus and Aquia and elemental of water and wind.¡± Yen: ¡°Okay! Nice to meet you Mist!¡± Mist: ¡°I am pleased to make your acquaintance as well Yen.¡± Yen: [How did such a spontaneous father give birth to such a well mannered daughter¡­] Mist: ¡°I would say that I have inherited more of my mother¡¯s traits.¡± Yen: ¡°I see. So, what should we do?¡± Yen looked at the room and discovered that the magic paint and other traces of the summoning ritual have disappeared. Yen: ¡°Did you clean up?¡± Mist: ¡°Yes. I determined that it would be better if we talked in a neater setting.¡± Yen: ¡°I see. Thank you for your help Mist.¡± Mist: ¡°My pleasure.¡± Yen looks out the window and sees that it has become somewhat late already. The skies were already turning shades of orange and red. Yen: ¡°Ai and Laia should be returning soon I guess we¡¯ll just wait for them to return and make dinner.¡± Yen gazes at Mist. Yen: ¡°Do you need to eat or do you run off of magic power?¡± Mist: ¡°I only require magic power to stay alive but I wish to experience other forms of sustenance not found in the spirit world.¡± Yen: ¡°I see I see. Laia¡¯s cooking is very good so you¡¯ll be satisfied with it I feel.¡± Mist: ¡°I shall look forward to it.¡± Mist nods her head and sits on Yen¡¯s head to wait with him. ~A few moments later~ Yen hears the door open and sees Ai and Laia enter. Yen: ¡°Welcome Home.¡± Ai: ¡°Hoooomee!¡± Laia: ¡°We are home Yen. Were you lonely?¡± They enter and pause for a moment when they see Mist on Yen¡¯s head. Laia: ¡°Yen? What did you do while we were out shopping?¡± Laia and Ai look at Yen questioningly. Yen: ¡°I¡¯ll explain.¡± Yen informs Laia and Ai about what happened during the day. Laia: ¡°I see. I suppose I should welcome you to the family then Mist.¡± Mist: ¡°Thank you. It is a pleasure to meet you as well.¡± Laia: ¡°Oh my. You are quite well mannered.¡± Ai: ¡°Mist?¡± Yen: ¡°Ah. You can think of her as a sister I suppose.¡± [That fine, Mist?] Mist: ¡°Yes, just think of me as your big sister.¡± Ai: ¡°But you are smaller than me though?¡± Yen: ¡°She is much older than you though.¡± [You are right?] Mist: [Yen?] Yen: [Yes?] Mist: [Don¡¯t ask about a woman¡¯s age.] Yen: [Okay.] Ai: ¡°Muu? Okay sissy.¡± Ai still looks confused but quickly accepts the new hierarchy. Laia: ¡°Now that all of this is settled. Let¡¯s eat dinner! Today we¡¯ll have seafood gratin so wait a moment okay?¡± All: ¡°Okay!¡± Author''s Note: There will only be one romance partner. So those hoping for harem. (Yes you) Should stash your hopes away in some dark chest in the backs of your minds :3. Chapter 5: Buff!!!! Author''s Note: We are nearing the point where I am catching up with my already written stuff. If you haven''t noticed, I write my story in parts. Would you rather wait a super long time for me to finish the chapter or have me post my parts instead? Thank you for your input. :3 PS: I don''t know how to do a poll so I''m just going to look at comments if there are any. :P Part 1 ~Dream World~ Yen wakes up in dream world again. He looks around him to see where he was. Yen: [Seems its not the the elemental idiot couple¡¯s area¡­] Yen looks behind himself and sees the Buff Hero standing in a clearing. Yen: ¡°Did you need me?¡± The Buff Hero nods at Yen. Buff Hero: ¡°Yes. Today I will start to teach the new Hero of the Vanguard her skills. So I need you to drag her into the dream world.¡± Yen: ¡°How would I do that?¡± Buff Hero: ¡°Concentrate and think of the one you want to connect with. Then form a mental link using your imagination like how you cast magic.¡± Yen: ¡°Hmmm okay I¡¯ll give it a go.¡± Yen closes his eyes and sits upright. Yen: [Hmm Concentrate. Coooncentrate. Oh? I think I found her?] Yen¡¯s view changes from his closed eyes to a view of what is presumably Ai¡¯s dream. Ai: ¡°Ehehehe¡± Ai seems to be rolling around in the grass while enjoying the spring breeze. But suddenly the sky turns dark. ???: ¡°Urrghh.¡± Some rotting bodies are slowly encroaching on Ai¡¯s position. Yen: [Are those zombies?] Ai jumps up and looks around herself. She then pulls out a huge sword and starts running towards what are presumably zombies while yelling out a war cry. Ai: ¡°AAAAAAAIEEEEEEEEE!!!!¡± Yen: [Where did she come up with that? Well, I should probably drag her to Dream Land.] Yen imagines strings of silver grasping onto the Ai in the dream. The strings materialize and attach themselves onto Ai. Ai doesn¡¯t struggle and just looks absentmindedly at the ground below her. Yen pulls her up into the sky and she disappears while leaving ripples in the air. Yen: [It seems to have worked out.] ¡°Hello Ai.¡± Ai: ¡°Hello! Who is the wierdo?¡± Ai looks at Buff Hero then looks back at Yen. Yen: ¡°Ahh. He is going to train you to be stronger.¡± Ai: ¡°Hmmm? Okay?¡± Buff Hero: ¡°It is nice to meet you I am the first Hero of the Va-¡± Yen: ¡°He is Buff Hero.¡± Ai: ¡°Okay! Hello Mr. Buff Hero!¡± The Buff Hero looks down dejectedly when Ai calls heim Buff Hero. Buff Hero: ¡°Ahh whatever. We can start the training now.¡± Buff Hero rouses himself from stupor and makes a large sword appear in his hand from empty air. Buff Hero: ¡°I do not think I need to teach you the basics of swordsmanship because heroes should have weapons basics inborn. In that case I shall teach you the first stance to the Heroism Large Sword Stances.¡± The Buff Hero stands with his legs apart, one in front of the other, and holds the large sword at his side with both hands. Buff Hero: ¡°Watch closely now.¡± ¡°GUGYAAA!!!¡± Yen: [It seems that strange yelling runs in the vanguard blood huh¡­] The Buff Hero Swings his large sword upwards creating a huge updraft that uproots any trees in front of him for a good 20 yards. Buff Hero: ¡°Now you try it and start out slow.¡± Part 2 At Buff Hero¡¯s prompting, Ai begins to swing her own summoned sword. Ai: ¡°HAAAAH! *fwum* HAAAAAH! *fwum*.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Ai¡¯s swings generate some wind due to the weight of the sword as well as her own strength. Yen: [This breeze is quite nice. I guess I¡¯ll just wait for the training to finish.] Buff Hero: ¡°Yes! Yes! Swing harder!¡± AI: ¡°YAAAAAH! *boom* YAAAAAAAH! *BOOM*.¡± Ai begins to swing harder and harder generating more wind. The tree in front of her was starting to creak from the force as well. Yen: [This¡­ isn¡¯t quite as nice of a breeze huh¡­] Yen was starting to feel nervous and was leaning backwards from the force of the wind. His fur was waving like grass in a hurricane every time Ai swung her sword. Buff Hero: ¡°STOP!¡± Buff hero shouts for a cease to the chaos. Buff Hero: ¡°That is good enough for today. We will continue this when you have mastered what I have taught you today. Now if you will, Yen.¡± Yen: ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s go back Ai.¡± Ai: ¡°Okay!¡± Ai picks up Yen and holds him in front of her. Yen: [How should I do this¡­ hmmm well I¡¯ll just retrace my steps and go back to her dream to drop her off while I just float around.] Yen drops Ai off in her Zombie infested dream world and decides to simply rest his weary mind after all of the action that occurred that night. ~Real World~ Yen wakes up in the morning and does some stretches as he looks around. Laia is already up and about and is cooking breakfast. Mist is floating above him and making similar movements to him Yen: [Are you going to be eating with us today?] Mist: [No I think I will just go float around outside and take in the mana.] Yen: [Okay.] Mist flies away and Yen turns his attention to breakfast. It smells like bacon. Yen: [Now,is this the smell of bacon? I wonder.] ¡°Laia, whats for breakfast?¡± Yen walks up to Laia and looks up at her. Laia: ¡°Oh? You¡¯re up now? Well, today we are having pinnuu meat.¡± Yen: ¡°Pinnuu?¡± Laia: ¡°Oh it tastes very good when fried with some oil. I know you¡¯ll love it.¡± Yen: *Yaawn* ¡°Okay.¡± While Yen is waiting for breakfast to be ready, Ai wakes up and walks out while rubbing her eyes. Ai: ¡°Fooood.¡± Yen: [She seems a lot hungrier than she usually is¡­ is it due to the training?] Ai hugs onto Laia¡¯s legs and starts rubbing against them. Laia: ¡°Ok honey go sit at the table. You should like what we have today!¡± Ai: ¡°Yaaay!¡± Ai runs to her chair and eagerly awaits her food with glittering eyes. Laia places the pinnuu meat which has been sliced thinly and fried to sizzling perfection of green. Yen: [Wait¡­ green? It certainly looks like bacon¡­ but it looks suspicious. Oh well! it smells good!] Once the food (it¡¯s not just bacon. sheesh eat healthy.) has been placed on the table, Laia also sits down and the family begins to eat. Laia: ¡°Is Mist not joining us today?¡± Yen: [It is certainly delicious but the color is a bit odd¡­ well might just be me¡­] *nomunomu* ¡°Hm? nyo she ish taking in mahnah todaysh.¡± *nomunomu* Laia: ¡°I see. I suppose elementals do need mana.¡± While Yen nibbles on the pinnuu bacon like a reverse candy strip dispenser, Laia eats the bacon with a refined elegance. Ai¡­ well Ai eats it how one might expect her to eat it. Ai: *chomp chomp* Laia: ¡°Do you two like it?¡± Ai: ¡°MMnn!¡± Yen: ¡°It is quite gush.¡± And so, the family eats its breakfast in relative peace. Chapter 6: Tiiime Skip Author''s Note: May be a bit early for a time skip but oh well. Also there won''t be a chapter next week I''m going on a family outing. Part 1 It is yet another splendid day in the life of Yen and co. It has been a few years now and Ai has now turned 15 and is a splendid young lady now. Yen is basking in the comforting rays of the sun while Ai pets him. Yen: ¡°Ahhh that feels good Ai. It seems that Laia has taught you how to pet¡­¡± [Should I be scared or not?] Ai: ¡°Yep! Mom has taught me aaaalll about how to pet cats. Hehehehe.¡± They enjoy each other¡¯s company until Laia suddenly bursts into the room with a life changing declaration. Laia: ¡°We will be moving to the capital!¡± Ai & Yen: ¡°¡±Eh?¡±¡± Laia: ¡°You heard me we will be moving to the capital so get packing.¡± Yen: ¡°Wait a second. This is really sudden so please explain!¡± Ai: ¡°Yeah mom!¡± Laia looks at the two eared ones and sighs. Laia: ¡°I was scouted as a teacher in the biggest academy in the country, Janali academy. I also thought that it was about time for Ai to go to school to learn a bit more than what I can teach her.¡± Yen: ¡°Is that so¡­ I understand. Ai¡¯s education is quite important.¡± Ai: ¡°Eh? Why do I have to learn more? I know more than enough already.¡± Ai starts complaining about going to school while she hugs Yen. Yen: ¡°You need a better education so that you can live easier.¡± Ai: ¡°But I don¡¯t wanna feel my head hurt agaaaaiiin!¡± Ai rolls around on the floor. Laia: ¡°I also went to this academy you know. So it would make your mother really happy if you also went there.¡± Ai perks up at those words and sits up again. Ai: ¡°Okay then. If you went there before I¡¯ll go too.¡± Laia: ¡°There! Now the matter is settled so get packing! We leave for tomorrow!¡± Now that the deal was done, the family went off to their business. Yen: ¡°Mist are you there?¡± Mist floats in from the window and seats herself on Yen¡¯s back. Mist: ¡°So we are moving now?¡± Yen: ¡°Yes we are going to the city so but I do not know how the environment will be for you what with the large amount of humans there.¡± Mist: ¡°Hmm. I have countermeasures but I need some help to prepare them. Can you assist me?¡± Yen: ¡°Sure. It¡¯s not like I have anything I need to pack.¡± Mist: ¡°Okay. Follow me out to the forest then.¡± Mist floats out of the window and Yen gets up and follows her. Yen: ¡°Laia! I¡¯m going out with Mist for a moment!¡± Laia: ¡°Okay! Come home before night!¡± ~Clearing in Forest~ Mist flies to the middle of a clearing, full of dandelions, and floats there waiting for Yen to reach her position. Mist: ¡°Okay! This place seems suitable.¡± Yen: ¡°What are we going to be doing now?¡± Mist: ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll explain.¡± Mist sits on a rock and outlines the procedures. Mist: ¡°So, I need you to gather water and wind mana and give it to me. WIth your level of mana manipulation you should be able to do that.¡± Yen: ¡°Hmm okay. How much should I give you at a time?¡± Mist: ¡°I should be able to handle 60 units per 10 seconds.¡± Yen: ¡°Okay.¡± Yen sits down on the slightly moist grass and starts concentrating. Yen: ¡°I¡¯m starting now.¡± Mist: ¡°Kay.¡± Yen starts gathering puffs of mana. Yen: [One puff is equal to 10 mana. I¡¯ll just gather a bunch of mana and slowly feed it to her. I wonder what she will do with it though.] Yen begins feeding mana that he gathered to Mist who is sitting on his back. Mist holds her hands to her chest and the mana starts pouring towards her hands. A twinkle is now visible in her hands. Mist: ¡°Hoooh.¡± Mist breaths out and holds her hands out in front of herself. Inside of her hands is a swirling ball of energy. Mist slowly condenses the mana into a smaller and smaller ball and it eventually turns into a crystal. Mist: ¡°That¡¯s enough now Yen. The hard part is over.¡± Yen: ¡°What did you make?¡± Mist: ¡°I made a magic crystal to store mana in. When we are in the city I can just refill it periodically in a nearby forest or something.¡± Yen: ¡°Ohhh. How convenient.¡± Mist: ¡°Now I just have to push mana into it so let¡¯s keep going for a bit.¡± Yen: ¡°Okay.¡± Yen concentrates again and they continue filling the crystal to the point of bursting and decide to go home. Part 2 When Mist and Yen return to the house, Ai seems to be deciding what to pack. Ai: ¡°Hmmm. Should I bring this sword or this sword? Hmmm.¡± Yen: ¡°Deciding what to bring to the capital?¡± [I think normal girls would be deciding which stuffed animal to bring not swords¡­] Ai: ¡°Yes. I heard from mom that I need to take a combat test there so I am deciding which sword to use.¡± Yen: ¡°I see. Well Mist and I are ready for tomorrow so is there anything that we can help with?¡± Yen looks around Ai¡¯s room while Mist sits on Ai¡¯s shoulder. Ai: ¡°Hmm, no there really isn¡¯t anything else I need so I should be good.¡± Yen: ¡°What about clothes?¡± Ai: ¡°Ah! I should probably bring that. I almost forgot! Thanks Yen.¡± Ai hugs Yen and rubs her cheek on him. Yen: [You shouldn¡¯t be forgetting clothes! Aren¡¯t you a young girl in puberty?!] If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Ai releases Yen and starts packing her clothes again. Yen: ¡°I guess I will go check on Laia. Mist, are you going to stay with Ai?¡± Mist: ¡°I¡¯ll do that. Have fun with the pervert.¡± Mist waves from Ai¡¯s shoulder as Yen leaves Ai¡¯s room to check in on Laia. Yen enters Laia¡¯s room to see what she was packing. Laia: ¡°Hum hum hum. What should I bring? Should I bring this toy or this toy or this toy? So many choices. Hum hum hum.¡± Laia is humming while jamming cat toys into her bag. Yen: ¡°What are you packing Laia?¡± Laia: ¡°Oh just some necessary items when traveling.¡± Laia quickly closes the bag as if to hide the cat toys overflowing from it. Yen: ¡°Why are cat toys necessary when traveling?¡± Laia: ¡°What cat toys? I didn¡¯t pack any cat toys.¡± Yen: *stare* Laia: *sweat* Yen: *stare* Laia: ¡°Okay okay! I¡¯m packing cat toys so that I can lur- play with any cats I find.¡± Yen: [That was definitely lure¡­] ¡°Are you¡­ not satisfied with just me?¡± [Hehehe] Laia: ¡°NO I¡¯m always satisfied with just you Yen! *sniff* don¡¯t leave me! *sniff* I won¡¯t lure any other cats! I¡¯ll only sleep and pet you!¡± Yen: ¡°Okay okay.¡± Yen rubs himself against Laia to comfort her after his bullying. Laia begins to use him as a tissue and lightly faceplants into his fur. Laia quickly recovers from her state of mild panic and starts repacking her bag to not include the cat toys. ~An hour or two later~ All: ¡°We¡¯re done!¡± Laia: ¡°All right! What do you want to eat for a last meal in this house?¡± Yen: ¡°Ai? What do you want?¡± Mist: ¡°Yeah we should celebrate your eventual admittance into the academy and Laia¡¯s new job.¡± Ai: ¡°Umm How about fish?¡± Laia: ¡°¡­okay! Fish it is!¡± Laia begins cooking and a pleasant smell floats around the house until the food arrives on plates in front of Yen, Ai, and Mist. Ai: ¡°Yay! Let¡¯s eat!¡± Laia: ¡°Alright dig in now. It may still be hot so be careful okay?¡± The family eats their last dinner peacefully as they have eaten all other dinners together, by enjoying the company and comfort of family ties. Part 3 It is the morning of departure and Yen and co. are standing outside of their house making final checks. Laia: ¡°Alright! it¡¯s not like we won¡¯t ever be back here but do one more check to see if you¡¯ve forgotten anything!¡± All: ¡°¡±Okay!¡±¡± Everyone rummages through their respective bags to check for any missing things. Yen: ¡°Ai did you forget something?¡± Ai: ¡°Of course not! Do you think I¡¯m an idiot? Oh! I forgot my other sword!¡± Yen: ¡°You already have 3 of them on you though I don¡¯t think one more sword is going to do much¡­¡± Ai: ¡°Fine I¡¯ll just leave that one.¡± *sigh* In the end nothing else was missing so the time was ripe! Yen: ¡°So¡­ how long is the walk to the capital?¡± Laia: ¡°Hm? I never said that we were walking though?¡± Yen: ¡°How are we getting there then?¡± Laia: ¡°Hm the headmaster sent a super speed carriage here to pick us up.¡± Yen: ¡°Is that so¡­ how many days would that take?¡± Laia: ¡°Well it¡¯ll shorten our trip from 3 days worth of walking to 12 hours or so I¡¯d say.¡± Mist: ¡°That is considerably swift is it not?¡± Laia: ¡°It IS the fastest carriage service other than the royal carriages.¡± Yen: ¡°So why is it that we get this service? How well do you know the headmaster?¡± Laia: ¡°He was my childhood friend. It still stupefies me how that brat got so successful¡­¡± They continue to wait for the carriage to arrive. Yen: ¡°So what should we do when we get to the city?¡± Ai: ¡°FIGHT!¡± Yen: ¡°No.¡± Ai looks downwards dejectedly as Yen admonishes her. Laia: ¡°Well we have to go shopping for Ai¡¯s school uniform and I have to get some proper teacher¡¯s robes. Hmm. I guess we¡¯ll go shopping in the business district.¡± Yen: ¡°What other districts are there?¡± Laia: ¡°Hmm let¡¯s see¡­ the districts are based around the occupations of the inhabitants of the districts. Sooo: Business, Food, Swordsman, Bowman, Magician, Tamer, Dark(sketchy), and Enjoyment(wink, wink. nudge, nudge.). Yen: ¡°Rather self explanatory huh.¡± Ai: ¡°What is the Enjoyment district? It sounds fun!¡± Yen: ¡°You can¡¯t go there okay?¡± Ai: ¡°Whyyy?¡± Yen: (Mmmmm what to say¡­ She can just beat up anyone that tries something fishy.) ¡°They will serve you strange food and you will have a stomach ache for a week.¡± Ai: ¡°¡­okay I won¡¯t go there.¡± Yen: ¡°Good.¡± (I might have to put her on a leash¡­ Mist make sure she doesn¡¯t run off okay?) Mist: (Okay I¡¯ll help with that.) At this moment the long anticipated super speed carriage was heard down the road. It sounded almost as if thunder was rolling down the road. Yen: (That is pretty loud.) A cloud of dust comes towards the small group and slowly, a silhouette of a horse appears and stops in front of the house. Laia: ¡°Alright! Let¡¯s get on! Despite how it seems it is actually really nice inside of the carriage.¡± The others look skeptically at the carriage as they pile in. Laia: ¡°ALRIGHT! BRING US TO THE CAPITAL HORSEY!¡± The group sets off in yet another cloud of dust, startling all the wild animals in the vicinity. Chapter 7: The Travel Author''s Note: Yo. Here''s a chapter. Enjoy. Part 1 The carriage carrying Yen and co. is moving along the road rapidly. The trees flash by the family as simply blurs. The noise of the galloping horse can be heard from the outside but due to magical sound proofing, the insides of the carriage are perfectly quiet. Yen: [Woow it¡¯s so fast! I don¡¯t think horses should be this fast¡­] Ai: ¡°Hahaha the trees are flying by!¡± Laia: ¡°This is the best service that money can buy after all. Well, we¡¯re not the ones buying.¡± Mist: ¡°This is refreshing.¡± The carriage continues to gallop along for another hour or so and some of the group has gotten sleepy. Ai: ¡°Nyaa~~~¡± Mist: ¡°Zzzzz¡± Ai has fallen asleep while lying on Laia¡¯s lap and Mist is splayed out in Yen¡¯s fur. Yen and Laia look upon the two like how parents look upon their children. Laia: ¡°They both seem to have enjoyed themselves with the new experience.¡± Yen: ¡°It seems so. Also, Laia, do you have something you want to talk to me about? You seem fidgety.¡± Laia sighs and steels herself to pose the question that she has been putting off for a while. Laia: ¡°You have lived for 13 years or so now right?¡± Yen: ¡°Yes?¡± Laia: ¡°Cats normally live for 15 or so years. Your lifespan should be coming to an end soon. Do you feel anything uncomfortable? You should practically be an old man.¡± Yen: ¡°I don¡¯t feel any uncomfortableness. I think it is strange that I am not showing any symptoms of age though.¡± Yen looks back at Laia calmly and ponders his unperceived predicament. Yen: ¡°If I feel anything strange then I will tell you. Who knows, I might be a legendary cat or something.¡± Yen chuckles at his joke. The carriage continues to plow onwards. Laia: ¡°¡­fine. Be sure to tell me if anything is strange.¡± Laia sighs and decides to trust Yen¡¯s judgement. She then closes her eyes and relaxes. Laia: ¡°I¡¯m gonna sleep too. Wake me when we are almost at the city okay?¡± Yen: ¡°Good dreams Laia.¡± Laia quickly falls asleep and soon Yen is the only one still awake. Yen: [Isn¡¯t that strange thinking? Leaving waking people up to a cat. I guess I¡¯ll humor her this time.] Yen relaxes and lies his head down on his paws. Watching his family sleep, he hears shouting from next to the carriage. ???: ¡°Yarrr gimme yer munnies!¡± ???2: ¡°Gimme gimme yer girls!¡± ???3: ¡°Gimme yer fuud!¡± ???: ¡°We have enuff food already! We don even need gurls either!¡± Perbandit: ¡°Are ye righ in yer edd boss? dem gurls feels guud! You dishfunkshunul or sumtink?¡± Hungrybandit: ¡°Ya ya! We needs da fuud! I¡¯s not etten in days!¡± Datboss: ¡°Course I¡¯s righ in da edd! If yas got da munnies den you ken jus buy all da gurls an buy all da food!¡± Perbandit: ¡°Bud bozz we¡¯s bandits we can eevin go in da towns ta buy dem!¡± Datboss: ¡°Screw juu! I¡¯s da boss and I¡¯s makes da trets!¡± Yen watches the three dumbs *ahem* bandits from inside the carriage. Yen: [Are these three a comedy group? Ah, I guess not. They are bandits after all.] Yen pokes his head out to the front of the carriage while the three bandit bros are arguing and looks towards the horse. Yen: ¡°Can you deal with it?¡± Horse: ¡°Sure maaan I¡¯ll be a broo.¡± Yen: [DAFUQ! meh as long as he takes care of the problem.] The horse maneuvers the carriage carefully into the horses of the bandit bros. Yen returns to the interior of the carriage. *plink plank plonk* The sounds of three objects hitting something hard can be faintly heard from inside the carriage. The figures of the bandit bros can no longer be seen from inside the carriage. Yen: [Alright peace and quiet again.] Yen settles down again and awaits arrival. Part 2 Yen: ¡°Wake up guys. We are almost there, the city walls are in sight.¡± Yen wakes his family when he sees the gradually approaching walls of the capital city. The sky has already begun to turn the orange of the evening. Laia: *Yawn* ¡°Oh. We are already here huh?¡± Mist: ¡°Hm?¡± Laia and Mist wake up and look out the window at the approaching walls. Ai: ¡°Zzzzz.¡± Ai still sleeps. Laia: ¡°Get up my daughter. We are here.¡± Ai: ¡°Hmm hmm?¡± Laia: ¡°Awake now?¡± Ai slowly gets up and rubs her eyes. She quickly sobers up once she looks out the window towards the walls. Ai: ¡°Hey! Hey! The walls are so biiiig!¡± Yen: [How adaptable.] As the group approaches the walls of the city, a guard station becomes visible next to a gate in the wall. There is a huge line of people waiting outside for entry into the city. Laia: ¡°Hmmm. Our carriage can probably pass by them but since that would make us look like Jack*sses let¡¯s not do that¡­¡± Yen: [Hope nothing happens while we wait.] Ai: ¡°Ehhh but waiting is so boring.¡± Mist: ¡°Just be patient Ai.¡± Ai: ¡°Fineee.¡± The carriage gets in the line and they wait¡­ and wait¡­ and wait¡­ Ai: ¡°BORRINNGGG!!¡± Ai sticks her head out the window of the carriage and laments about her predicament with a shout. Numerous people around the carriage look at her in shock. Yen: ¡°Get back in here Ai. You are being rude.¡± Ai: ¡°But it¡¯s so boring!¡± Yen: ¡°Just deal with it like an adult¡­ or else I¡¯ll take your swords for a week.¡± Ai: ¡°Uuu fine¡­¡± Ai sits down on the seat again with a pout. Suddenly there is a sound of commotion coming in from the open window. ???: ¡°Move! Move! I¡¯m coming through here!¡± The sounds of people being pushed and shoved can be heard and Yen decides to look outside to see what is happening. Yen: [What is happening? I don¡¯t like the sound of this.] There is a posh teenage boy about the same age as Ai sitting on a horse and a few soldiery looking guys shoving people out of line while approaching the position of the carriage. Poshboy: ¡°Hey hey move outta my way you peasants.¡± The posh brat orders Yen¡¯s group to move out of the way. Groupie 1: ¡°Yeah yeah he¡¯s the 7th prince of the empire! Move out of the way.¡± Groupie 2: ¡°If you don¡¯t wanna get in some sorta predicament even before entering the city that is.¡± Yen looks back at Laia for her decision. Laia: ¡°Ahh it¡¯s probably fine to just ignore them. He¡¯s only a 7th prince so he doesn¡¯t have much authority at all.¡± Yen: ¡°Is that okay? He is still a noble right? It could still get dangerous right?¡± Ai: ¡°Can I chop him up?¡± Yen: ¡°NO! Don¡¯t do that!¡± Ai: ¡°Why not though? They are being annoying.¡± Mist: ¡°Yeeen we can beat them up easily though.¡± Yen: ¡°Still no. We might make our lives miserable if we do anything rash.¡± Yen¡¯s group sits in the carriage while thinking about what to do. Then they hear the voices of the prince and his groupies. Poshboy: ¡°Just blow it up. It¡¯s just the carriage of some random commoners.¡± Groupies: ¡°¡±Yes your majesticness!¡±¡± The groupies then start chanting for a fireball spell. Ai: ¡°Damn it! I knew I should have just chopped them up!¡± Mist: ¡°Yen what should we do? I can create a barrier around the carriage.¡± Yen looks outside at the chanting groupies. Yen: ¡°Hmm. No I¡¯ll take care of it. You need to save your mana for sustaining your form after all.¡± At that moment the groupies finished chanting and two 2 meter diameter flaming orbs appear in the hands of the two. They proceed to lob the fireballs at the carriage. Yen: ¡°Water barrier.¡± Yen gathers mana in a split second and casts his spell. A thin dome of water encapsulates the carriage and the fireballs harmlessly fizzle into oblivion once they come into contact with it. Yen: ¡°Hmhm job well done I say.¡± The prince group watch speechlessly as their spells were countered by the inhabitants of the carriage. Laia decides to poke her head out at this moment. Laia: ¡°Brats! Just be patient or I¡¯ll tell the headmaster of the academy about this!¡± Laia pulls out a sheet of paper out of her dress (How? I don¡¯t know) And waves it at the groupies and the prince. Poshboy: ¡°What?! No way!¡± Groupies: ¡°Gu!¡± The miscreants quietly retreat once they see Laia¡¯s credentials and hear her threats. Laia: ¡°There now we can move on.¡± If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.Yen: [Why didn¡¯t you just do that at the start!?] Yen sighs at Laia¡¯s untimeliness and the carriage eventually moves enters the town. Part 3 The carriage continues to move along in the line and eventually reaches the gate. A young man looking to be about 16 approaches the carriage. He is wearing an iron breastplate with greaves, gauntlets, and helmet included. Guard: ¡°Um, Do you have any credentials allowing entrance? If not, please p-p-p-pay the entr-trance fee of t-t-two g-g-gold. He is nervous when speaking and when he sees Ai, his speech peters out into a stutter. Laia: ¡°Yes. Here are my credentials.¡± Laia hands over some papers to the guard who receives them. The guard looks over the papers nervously and shakily hands the papers back to Laia. Nervous Guard: ¡°I-I-I have c-c-confirmed that you h-h-have the credentials. Y-y-you may g-go. W-welcome to Halesia the capital city, a-a-also known a-as the acad-demy city.¡± The carriage begins to move and Ai waves to the guard as they pass. Ai: ¡°Thanks! Bye bye.¡± The guard almost faints from nervousness at the sight of her smile. Yen: [That kid seems awfully nervous for someone his age. Must be a late bloomer¡­] The group enters the town as Yen thinks rude thoughts about the guard from just a moment ago. ~Halesia~ The carriage enters a large street after going through the gate. 1 to 3 story buildings line the street which tapers off into a square in front of another set of walls. Yen: ¡°Wow this is much larger than the village street huh.¡± Laia: ¡°Of course it is. Our village was only on the large side of small villages. Halesia is the center of the country.¡± Yen: ¡°I see.¡± Yen looks around with interest. Mist: ¡°The mana here is disgusting though. If I were to consume this dirty mana, I would become a wild elemental and become mindless.¡± Yen: ¡°Be careful then.¡± Laia: ¡°The mana in the academy should be much cleaner so you should be fine once we get there.¡± Ai: ¡°There are sooo many good food smells heheehe.¡± While Yen, Laia, and Mist discuss something serious, Ai speaks of something completely off topic. She starts drooling at the smell of the various foods that inhabit the street stalls of the city. Laia: ¡°Control yourself my daughter. We will be eating with the headmaster today since we need to meet with him to tell him that we have arrived. We might as well impose on him as well.¡± The carriage rolls along the road and the group watches the novel sight of a city. (Ai is just smelling the food.) They reach the walls in front of the square and see another guard station. The only difference is that these walls are made entirely out of marble and the gate is made of wrought iron with elaborate curls and other designs adorning it. The carriage stops in front of the gate and a guard comes over to meet it. This guard seems to be more experienced (AN: in various ways ohohoho jkjk) and does not stutter when greeting them. Exp Guard: ¡°Do you have credentials?¡± Laia: ¡°Yes. Here you go.¡± The guard looks the papers over and hands them back. Exp Guard: ¡°You may pass. The headmaster¡¯s office is at the top of the castle. Ask the admissions office for any questions you may have.¡± Laia: ¡°Thank you. Have a nice day.¡± The guard nods to them as they pass through the gate. Part 4 The carriage rolls along paved roads in what appears to be a forest. Yen: ¡°Why is this place a forest? I thought it was supposed to be an academy?¡± Laia: ¡°This forest is part of the academy. It is meant to provide a better environment for the students to learn in. Many times the teachers will teach outside rather than inside. This is also because the mana that¡¯s near the building has become of lesser quality and density over the ages.¡± Yen: ¡°Is that so¡­ Mist, will you be okay with mana in this environment?¡± Mist: ¡°Yes it should be okay. Though it is still a bit inferior to mana in an actual forest.¡± Yen: ¡°Okay that¡¯s good.¡± The carriage continues on until the campus of the school comes into view. There are numerous buildings spread around a square with paved roads going here and there. The carriage stops in front of a building with a sign that says ¡°ADMISSIONS OFFICE.¡± Yen: ¡°I guess we have arrived at our destination. Thanks!¡± Bro-Horse: ¡°No problem broooo.¡± Ai: ¡°Who were you saying goodbye to?¡± Yen: ¡°Ah nobody. You don''t have to worry about it.¡± [The bro horse seems like a bad influence somehow.] Ai: ¡°Okay~¡± The group enters the building and they see a male receptionist. He addresses the group with a dispirited tone as if he has nothing to look forward to in his life behind the counter. Receptionist: ¡°Welcome to the registration office. What is your business in this desolate area?¡± Laia: ¡°I am the new teacher that will be teaching here from now on. I would like to meet the principal could you tell him that I am here?¡± Laia holds out her papers and the receptionist gives them a casual glance then looks away disinterestedly. Receptionist: ¡°Okay¡­ Wait one moment.¡± The receptionist stands up and slowly meanders his way to the back. Ai: ¡°He seems rather depressing huh?¡± Yen: [You don¡¯t say that out loud Ai¡­] The group decides to sit down and wait for the return of the receptionist. ~An unspecified time later~ The group hears footsteps returning from the back of the counter. Slowly. Ever so slowly. Receptionist: ¡°Alright¡­ the president will see you now¡­¡± Yen: [About time¡­] The group stands up and follows the receptionist. Part 5 The receptionist leads the group to a wooden double door. He knocks on the door¡­ slowly. ???: ¡°Come in.¡± Receptionist: ¡°You heard him¡­ go onnn¡­¡± The receptionist speaks to the group lackadaisically. (No surprise.) Laia: ¡°Okay.¡± Yen: [The customer service here¡­] The receptionist walks away perhaps to go sleep at his post. Once he gets out of sight Laia prepares her rod. Yen: ¡°What are you doing Laia?¡± Ai: ¡°Do we need to chop something mommy?¡± Laia: ¡°No we are just going in prepared. Just in case.¡± Laia prepares her staff again and fires off a spell. Laia: ¡°Water laser.¡± A half a meter diameter beam of water spews out of the tip of her staff and impacts the lower area of the double doors. The group hears a sound like someone grunting. ???: ¡°Ooof!¡± The doors swing open and an old man becomes visible he is on the ground holding his face. Laia: ¡°Hello there Jinali. Or should I call you pervert instead?¡± Jinali: ¡°O-oh hello Laia. I was um just crouching here.¡± Yen: ¡°Avert your eyes Ai.¡± Ai: ¡°Why?¡± Yen: ¡°You will be sullied by looking at him.¡± Ai: ¡°Mm? Okay.¡± Ai covers her eyes and looks away. Jinali: ¡°Why are you looking away? Ahh nevermind. So Laia you are here to start your teaching job I assume?¡± Laia: ¡°Yes. Hopefully without molestation.¡± Jinali: ¡°You know I only play right?¡± Laia: ¡°Oh really? Then what about that time and the bath or that time with the changing room or¡­¡± Laia begins to rant about the old pervert¡¯s exploits. The old pervert is starting to look paler and paler and stands up to sit back in his desk. ~An hour later~ The old man is almost dead. His head emits large plumes of smoke and his eyes look like those of a fish that had sat in the market for a week. Laia: ¡°There. Now then let¡¯s talk about the terms of contract.¡± Jinapervert: ¡°Okay.¡± Laia: ¡°I want a house to live in with my family okay?¡± Jinapervert: ¡°Okay.¡± Laia: ¡°I want a good salary okay.¡± Jinapervert: ¡°Okay.¡± Laia: ¡°I want to be able to expel anyone I want in my class okay?¡± Jinapervert: ¡°Okay.¡± Laia: ¡°Now sign here.¡± Laia takes a contract out of her bag and slides it across the table to the old pervert. The old pervert picks up a pen and signs it immediately. Laia: ¡°Good. Now. We will be on our way to get Ai prepared for her first day of school. Good day old friend.¡± The old pervert does not answer back as Laia leads her family out of the room. Yen: [How frightening. We shouldn¡¯t do anything strange huh Mist?] Mist: [Indeed Yen let¡¯s not do anything to anger Laia.] The two friends, an elemental and a cat, come to an agreement as their other friend looks at her mother in admiration. Chapter 8: The Roommate Author''s Note: I have changed some at the end and it is important(somewhat) for the story as it does not have anything to do with the original one. Enjoy. Part 1 Yen¡¯s group exits the building with the keys to their new home. Yen: ¡°Where do we go to get to our place?¡± Laia: ¡°Hmmm well I¡¯m thinking of giving Ai the experience of dorm life so I got a room for her in the dorms. I don¡¯t know what you and Mist want to do though.¡± Mist: ¡°I¡¯ll go with Yen.¡± Yen: ¡°I¡¯ll follow Ai to keep an eye on her. We can go to your place to eat every once in a while.¡± Laia: ¡°That sounds good. Let¡¯s go to your dorm room then.¡± Ai stands up after a bout of staring at flower blossoms when she hears that they are leaving. The group walks along the tree lined path leading to a three story building in a clearing. Yen: [The school certainly blends with nature. Is this that pervert¡¯s ideas? no waaay.] The group enters the building into what appears to be a reception area. There is an old woman standing behind the counter. Old Woman: ¡°Welcome. Are you the new arrivals?¡± Laia: ¡°Yes my daughter is joining the classes tomorrow so I am here to see her to the room. Is it okay to leave my familiar with her to keep watch on her?¡± Old Woman: ¡°Yes that is just fine so long as you clean up after it.¡± Laia: ¡°Okay. Thank you. She will be in room 214 it seems.¡± Old Woman: ¡°On the second floor at the end of the hall.¡± Laia: ¡°Thank you.¡± Yen: [What a nice old lady.] The group moves to the room and looks inside after opening the door. A tan skinned girl with a light red short hair cut looks at the open door with interest. ???: ¡°Oh? Are you my new room mate?¡± Laia: ¡°Yes Ailith will be your roommate from now on. Go on Ai, greet her.¡± Laia gives a nudge to Ai¡¯s shoulder and Ai walks forward and introduces herself. Ai: ¡°I am Ailith. You can call me Ai for short.¡± Ai extends her hand and the room mate shakes it. ???: ¡°I am called Frederica. Pleased to meet you.¡± Ai: ¡°Okay Frederica! This is Yen and this is Mist and she is my mom.¡± Ai picks up Yen and puts Mist on his head to introduce them. Yen: [This is somewhat uncomfortable¡­] Yen squirms around in Ai¡¯s hands. Laia: ¡°Well, it seems like you have a good roommate so I will be leaving now. You will see me tomorrow.¡± Ai: ¡°Okay. See you tomorrow mom.¡± Yen nods to Laia and Laia walks out of the door. Part2 Once Laia leaves, Frederica motions to Ai. Frederica: ¡°Feel free to make yourself comfortable on that side of the room. This is your new home after all. The room is arranged with two beds on opposite walls and two desks at the heads of the beds Ai: ¡°Hmhmhm let¡¯s put this sword here and this sword here~¡± Ai retrieves a multitude of weapons from her luggage and arranges them along the wall of her side of the room.. Yen: [I thought I told you to hold back on the weapons¡­] Yen looks on in disbelief and jumps onto the bed. Yen: [Ah I¡¯ll just sleep¡­] ¡°I¡¯m going to sleep now Ai.¡± Ai: ¡°Hm? Okay.¡± Frederica: ¡°Can you talk to your mother¡¯s familiar?¡± Ai: ¡°Yep! He¡¯s pretty nice! He¡¯s also really smart!¡± Mist: ¡°I¡¯m going out then cya.¡± Yen vaguely listens to Ai¡¯s and Frederica¡¯s conversation as he drifts off to sleep. ¨Cdinner time¨C Yen wakes up and stretches as he yawns. He rubs his face and looks at Ai and Frederica. Yen: ¡°Having fun Ai?¡± [I guess Mist is still out she¡¯s probably flying around having fun.] Ai: ¡°Hm? Oh you¡¯re up! We were about to go down to the cafeteria for dinner. Can Yen come with us Fredy?¡± Yen: [They are using nicknames now huh.] Frederica: ¡°It should be fine. Just make sure he doesn¡¯t jump onto the table.¡± Ai: ¡°Okay. Hear that Yen?¡± Yen: ¡°Yep. Let¡¯s go, I¡¯m getting hungry.¡± Yen, Ai, and Frederica leave the room and go downstairs to the large cafeteria about the size of ? of a basketball field. They get in line. Yen sits on Ai¡¯s shoulder. Frederica points at a counter with some aged aunties standing behind it. Frederica: ¡°That is where we get food. You walk up to the counter and ask for a dish and they will give it to you.¡± One of the cafeteria ladies sees them looking over at the counter and waves them over. Cafeteria Lady: ¡°Welcome young¡¯uns. Today we have Risotto for a main course with fried fish on the side. There is also a slice of cheesecake for dessert.¡± Ai: ¡°Ohh!¡± Cafeteria Lady: ¡°Eheheheh here ya go young¡¯un. Do you want something for yer familiar there?¡± Ai: ¡°Yup! Can we have another cooked fish for him?¡± Cafeteria Lady: ¡°Sure thing!¡± The cafeteria lady smiles and plops another fish onto Ai¡¯s tray. Ai: ¡°Thank you!¡± Cafeteria Lady: ¡°Anytime.¡± Ai and Frederica walk over to two empty seats at a table and put their trays down and settle themselves down. Ai: ¡°Let¡¯s dig in!¡± Yen: ¡°Yup!¡± [The food looks good. As expected of a famous school huh.] The group digs into their meals. The Risotto is creamy and there are shrimp and peas in the Risotto. There are even herbs garnishing the top, adding the finishing touches. The fish has a golden brown crust and when broken open, is white and tender. Then, the final part. The cake. There are two dark brown layers separated by light brown icing. When bitten into, the cake is moist and not too sweet. The group finishes their meal and look satisfied. At this moment Mist rushes in through an open window. Mist: ¡°Yen! There are two wierdos fighting in an arena. Do you want to go watch?¡± Part 3 Mist¡¯s statement rouses the satisfied group from their stupor. Ai: ¡°Oh! Oh! Yen let¡¯s go see!¡± Yen: ¡°Sure.¡± [This should be a good experience for her and we can see actual fighting.] Mist: ¡°Then let¡¯s go.¡± Mist flies out the door and Yen and Ai quickly follow. Frederica leisurely follows after them with a smile on her face. -Arena- The group arrives at an arena about the size of a soccer field just circular rather than rectangular. There are two guys standing in the arena: one has dull green hair and the other has pale blue hair they are both about the same age as Ai maybe older. Yen: ¡°Hm. It hasn¡¯t started yet huh.¡± Mist: ¡°Just in time huh?¡± Yen: [More like were they just throwing insults at each other for the last 5 minutes it took for us to get here?] Frederica: ¡°These two are both nobles. They are from families that are against each other. It seems that their fathers have been fighting over this one store in the town recently.¡± Yen: [I thought so¡­ how petty. Well I guess we should just watch and see.] The group settles down and gets ready for some action. However, it seemed that the two competitors had different ideas. Ai: ¡°It¡¯s still not startingggg?¡± Yen: ¡°It seems that they are still throwing insults at each other? Do you want me to cast some magic to listen in?¡± Ai: ¡°That could be good.¡± Yen starts preparing his magic by gathering some of the mana in the air. Frederica: ¡°What is Yen doing?¡± Ai: ¡°He¡¯s casting some magic to help us hear what they are saying.¡± Frederica: ¡°Hm? Okay.¡± Yen finishes gathering the necessary mana and casts his spell. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Yen: ¡°Wind Whisper.¡± The wind mana creates a thin string that extends from the group to just above the two ¡°fighters.¡± Suddenly the voices of the two can be heard. Green boy: ¡°Be prepared Wishy Washy for today shall be your end!¡± Blue boy: ¡°Hah it will be you who shall meet his end Kelp Head! You won¡¯t be able to even touch me!¡± Green boy: ¡°AHAHAHA I will show you how much stronger than you I am Wet Pants! It will be you who will not be able to touch me!¡± Blue boy: ¡°Only my mother can call me Wet Pants how dare you! En garde!¡± Yen: [Ridiculous people¡­] ¡°It seems like it is starting now Ai.¡± Ai: ¡°Yay!¡± After the long wait the two boys take out their respective weapons. The green boy takes out a simple sword and the blue boy takes out a wand with an expensive looking blue stone embedded in it. Green boy: ¡°Haaaah!!!¡± The green boy rushes towards the blue boy who stands there preparing his magic. Blue boy: ¡°I call upon the elements of water to lend me strength and allow me to down my foes with my awesome might!¡± The boy says some extremely embarrassing lines and creates two arrows of water and throws them towards the swiftly approaching green boy. The arrows arc to the sides and attempt to pincer the green boy but the green boy spins around crazily and somehow or other destroys the arrows. Yen: [This all seems very ridiculous. That boy already looks like he¡¯s out of mana and the other one is almost passed out from dizziness.] Frederica: ¡°They are both ammatuer idiot nobles huh.¡± Frederica articulates the rude thoughts that Yen was having concisely and with greater strength. Blue boy: ¡°Hah hah hah you have forced me to do this Kelp Head! I will use my ultimate weapon on you!¡± The blue boy is out of breath and does not notice that the green boy is almost completely incapacitated from dizziness so he prepares his new spell. Blue boy: ¡°Elements of water grant me power to grind my enemies into a paste under my shoe! Alabalabadoobafoofaloobagabajoo!¡± Yen: [As always ridiculous¡­] No sooner than Yen had that thought did he see a monstrously large spear of water materialize above the blue haired kid. The blue haired kid faints from mana exhaustion. The spear begins to twirl and flies at the green haired boy with amazing speed. The boy looks as if he is about to die however, by a stroke of luck he trips over a pebble in his muddle headed state and the spear passes right over his head, nicking a few kelp like strands of hair from atop his head. The boy was lucky. However, the audience behind him was now in extreme danger. Yen: ¡°Ahh that looks dangerous.¡± The audience in that area was madly scrambling away from the area of impact but they would have been too slow. By the way. Yen and co. were also in the area. Frederica: ¡°We should get away let¡¯s go!¡± Ai: ¡°Hm that looks interesting can I hit it Yen?¡± Yen: ¡°Please don¡¯t. I¡¯ll deal with it.¡± Yen stands from his position in Ai¡¯s very warm and comfortable lap and prepares his magic with a twinkle in his eye. Part 4 Yen quickly gathers mana and forms his spell. Yen: [Hmm what would be good? Ah! I know!] Yen looks at the water spear and casts his spell. A huge amount of mana is used. Yen: ¡°Hole.¡± With just a simple word(meow) from Yen, the air in front of the spear distorts and a shadowy hole appears. The spear is sucked into the hole and disappears soundlessly. Yen turns to Ai and sits back on her lap. Yen: ¡°I¡¯m done now. Let¡¯s go back.¡± Ai: ¡°Okay. Why couldn¡¯t I just smash it apart though?¡± Ai picks Yen up and lodges a complaint with him. Yen: ¡°I haven¡¯t done much recently.¡± Ai: ¡°Hmm okay.¡± Ai puffs her cheeks out and is somewhat placated with Yen¡¯s answer. Only once they finish talking does Yen realize that everyone else is frozen in shock. Yen: ¡°Ai can you unfreeze Frederica?¡± Ai: ¡°Okay. Frederica? Fredericaaa?¡± Ai waves her hand in front of Frederca¡¯s face and calls out to her. Frederica wakes from her stupor with a flinch. Frederica: ¡°W-w-what was that!?!¡± Ai: ¡°Hm? Yen just used a spell?¡± Frederica: ¡°What was that absurd spell?! It made the magic attack just disappear!?¡± Ai: ¡°Well Yen is just super cool like that!¡± Yen looks on from Ai¡¯s embrace with a satisfied expression. Frederica: ¡°It¡¯s absurd for a familiar to do that much! Much less a cat! They are supposed to help with making magic and other things they don¡¯t usually attack with overwhelming attack power like that!¡± Frederica flails around yelling about the absurdity of Yen. Mist: ¡°Yen is just like that you know. He practiced magic for a few years before coming here.¡± Mist supplements some reasoning to go with the absurdity of Yen. -an hour later back at the dorm- Frederica has calmed down after her outburst at the arena. Frederica: ¡°Ahem¡­ I showed an unsightly side of myself back there¡­¡± Frederica looks awkwardly at the others and apologizes. Ai: ¡°It¡¯s fine it just shows that you know how cool Yen is!¡± Yen: [She is well mannered at least.] Frederica: ¡°Thank you. There may be some problems though with you showing off Yen like that though¡­¡± Ai: ¡°Like what?¡± Frederica: ¡°Someone may act violently and try to take Yen from you.¡± Ai: ¡°It¡¯s fine isn¡¯t it? I can just smash them and Yen is strong enough to protect himself too?¡± Frederica: ¡°But there may be even more powerful people than you that attack too. You should still be careful.¡± Yen: ¡°Ai, she is giving you good advice.¡± Ai: ¡°Okaaay.¡± Ai replies to the advice unenthusiastically. Yen: [How did you become like this? Was it Laia¡¯s influence?] ¡°sigh¡± Mist: ¡°You okay?¡± Yen: ¡°Yeah. Sure. Yup.¡± Suddenly there is a knock on the door. Old Woman: ¡°Ailith. There is a package for you. It seems to be your school materials.¡± Ai: ¡°Okay!¡± Ai leaps up enthusiastically and opens the door with a *whoosh*. The old woman is standing there with a relatively large package about the size of one Yen (1.5-2.5feet long). She hands it to Ai. Old Woman: ¡°Have fun with school. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll like it.¡± Ai: ¡°Yup! I will.¡± Ai closes the door after the Old Woman leaves and places the package on the floor. Frederica: ¡°Oh. Your books arrived already huh? Let¡¯s see what your mother signed you up for.¡± Frederica takes out a pen knife and slits open the package delicately. Yen: [Hope Laia didn¡¯t sign her up for something bad¡­] Yen and co. gather round the box and look at the school supplies Ai has received. Mist: ¡°Hmm ¡®History of the World¡¯, seems okay¡­¡± Yen: ¡°This is¡­ ¡®Magic 101¡¯? okay.¡± Ai: ¡°Ohh! ¡®Swords Mastery: The Path of Strength¡¯.¡± Yen: ¡°She actually signed you up for normal subjects!¡± Yen breaks down sobbing with joy. (Disclaimer: Cats can¡¯t cry from emotion.) Frederica looks at the strangely ¡°crying¡± cat and picks up another book. Frederica: ¡°Hm? ¡®History of Cats: The Life of the Best Familiars¡¯ This is one of the stranger classes¡­¡± Mist: ¡°Seems like you were too happy too fast Yen.¡± Yen now cries for another reason. Author''s Note: Sorry all of the ones that liked the stabby Ai... It doesn''t correspond with the new Chapter 9 I planned out so I changed it. Also sorry for the semi-long pause in updates. School has started for me and my club takes up a large amount of my time so I couldn''t find time to write. Chapter 9 Pt1 Author''s Note: If you haven''t read the redone chapter 8. Please do so because the story has changed direction. . . . . . . . . . . . . Did you read it? Sorry for those that did like it (I didn''t after rereading) I changed the story to go a bit slower. There will still be action eventually. Enjoy! It is the morning of the day of Ai¡¯s first day at school. Yen: [It¡¯s Ai¡¯s first day¡­ I hope nothing annoying happens.] Yen prays to whatever over ruler there is in this world that nothing bad would occur today as he wakes up. Ai wakes up with a stretch and a yawn. Ai: ¡°Gooodmwornyin Yen¡± Yen: ¡°Good morning.¡± Soon the others also wake up from their relaxed slumbers. Frederica: ¡°Good Morning Ai. Ready for school?¡± Frederica gets out of bed and retrieves her school uniform from its clothes hanger. She begins to get dressed for the day. Ai begins to do the same when she remembers something and looks at Yen. Ai: ¡°You go outside Yen. You¡¯re a guy after all.¡± She picks Yen up, opens the door, and lightly places him outside. As Yen listens to the rustling of clothes, his tail waves bag and forth. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Yen: [Drat I thought I could get away with it since I¡¯m a cat.] Mist: ¡°Don¡¯t be thinking any perverted thoughts Yen. It shows in your tail.¡± Mist admonishes Yen then flies out a window in the hallway to relax in a tree somewhere. The door opens and Ai and Frederica come out fully dressed in the school uniform, a black blazer with a top stitched skirt and a small cloak going over the shoulders down to the middle of their backs. Yen: ¡°Looks good on you.¡± Ai: ¡°Thanks Yen!¡± Ai picks Yen up and they walk to the cafeteria to eat breakfast. The group eats breakfast and leaves for the classrooms. (Not planning to go through a food show this time) Frederica: ¡°Which class do you have first?¡± Ai: ¡°Hmm Language it seems.¡± Frederica: ¡°Oh? Well. Have fun.¡± Ai: ¡°Okay!¡± Ai and Frederica part ways to go to classes. Ai: ¡°Hmmm I wonder where it is?¡± Yen: ¡°It should be over there.¡± Yen points to a door with Language and Writing written on it. Ai: ¡°Ah.¡± Yen: [It seems she really needs this class¡­] Yen and Ai enter the door. Chapter 9 Pt2 Author''s Note: Life holds people up it seems... Sorry for late release. Yen and Ai enter the classroom and inside sit 15 other students. The desks are arranged in 4 tiers with three desks per tier and two students per desk. Ai looks around for an empty seat and immediately spots a nice spot with sunlight next to a male student with dark purple hair. Ai: ¡°Good morning. Can I sit here?¡± Purple Hair: ¡°Oh! Sure this seat is open.¡± The guy gets up and pulls out the chair for Ai like a gentleman would. Ai: ¡°Thanks!¡± Ai sits down and smiles at her newfound seatmate as he reseats himself. Yen puts himself on the window sill. Purple Hair: ¡°It¡¯s no problem. I¡¯m just being courteous. What¡¯s your name by the way?¡± Ai: ¡°I¡¯m Ailith! My friends call me Ai! Who¡¯re you?¡± Purple Hair: ¡°I¡¯m Theodore. Theo for short. I¡¯m the son of a feudal lord.¡± Yen: [So he is a noble. He doesn¡¯t seem like those two dumbasses that were fighting in the arena.] Yen listens in closely to the conversation as they exchange information. Suddenly the door to the classroom opens and a sharp featured, brown haired man with glasses walks in with a large tome and slams it down on the teacher¡¯s podium. *BAM* Teacher: ¡°I am Mr. Olyver.¡± He enunciates each word he speaks. Mr. Olyver: ¡°I will be your teacher for this class. Now then. The seats you are currently sitting in will be your permanent. Permanent, seats.¡± Yen: [He seems to be rather strict. I hope Ai can handle this and doesn¡¯t do anything rash.] Mr. Olyver opens up his tome and starts taking role. He goes down the list alphabetically and when he confirms that all of the students are present he turns the page and starts teaching. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Mr. Olyver: ¡°Please open your book and turn to the chapter titled ¡®Reading For Meaning¡¯¡± Ai: ¡°Mmm. page¡­ page¡­¡± Yen: ¡°34¡± Ai: ¡°Thanks Yen!¡± Yen: [We may need to train her life skills rather than her combat skills in the dream world¡­ maybe I can drag someone else into the world to teach her.] While Yen wonders about what to do about Ai¡¯s literary skills, the teaching has begun. Mr. Olyver: ¡°Hmm everyone has found it now yes? How about¡­ Ailith, can you read the first paragraph for us?¡± Ai:¡±Okay! Umm how do I read this word?¡± Mr. Olyver: ¡°Literature.¡± Ai: ¡°Oh! Literature is a umm how about this one?¡± Mr. Olyver looks at Ai dumbfoundedly and immediately looks away and chooses someone else to read instead. The class passes without Ai getting a chance to read anything else. The bell rings with a deep, brass tone, signaling the ending of the first class of the day. Ai: ¡°Uuu Yen¡­ What should I do to get chosen more?¡± Teo: ¡°Maybe you could practice reading?¡± Ai: ¡°I didn¡¯t ask you¡­ but thanks anyways.¡± Teo: ¡°Sure thing. If you ever need help just ask me. You can usually find me in the library after school.¡± Ai: ¡°Kay.¡± Yen: [He seems like a nice guy.] ¡°Seems like you made a new friend huh Ai?¡± Ai: ¡°Yep. Now then. the next class is¡­ the Magic 101 class in the large lecture hall next to the library.¡± Yen: ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s go to it then.¡± Ai picks Yen up and they walk to the next class. Chapter 9 Pt3 Author''s Note: Sorry for the delay. I was busy. I should be writing another one soon though. Also happy Valentines Day! (If you have someone T_T) Ai and Yen arrive in front of wooden double doors with a wooden sign hanging on a hook next to them. Yen: ¡°Magic101: An introduction to unnatural phenomena It seems like we are here Ai.¡± Ai: ¡°Yeah I wonder if I can understand this course.¡± Yen: [I don¡¯t know either¡­] Yen reads out what is written on the sign and Ai looks skeptical as she opens the door. Inside is a set up just like the other classroom except that all the seats are filled. Ai: ¡°Hmm Yen should we just stand at the back then?¡± Ai looks around and asks for Yen¡¯s advice. Yen: ¡°No. I can just make a seat for us and I¡¯ll sit on your lap.¡± Ai: ¡°Okay.¡± Yen gathers earth mana and casts a spell. Yen: ¡°Create Chair¡± A chair grows out of the floor, forming itself into a plain four legged chair with a back. Ai: ¡°Hmm won¡¯t this be bad for the floor? The chair is connected to the ground.¡± Yen: ¡°It¡¯s okay. I¡¯ll turn it back afterwards.¡± Ai: ¡°Okay.¡± Ai nods and sits down and places Yen on her lap. This whole process is watched by a completely dumbfounded class. However, they are not given much time to stare when the teacher walks into the classroom. Magic Teacher: ¡°Okay class let¡¯s get ready for magic! Hm? What are you all looking at?¡± The teacher is an uptight looking young man with yellow wavy hair and wide eyes behind a silver monocle over his right eye. He is wearing a silver embroidered white robe. He looks at where all the eyes are looking at with interest but quickly loses it. Magic Teacher: ¡°Oh so it¡¯s just a magic chair. Make sure to revert it afterwards okay?¡± Ai: ¡°Okay. We will.¡± Magic Teacher: ¡°Good. My name is Jenson, there is no need for you to know my surname, and I am your teacher for Magic introduction and if you will be advancing, I will also be your teacher for advanced Magic Theory.¡± Yen: [He seems to be quite strong if he teaches a high level class.] Yen looks at the man with interest as he begins to teach. Jenson: ¡°Now. I will assume you plebs know nothing about magic and start at the beginning.¡± Jenson starts writing on the board by levitating a piece of chalk and controlling it. Jenson: ¡°We will start with the basic elements: Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Light, and Dark.¡± He draws a circle and a line on the board. Jenson: ¡°Now each one has weaknesses and strong points. Water smothers Fire. Fire consumes WInd. Wind weathers Earth. Earth consumes Water. And Light and Dark destroy each other.¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. He proceeds to draw images representing the 6 elements on the circle and line. Jenson: ¡°Most have two or three elements that they excel in. Any more and the mana becomes diluted and weak though there are some exceptions like the heroes of old.¡± Random Pleb: ¡°What if they only have one element?¡± Jenson: ¡°That is a good question. They usually have exceptional power and control in that one element or are exceptionally weak. Some of the heroes also only had one element.¡± Jenson takes a pause and sips some water. Jenson: ¡°Now then you can find your aptitude with these sheets of magic paper. When someone unskilled with mana holds this without a mana shielding like I am using at the moment, the sheet will become dyed with the colors of their elements. Yellow for Earth, Green for Wind, Blue for Water, Red for Fire, Beige for Light and black for Dark.¡± Jenson¡¯s hand is surrounded by a beige and blue swirling aura. Yen: [Is that how you make a mana shield? Interesting. Though that is probably just his imagination influencing it.] Jenson walks around and places a sheet of paper in front of each student. Yen creates a table in front of Ai. Jenson: ¡°Do you need this? It seems you are already proficient in magic.¡± Ai: ¡°Hm? Do you mean the table and chair? Yen made those.¡± Jenson looks down at Ai¡¯s lap. Jenson: ¡°The familiar?¡± Ai: ¡°Yep!¡± Jenson: ¡°¡­hm¡± He nods and places a sheet in front of Ai, Jenson: ¡°Okay. Now pick them up and see what your aptitude is. The whole class picks the sheets up and looks on with amazement as the sheets are slowly dyed colors starting from where they touched it. Comments of delight or and disappointment sound in the classroom. Ai: ¡°Hm. Yen I got beige and nothing else.¡± Yen: ¡°You are probably pretty strong with it so I don¡¯t think there is any need to worry.¡± Ai flaps the sheet around in front of Yen. Ai: ¡°Hmm I wonder what happens if I touch you with this?¡± Jenson: ¡°This paper only works with humans. Familiars have their own methods of figuring out their aptitudes. Beside each paper is only usable once.¡± Ai: ¡°Oh. Okay.¡± Jenson returns to the front of the room and claps his hand to gather the students¡¯ attention. Jenson: ¡°Okay. This is it for today¡¯s lesson. For homework you should find the chapter in the textbook and determine a good training regime based on your aptitudes and come in tomorrow with a basic understanding of how to use your mana.¡± The class concludes when the bell rings and the students gather their books and leave the classroom. Author''s Note: Again. Sorry for the delay in my already dead snail pace. Chapter 9 Pt4 Author''s Note: As promised here is another one. Though it isn''t much. When Yen and Ai leave the classroom they see Frederica outside and call out to her. Ai: ¡°Freddie! What are you doing?¡± Frederica walks over to the two of them when she notices them. Frederica: ¡°Hm? It is lunch time so I am going to the cafeteria to get some food to eat. I hear that there is some good chicken stir fry and vegetarian lasagna today.¡± Yen: ¡°That sounds good. Let¡¯s go check it out as well Ai. Laia might be there too.¡± Ai: ¡°Okay! Let¡¯s go then! Yen also seems to want to check it out.¡± Ai and Yen follow Frederica through the halls mingling with the crowd of like minded students until they finally reach a large room with many ceiling to ground windows and a long serving counter along one wall. Frederica: ¡°This is the campus cafeteria. It serves the same things as the dorm cafeteria just that it is larger. There are the seats on this floor and there is also a second floor covering half of the cafeteria to allow for more seating.¡± Ai: ¡°Ohhh!¡± Ai looks around excitedly as the group walks to the start of the serving counter. Frederica: ¡°Here is where they list out what there is to order today and how much each meal costs. There are expensive meals and inexpensive meals to suit the budgets of both noble and commoner wallets.¡± The group quickly chooses what they will eat. Yen: ¡°Get me a bowl of fried sardines Ai.¡± Ai: ¡°Okay Yen. Hmmm. I¡¯ll get a chicken stir fry with white rice. How about you Frederica?¡± Frederica: ¡°I¡¯ll get the same then.¡± The group orders their food and quickly finds a place to sit down and dig in. They sit on a 4 person table on the second floor. Yen: [There is a pretty nice view from up here you can see most of the garden outside.] Ai: ¡°Mm this is delicious!¡± Frederica: ¡°It certainly is.¡± Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Yen looks at the scenery outside the window as he chomps down on his sardines while Ai and Frederica enjoy the stir fry. Suddenly they hear steps coming up to them and they all look at who came. Ai: ¡°Oh! It¡¯s Theo! Are you here to eat too?¡± Theo: ¡°We meet again Ai. Yes I am here to eat. I got this wonderful lasagna.¡± Yen: [Him again huh.] Frederica: ¡°Oh? You are the son of that border feudal lord?¡± Theo: ¡°It seems that you are aware of my father¡¯s reputation. Hehe. Yes that man is my father.¡± Frederica: ¡°I didn¡¯t think he would send his prized only son to school so far away from him.¡± Theo: ¡°Well after I persuaded him, he allowed me to attend.¡± Ai looks at the two with a miffed expression. She poofs a cheek up and looks at Yen. Ai: ¡°I don¡¯t understand who they are referring to Yen. Do you?¡± Yen: ¡°Nope.¡± [Does he have an overprotective father?] Yen shakes his head in denial at Ai¡¯s question. Frederica: ¡°Ah we were just exchanging pleasantries. Come, sit Theodore.¡± Theo: ¡°Thank you.¡± Theodore sits down and joins the group in their meal. Frederica: ¡°So. Ai. There should be one more class left in today¡¯s school day. Which do you have?¡± Ai: ¡°Hmm it should be swords mastery. I think it should be fun.¡± Theo: ¡°Oh? I have that class as well. We can walk there together.¡± Ai: ¡°Okay.¡± Frederica: ¡°I hear that that class has an interesting teacher. Be careful not to get hurt you two.¡± Yen: [I¡¯m pretty sure that Ai will be completely fine. I worry more for the teacher¡­] Ai: ¡°Okay.¡± Theo: ¡°Thank you for your advice.¡± The group finishes eating and leaves for their next classes. Author''s Note: I feel like Yen is saying less and less... Chapter 9 Pt5 Author''s Note: Enjoy I suppose. Yen, Ai, and Theo are walking towards the swords mastery class together. Ai: ¡°I wonder what the teacher is like if there are dangerous rumors about him?¡± Yen: [I think he may be similar to you¡­] Theo: ¡°I hear that he is a descendent of the former hero of the vanguard. Also that he is extremely violent with his lessons.¡± Yen: [Just like Ai¡­] Ai: ¡°Hmmm¡­. Sounds like fun.¡± Ai mutters under her breath a statement that is only heard by Yen. The group arrives at their destination, a large, square field about the size of 100 meters per side. It is riddled with small craters and large chunks of gouged out ground. There are 5 students standing in the field in front of a muscular bald man with only pants and boots on. The resemblance to the Buff Hero can be seen. The man nods when he notices Ai and Theo standing with the group. Yen is sitting outside of the boundaries of the field. Topless Muscle: ¡°Good all of the students that should be here are here. We can now begin the swords mastery class. I would like to welcome you all.¡± The teacher looks over at the group and selects out one of the students. Topless Muscle: ¡°You. Take out your sword and stand over there.¡± Hopeless Pleb: ¡°Me?¡± Topless Muscle: ¡°Yes you. I will be testing each of you for your swords skills personally.¡± Yen: [Ahh I feel sorry for that kid¡­] The student walks over to where the teacher told him to go and took out a rapier. Topless Muscle: ¡°Come at me with the best you have.¡± The teacher tells him to attack while he takes out a long sword and holds it with both hands. Hopeless Pleb: ¡°Ahhhhhhh!!¡± The student rushes at the teacher¡­ and is blown away to the skies. When he finally falls back down he creates a small crater. Healers, apparently on standby, rush out to the student and carry him away on a stretcher. Yen: [Yup. Really sorry.] This scenario repeats with the other four students as well. No matter what weapon they took out, a dagger, a short sword, a cutlass, they were all sent flying and made their mark on the earth. Finally it was Theo¡¯s turn. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Topless Muscle: ¡°Your turn, pretty boy.¡± Theo: ¡°Yes!¡± Theo rushes at the teacher with swift footwork, taking an indirect route. His purple hair swishes in the wind created by his approach. He uses quickdraw and unsheathes his katana and aims for the teacher. Topless Muscle: ¡°Haha! Interesting! You have some skill pretty boy!¡± The teacher deflects Theo¡¯s attack with his sword and grabs Theo¡¯s hand and throws Theo into the air lightly. Theo falls onto the ground and becomes unconscious but he does not create a crater nor is he severely injured. Yen: [Rest in peace Theo. Ai will probably avenge you.] Topless Muscle: ¡°It¡¯s your turn missy. You can turn back now if you want but I feel that you don¡¯t want that. The new teacher, Ms. Laia told me about you.¡± The teacher grins at the last remaining student, Ai, and waves her over to provoke her. Ai: ¡°Hehe bald man you seem like fun to fight!¡± Ai immediately pulls out her long sword and rushes at the teacher with a smile on her face. Her movement was almost imperceptible to untrained eyes. The teacher¡¯s grin widens and he lifts his sword up just in time to block Ai¡¯s blow. His feet sink into the ground slightly. Topless Muscle: ¡°Your skills are good! Haaah!¡± The teacher swipes with his sword and Ai uses the force from the blow to spin up into the air and falls with the force of gravity to add weight to her blow. The teacher¡¯s feet sink further into the ground. Topless Muscle: ¡°Good! You pass! We can stop now!¡± The teacher yells at Ai but Ai does not stop. She continues to attack him with fervor. Topless Muscle: ¡°Stop!¡± Ai: ¡°Haaah!¡± Topless Muscle: ¡°W-wait! Ooof!¡± The teacher is hit in the stomach with the pommel of Ai¡¯s sword and then is hit on the top of his head with the (extremely)blunted blade of the sword. He passes out immediately. Ai: ¡°Hahaha! I won!¡± Yen walks up to Ai. Yen: ¡°That wasn¡¯t the purpose¡­¡± Ai: ¡°It wasn¡¯t?¡± Ai looks befuddled. Yen: *sigh* And so concluded the Ai¡¯s first swords mastery class. Chapter 9 Pt6 Author''s Note: This one is extremely short but to make up for it I will release the first part of the next chapter tomorrow. In the end all of the people there with the exception of Ai and Yen were carried to the infirmary. Yen: [It seems that they are quite used to injuries in this class. The teacher probably isn¡¯t usually the one taken to the infirmary though¡­] Ai and Yen are back in their dormitory room after the day¡¯s classes ended. Yen: ¡°Ai. You shouldn¡¯t have knocked your teacher out¡­¡± Ai: ¡°Ok¡­ but it was fun¡­¡± Yen: ¡°Learn some restraint.¡± Ai sits meekly in front of Yen as he scolds her lightly. Then there is a knock on the door and Frederica enters. Frederica: ¡°I heard what happened at the swords class! It¡¯s all over the school now! Hm? Why do you look so down?¡± She enters with excitement but pauses once she notices the fact that Ai is sitting awkwardly in front of Yen. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Ai: ¡°Oh¡­ Welcome back Freddie. Yen is scolding me for going overboard¡­¡± Frederica: ¡°Why? Injuries like those are normal in that class though it is usually not the teacher.¡± Yen: ¡°Even if it is normal¡­ Ai Do not go overboard.¡± Ai: ¡°Okay.¡± Frederica looks puzzledly at the conversation between cat and girl then puts a smile on her face. Frederica: ¡°Anyways. Let¡¯s go eat. It¡¯s dinner time.¡± Ai: ¡°Okay!¡± Ai jumps up in excitement and follows Frederica out the door. Yen: [I guess I¡¯ll follow them then.] Yen makes for the door but suddenly stops. Yen: [ugh? What the?] His vision suddenly goes black and he collapses to the floor tiredly. Author''s Note: Did I mention extremely short? :3 Chapter 10 Pt1 Author''s note: Hey. Here it is as promised. Yen wakes up groggily and looks around. Laia is next to the bed looking worriedly at him. Laia: ¡°What happened Yen?¡± Yen: ¡°I don¡¯t know. How did I get on the bed?¡± Laia: ¡°I came to see Ai but she was talking enthusiastically with her roommate in the cafeteria so I came directly to her room to wait for her and found you.¡± Yen: ¡°Did Ai see me?¡± Laia: ¡°No she is still down in the cafeteria.¡± Yen: ¡°Good.¡± There is a lull in the conversation. Crickets can be heard chirping outside the window. Laia: ¡°Is this something due to your advancing age?¡± Yen: ¡°I am guessing that it is. I need to find a method to remedy this quickly.¡± Yen Gets up and starts walking towards the door slowly. Laia: ¡°Where are you going?¡± Yen: ¡°I think the library might have something to help. I can¡¯t think of any magics to remedy my problems but maybe someone else has.¡± Laia: ¡°Let me help you out.¡± Laia picks Yen up and she starts quickly walking out. Yen: ¡°Thanks.¡± On the way out they meet Ai and Frederica. Ai: ¡°Hi ma! Where are you going?¡± Frederica: ¡°Good evening teacher.¡± Ai runs up to Laia and Yen and Frederica greets them. Laia: ¡°Oh Ai. Yen and I are going to the library. There is something that Yen wants to research. We¡¯ll come back later to talk about how your first day went.¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Ai: ¡°Mm? Okay then. See you guys later!¡± Ai waves Laia and Yen off as they walk out the front door of the dormitory. Laia: ¡°Are you sure you want to keep this a secret from Ai?¡± Yen: ¡°Yeah. If all goes well and we find what we need, she won¡¯t be affected at all.¡± Laia and Yen walk along the path leading to the library, a building with an overhang supported by many stone pillars. Yen and Laia enter the library and encounter a librarian. Librarian: ¡°Madam, the library will be closing soon.¡± Laia: ¡°I am a teacher. Let me through I have something I want to research.¡± Laia hands over her teacher¡¯s license and the librarian looks at it. Librarian: ¡°Okay. You may pass.¡± The librarian waves them in and they enter the library. The library is a large domed building with many floors and an open middle area with a skylight at the top. Innumerable shelves full of books line the walls and a create aisles in an orderly fashion. Yen: ¡°There is quite a number of books here huh?¡± Laia: ¡°Yep. Despite his perverted tendencies, Jinali is a bibliophile.¡± Yen: ¡°That so?¡± Yen and Laia wander the aisles looking for the right books. Chapter 10 Pt2 Author''s note: sorry about my lateness. I was lazy over the weekend. So meh. Enjoy. Yen and Laia are seated at a table with stacks of books in front of them. Laia: ¡°Do you think any of these will have what you want in them?¡± Yen: ¡°Well¡­ maybe. We just have to look for it.¡± Laia: ¡°Alright do you want to start at that end of the stack and I¡¯ll start at this end of the stack?¡± Yen: ¡°Sounds good.¡± Laia and Yen begin sifting through the books silently. Yen: [Transmutation magic, Transformation magic, Immortality magic¡­ none of those books seem to have what I am looking for.] Laia: ¡°Hey¡­ Yen?¡± Yen: ¡°Yes?¡± Laia: ¡°What are you looking for?¡± Yen: [¡­] ¡°Maybe something to turn me into something with a longer lifespan like a human or something else.¡± Laia: ¡°Okay.¡± Flip. flip. Flip. The pages softly turn as time passes. ¨CFive hours later¨C Laia and Yen continue to flip through the books. The pile is now considerably smaller. Laia is struggling to keep her eyes open. Suddenly Yen sees a thin picture book in one of the other books. Yen: [I wonder why this is in here?] He takes it out and opens it up to the first page. ¡ª Once in the past, there was a great hero who could talk to animals. He ran around the world saving people and taming any beasts he saw. One day his cat, his first tamed beast, was dying from age so he asked his good friend who was a master magician to freeze his cat to preserve its life until he could develop a solution.His friend agreed and the cat was frozen in time. The development of the spell took many years but in the end he created a spell circle to turn his cat partially into a person. He unfroze his best friend and performed the spell on her and though he succeeded, his companion did not turn fully into a human but could freely transform between a cat form and a human form. Even so, the hero and his companion continued their adventures together for the rest of their lives. The End. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.¡ª Yen: [This seems like what I am looking for¡­ but I don¡¯t know what the magic circle looks like.] Yen ponders over the information contained within the picture book as he sits there. Yen: [The magic circle might just be created from his imagination since magic in this world is based on the imagination of the caster.] Laia is completely asleep now. Yen looks over at her and then jumps off the table. Yen: [F**k it. I¡¯ll just try it out and if it doesn¡¯t work then oh well!] Yen walks a little way away and sits under a skylight with the moon shining through it. Yen: [Some paper and some of my blood should probably be enough as a medium for the spell.] Yen takes a 1 meter by 1 meter sheet of paper from his interdimensional storage spell and lays it on the ground. Then he creates an ice needle and lightly pricks his finger. Blood begins to well up from the wound and Yen uses magic to guide it onto the paper to create the magic circle. He draws one large circle taking up most of the paper. Then he draws a Venn diagram inside the circle with a rough image of a cat on one side and a rough image of a human on the other. In the middle there is a knot. Yen stands on the cat side and tries injecting mana into the circle but nothing happens. Yen: [Seems like I am missing something here? Perhaps I should get something in the human side as well?] Yen looks around for something to put into the other end then sees that he seems to have a strand of Laia¡¯s light blue hair stuck onto him. Yen: [This should do.] Yen places the hair into the circle and injects mana into the formation again. This time however, it starts glowing and the blood dries up and turns into a revolving circle of light as it floats half a foot into the air. Yen: [Please let this work!] *BANG!* an explosion of smoke appears as a result of the spell. Author''s Note: Haha! cliffhanger! There will be another part tomorrow since I have the time. Chapter 10 Pt3 Author''s Note: As promised! Enjoy! The smoke slowly clears from the area where Yen performed his spell. Laia seemed to have been awoken by the loud noise and she quickly runs to where the sound came from. Laia: ¡°Yen?! Yen?! What happened?!¡± Laia quickly uses wind magic to clear the smoke away. Laia: ¡°Breeze!¡± A wind blows through and clears the smoke away. Laying in the middle of a beam of moonlight lies a handsome young man dressed in a gray suit with gray hair and light blue highlights. He is about 5 foot 10 inches tall (1.778 meters). He also happens to have cat ears and a tail. Laia: ¡°What? Is that you Yen? What happened?¡± The man slowly opens his eyes in response to Laia¡¯s call. Yen: ¡°Urgh? What is it Laia?¡± [I feel strange¡­ Hm?] Yen holds up his new found hands up to his face. Yen: ¡°Haha. hahahaha! Yes! It worked! Laia it worked!¡± Yen jumps up and hugs Laia tightly then proceeds to fall down on the ground and sleep while reverting back to a cat. Laia: ¡°¡­ I guess I¡¯ll just wait until you wake up to tell me what happened then¡­¡± ¨CDream World¨C Yen wakes up in a mossy clearing amidst humongous trees reaching up into the skies with very little sunlight peeking through the canopy. Yen: [This seems like the dream world?] ¡°Hm? I thought the spell succeeded?¡± Yen had reverted back to his former cat self just with a few added highlights of light blue. ???: ¡°Yes the spell did succeed but it could also be called incomplete.¡± Yen: [Sigh. Is it another eccentric hero?] ¡°Who are you?¡± A man comes around from a tree and approaches Yen. ???: ¡°I am the hero of magic, Hyseene. It seems that you have been chosen as my successor so I came to talk to you a bit.¡± Yen: ¡°Is that so? Why have I been chosen now? My magic skills haven¡¯t changed at all. Also, what is that about a mistake in my spell?¡± Hyseene: ¡°Only humans and related species can be chosen as heroes. Since you were a cat before, you didn¡¯t fulfill the main requirement despite having the magic talent. Also you performed a spell without any prior testing of the effects and just based it off your imagination! Of course you won¡¯t get exactly the results you want.¡± Yen: ¡°I see¡­ So what else did you want to talk to me about?¡± Hyseene: ¡°It is about your future. Come. Sit.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Hyseene creates two chairs and a table from earth magic and snaps his fingers. Some birds fly from god knows where and pour some tea into two teacups on the table. Yen and Hyseene sit down and stare at each other from across the table. Hyseene takes a sip of the tea. Hyseene: ¡°So in the first place your magic is already sufficiently strong even among past heroes so I have nothing to teach you other than to test your spells sufficiently before performing them or else something may go wrong.¡± Yen: [Hm I was in a bit too much of a panic then¡­] ¡°Alright. And?¡± Hyseene: ¡°Hm? Nothing else. You may leave.¡± An awkward silence pervades the clearing. Yen: ¡°Uh¡­ Ah¡­ I¡¯ll take my leave then.¡± Hyseene: ¡°Alright then. Never come back also figure out how to control your transformations or else you will have quite an annoying life.¡± Yen: ¡°Ah okay¡­ I¡¯ll take your advice then.¡± Yen activates his dream travel skill and leaves the dream world to return to the normal world. ¨CReal World¨C Yen wakes up from his dreams and finds himself snuggled in Laia¡¯s embrace (As a cat) in what is presumably her room. Yen: [So I am still in cat form. I have probably stopped the death by aging. Anyways I should get out of here¡­] Yen tries to escape the embrace but is only hugged harder. Yen: ¡°Gah!¡± Laia slowly opens her eys. Laia: ¡°Hm? So you are up now are you Yen?¡± She releases Yen and he scampers out of her embrace. Laia: ¡°So what did you do to yourself? You were a cat person back there.¡± Yen: ¡°Ah I tried out a new spell and succeeded partially.¡± Laia: ¡°Partially? How so?¡± Yen: ¡°I was successful in increasing my age but I meant to turn completely into a humanoid form not with the ability to switch between forms.¡± Laia: ¡°Is that so? Anyways don¡¯t do such dangerous things on your own again. I understand that you were hurried but waking me up to help out would have been a good idea.¡± Yen: ¡°Your advice is duly noted.¡± There is a short pause in the conversation and Laia hugs Yen and lifts him up. Laia: ¡°Anyways! Congratulations on staying alive Yen!¡± Yen: ¡°Thanks Laia.¡± Laia: ¡°Hmm you should get going to Ai now. She might be getting lonely hehe.¡± Yen: ¡°Alright you take care too Laia.¡± Yen and Laia part ways and prepare for the second day at school. Chapter 10 Pt4 Author''s note: Hey. I''m back. I had real life business. Enjoy. Yen trots back to the dorm room to return to Ai. He walks in and sees that Ai is still sleeping peacefully. Yen: [Phew] ¡°It seems that she didn¡¯t suspect anything.¡± Yen climbs onto the bed and sits next to her. Yen: ¡°Ai¡­ if you don¡¯t wake up you might be late for breakfast.¡± Ai: ¡°Mn?¡± Ai wakes up sluggishly and looks over at Yen. Ai: ¡°Hi Yen. When did you come back?¡± Yen: ¡°I just got back. Anything happen last night?¡± Ai: ¡°Mmm Freddie and I just talked a bit then we went to sleep.¡± Yen: ¡°I see.¡± Yen looks around the room. Yen: ¡°It seems that Frederica has already gone down for breakfast. We should go too.¡± Ai: ¡°Okay.¡± Ai quickly gets dressed and they go to the dining hall. Yen: ¡°I think that is Frederica over there. Let¡¯s get our food and go over.¡± Ai: ¡°Okay.¡± Ai and Yen get their food and then move over to Frederica to sit down. Frederica looks at them in surprise. Frederica: ¡°Oh? I was going to get you some food since you fell asleep pretty late last night without Yen near you.¡± Yen looks over at a slightly sweating Ai. Yen: ¡°I thought that you said that there were no problems last night?¡± Ai: ¡°um¡­ I was worried without you to hug¡­¡± Yen: ¡°¡­¡± [Well¡­ I am a plushie.] Ai: ¡°mmuur¡­ Freddie why did you have to tell him?¡± Ai whines to Frederica but quiets after she hears that the whole dining hall had fallen silent and sees that Frederica is staring at Yen with eyes wide open and mouth slightly ajar. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Ai: ¡°Hm? What¡¯s wrong?¡± At Ai¡¯s query, Frederica starts and jumps up almost knocking her chair into the students sitting behind her. Frederica: ¡°Come with me you too Yen.¡± Ai: ¡°Hm? Okay.¡± Ai¡¯s hand is grabbed by Frederica and they move back to their room. Ai: ¡°What is wrong Frederica?¡± Frederica: ¡°Do you know what just happened?¡± Ai: ¡°No. That is why I¡¯m asking you.¡± Frederica: ¡°Do. You. Know. What. Just. Happened.¡± Yen: [No¡­ she just said she didn¡¯t¡­] Ai: ¡°Tell me?¡± Frederica takes a few deep breaths and spoke in a low voice. Frederica: ¡°I could understand what Yen was saying.¡± Ai: ¡°Hm? Is that impressive?¡± Yen: [Hm? How is that?] ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that you and Laia should be the only ones that understand me.¡± Ai: ¡°Ohhhh.¡± Frederica: ¡°Yeah so what the flip changed?!¡± Frederica starts flipping out about the current situation when Mist flies into the room. Mist: ¡°Hm? Yen did something happen last night? The contract was flickering on and off last night. Even though that only happens when the contractor is close to dieing.¡± Now it was Yen¡¯s turn to start sweating (Again. Cats do not actually sweat). Ai: ¡°What is this about Yen? What were you doing last night?¡± Ai sported a smile on her face but the aura she released was certainly far from warm. Yen: ¡°Ugh¡­¡± [Craaaaaaap] Chapter 10 Pt5 Author''s Note: This part is super short (I hesitate to call it a part) but I''ll make it up to you all later(Something like Wednesday or Thursday. Just think of it like a late April fools. (The part is real though.) Yen was receiving threat vibes from the way Ai was looking at him. Yen: ¡°Urf¡­. Um¡­. I was just reading some books with Laia in the library.¡± Ai: ¡°Hmm? That so?¡± Ai continues to look skeptically at Yen. Yen: ¡°Y-y-yeah just ask Laia later.¡± Ai continues to stare at Yen then lets out a sigh. Ai: ¡°Humf. Fine I¡¯ll do that but for now you will cuddle with me all morning.¡± Ai picks up the relieved Yen and begins to pet him intensely. Mist: ¡°I am sure that you disappeared for a moment though¡­¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Yen: [That¡¯s cuz it happened¡­] ¡°Haaa that feels so good.¡± Yen lets out a sigh from the soft caress of Ai¡¯s hands. Frederica stands at the side awkwardly looking at them. Frederica: ¡°Anyways! Why can I understand Yen now?!¡± Yen: ¡°Ah! That. Mm! Is. Oooh. because Laia. Hahh. thought. Mm. that it was inconveni-ooh-ent that I couldaahnt talk.¡± Suddenly the petting intensifies." [Nooooooo!] Ai: ¡°So did you lie to me that you were only reading? Hm?¡± Yen: ¡°Ahhhhhhhh!¡± The pitiful scream (maybe with a pinch of pleasure) echoed throughout the dormitories that morning. Author''s Note: Again sorry so very much. Intermission 1 Pt1 Author''s note: Hello all. I''m back with more Magicat. ~Ai Perspective~ Yen sleeps soundly on the bed. Ai: [Hmm the interrogation did not go well I thought he would spill after he experienced my skills.] Ai looks down at the sleeping Yen frustratedly. Ai: ¡°Maybe I should interrogate him again later¡­¡± Frederica: ¡°Yes, yes we need to go to classes now though since the first class is going to start soon.¡± Frederica pulls Ai out of the room and closes the door behind them. Ai: ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll pet him again when we get back from class.¡± Ai and Frederica start running to class. ¨CIn class¨C History teacher: ¡°Today we will learn about the long and extensive history of the Holy Country of Aspen.¡± Ai: [Blah blah¡­ so boooring. The last few days have been exciting though they were also rather sudden what with mom suddenly deciding to move us to the school on a whim.] Ai sighs at the suddenness of it all. Ai: [The school is nice and I¡¯ve made friends here so that¡¯s great. I also got to see Yen casting cool magic which is rare since there weren¡¯t many chances back at the old home. I¡¯m kinda bad at magic so it is fun seeing his spells.] Ai lays her head down on the table and her eyes slowly close. The teacher doesn¡¯t notice her actions since half the class is also sleeping. Ai: *Yaaawn* [I wonder what happened last night though¡­ I couldn¡¯t sleep cause I was worried about Yen but it seems like he¡¯s okay now¡­] *zzzzzz* Ai falls asleep and begins snoring loudly. Of course, the teacher doesn¡¯t seem to care since by now ? of the class was asleep. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¨CAfter Class¨C *Bing Bong Bing Bong* The bells for the end of class toll slowly and rouse Ai from her pleasant nap. Ai: ¡°Fueh? Ah it¡¯s the end of class¡­ I should go look for Freddie now since we have self improvement this period.¡± Ai gets up from her seat and walks out of the class. Ai: [Hmm she said she would be waiting in front of the library for me so that we could go to the training field together.] Ai quickly finds Frederica sitting on a bench outside the library. Ai: ¡°Freddie!¡± Frederica: ¡°Hello Ai. How was history class?¡± Ai: ¡°Hm? What history class?¡± Frederica sighs and whispers to herself. Frederica: ¡°Ah¡­ I see she fell asleep huh¡­¡± Ai: ¡°Did you say something Freddie?¡± Frederica: ¡°Nope, nothing. Let¡¯s go to the training field,¡± Ai: ¡°Okay.¡± Ai and Frederica walk towards the training field while chatting a bit. Frederica: ¡°These uniforms are quite high tech you know?¡± Ai: ¡°Really? How so?¡± Frederica tugs at the fabric a bit. Frederica: ¡°This fabric is imbued with magic and can take a fairly good amount of wear and tear. Though it won¡¯t prevent blades, it can mitigate some magic damage and won¡¯t tear easily.¡± Ai: ¡°Huh¡­ I thought that was normal since Yen makes some magic fabric for mom often.¡± Frederica: ¡°Yen is quite talented huh.¡± Ai: ¡°Yup! He¡¯s the best.¡± Ai and Frederica end their conversation when they reach the training field. Author''s Note: Doing an intermission for Ai cuz Yen was out for the count. Intermission 1 Pt2 Author''s Note: Laziness strikes. In the training field that Ai and Frederica arrive at, many students are flinging magic at each other or clashing with their chosen weapons. Ai and Frederica move to an empty space and do some preliminary stretches. Ai: ¡°Fredie can you teach me how to use my magic? I haven¡¯t been able to ask Yen and we only tested for elements in class.¡± Frederica: ¡°Sure. There really isn¡¯t much of a need to rush though since you will take the first few lessons learning the basics.¡± Ai and Frederica finish their stretches and face each other. Frederica: ¡°Okay. Have you been able to see and feel mana yet?¡± Ai: ¡°Yep! It was in the first few pages of the textbook.¡± Frederica: ¡°How is it that you can read that book and not other books¡­¡± Ai: ¡°Hm? What are you talking about?¡± Frederica: ¡°Haah¡­ It¡¯s nothing¡± Frederica quietly asks herself why it is that Ai is able to read one book but not others as Ai tilts her head in confusion. Frederica: ¡°Anyways since you already understand that then we can start.¡± Ai: ¡°Okay!¡± Frederica: ¡°Sense the mana in the air and bring it into your body to convert it into your element.¡± Ai concentrates on the task. Ai: [Hng¡­ concentrate. The mana. Bring it in.] Ai views the mana which looks like a flowing river and slowly gathers small flows to her body. When the streams enter her body, her body automatically converts it into light mana. Ai: [Success!] ¡°I did it Freddie! What now?¡± Frederica: ¡°Hmm try a basic spell like an element ball then.¡± Ai: ¡°How do I do that? Do I just imagine it?¡± Frederica: ¡°While some like Yen can do it based purely off imagination it seems, it is usually easier for beginners to use a chant to consolidate an image though, when some get too used to chants, they can¡¯t break from the habit.¡± Ai: ¡°Okay then. I¡¯ll try something.¡± Ai takes a deep breath and makes a chant. Ai: ¡°Light. Gather.¡± An orb of light forms in between Ai¡¯s outstretched hands. Ai: ¡°Haha! This is great!¡± Ai throws the light ball around, playing around with it. Frederica claps at Ai¡¯s success. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Frederica: ¡°Great job Ai! You figured it out really fast!¡± The light ball disappears and Ai looks at Frederica again. Ai: ¡°What elements are you proficient with Freddie?¡± Frederica: ¡°Oh. I can use Fire, Wind, and Dark elements. I am the best at dark though.¡± Ai looked at Frederica while thinking. Frederica: ¡°Do you want to see some of my magic?¡± Ai: ¡°Yup! How did you know?¡± Frederica smiles at Ai and gathers some mana. Frederica: ¡°After a few days with you it¡¯s natural that I understand you a bit.¡± Ai: ¡°Is that so?¡± Frederica: ¡°Yep now I¡¯ll show you some of my magic.¡± ¡°Darkness, become my blade.¡± Frederica holds out her hand and a knife of darkness forms from the shadow created by her uniform on her arm. She grasps the knife and lightly swings it around. Ai: ¡°That¡¯s so cool!¡± Ai looks at Frederica with shining eyes. Frederica smiles at Ai¡¯s reaction and chants another spell. Frederica: ¡°Wind, sharpen my blade.¡± A layer of air surrounds the knife of darkness seemingly making the edge keener. Ai: ¡°Woow so it¡¯s possible to use two elements at the same time like this!¡± Frederica dispels the magic and dusts off her impeccable hands. Frederica: ¡°Yup though it only works if both elements are your own since mana produced by two different people usually does not synergize well. Since you only have one element you could probably coat your sword instead.¡± Ai: ¡°Hmm I guess I could try that.¡± Ai picks up a practice sword and chants. Ai: ¡°Light, empower my sword.¡± An intense brilliance covers the dull sword and it transforms into a blinding sword of light, attracting the attention of all the students practicing at the moment. Frederica: ¡°Ai. Dispel the magic!¡± Ai: ¡°Hm? Okay.¡± Ai dispels the magic and the light blade explodes into particles of light as it disappears. The surroundings murmur in gossip as people talk about what they just saw. Frederica: ¡°Okay. I think that¡¯s enough practice for today.¡± Frederica grabs Ai¡¯s hand and walks out of the training field. Ai: ¡°Okay?¡± Ai looks puzzledly at Frederica¡¯s impatience.