《ArchMagus》 (Volume 1) Chapter 1 New writer here. Please feel free to do some constructive criticism, it helps me out. ______________________________________________________________________________________ In the plains of Phantasia, lies our village of Aglia. Our village is only consisted of about 50 people, it¡¯s not a very sizable one, but we make do every day by hunting wildlife, gathering edible plants and farming. Not very many people reside in the Continent of Phantasia, even though it¡¯s the largest Continent in the World. This is because the whole continent is filled with very dangerous creatures which can wipe out a whole continent. Our ancestors must¡¯ve went through great deals of troubles in order to establish villages in this continent. Even with this Continent crawling with dangerous beasts, it¡¯s still a major spot for hunting for food for the people in the other Continents. We even get nobles visiting us for a test of strength. ¡°Chris! Hurry we need to go! You¡¯re the only one we¡¯re waiting on!¡± My father, Amarty called out to me while on his horse and a bow on his back. My relationship with my dad isn¡¯t really all that good, but we aren¡¯t fighting or anything. It¡¯s just we seldom speak to each other or even see each other. Only on occasions like this Hunting Expedition do we get to speak to each other. But even then, no father ¨C son bonding ever occurs. ¡°Heading over now!¡± I replied with a shout. Today¡¯s hunting expedition is consisted of 10 people, including me. There usually aren¡¯t any female members when we go out hunting. That¡¯s because they usually don¡¯t have the same strength as men does, but that doesn¡¯t mean that they can¡¯t be as strong as the average male. They can come if they wanted to, it¡¯s just that they choose not to. My girlfriend Karen is one of those females that are willing to go with us. When it comes to shooting a bow and arrow, no one comes close to her skill. ¡°Slow poke.¡± Karen greeted me with a smile as I reached my horse. ¡°Well, I was buying supplies and spares for traps.¡± I replied back with a smile as I get up on my horse. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± My father commanded the expedition and led the way outside the village entrance. From the village entrance, the forest where were going can be seen as a silhouette in the distance, it was a good thirty minutes by horse ride. ¡°So, how was my cooking?¡± Karen started a conversation with me as we rode to the forest. ¡°At least this time it¡¯s edible¡­ The last time, only one bite and I end up gagging¡­¡± I recalled how horrible her cooking was yesterday. It made me want to barf as I remember. ~Ugh, I thought women were supposed to be good at cooking?~ ¡°Really?! YAY! That means I¡¯m getting better!¡± Karen thrusted one hand to the air doing a kind of victory pose. ¡°Right¡­ I don¡¯t understand it though Karen¡­ You¡¯re just cooking simple stew, how the hell do you end up with something completely different and almost kills people?¡± I asked, trying to find out what can be done to help her out. ¡°That¡¯s rude. Well¡­ In yesterday¡¯s I put in apple juice and grape juice.¡± ¡°¡­Apple juice¡­? Grape juice¡­? What¡­?¡± I was dumbfounded and can¡¯t organize my thoughts. ¡°We¡¯re here!¡± My father shouted, snapping me back to reality. The forest before us was very dense with trees and plants, very little light passes through it. ¡°Alright. We proceed on foot. Tie your horses to the trees.¡± My father said to us and made everyone dismount. We tied the horses¡¯ reigns on the trees so they won¡¯t run away when we¡¯re inside the forest. We walked quite a few ways in the forest, making as little sound as possible. We took care so we don¡¯t unintentionally scare off potential game. My father then stopped and signaled us to stop. He studied the surroundings. Everyone was confused because they don¡¯t see, hear or smell anything. I looked around and scanned the area. ~If only I can use a High Level Magic, I can enhance my eyes to where I can see whole continents away.~ I sighed heavily at my own incompetence. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Karen patted my shoulder, her long blonde hair that reached to her shoulders were a bit untidy and was getting on her face. Her face is very cute, her nose just the right size and has a very appropriate roundness to it that matches her face. Her eyes as blue as the sky just staring right at mine was very tantalizing. She was wearing her leather jacket over her shirt and her pants fit to emphasize her curves. I sighed another time, trying to compose myself so as to not lose control and take her right here. It made Karen stare at me more with a worried look on her face. ¡°Nothing, just feeling very incompetent about my Magic right now.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­?¡± Karen just gave me a confused look. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± Karen then walked to a different direction than I did. ~And she¡¯s a very competent hunter! Damn it¡­~ Just realizing all these good points about her just makes me feel so lucky to be her partner. I went back to scanning the forest and noticed an Elk standing still and looking deeper into the forest. I held out my hand pointing towards the Elk and started gathering my mana to cast Ice Magic. I started hearing wing beats from afar but ignored it. I planned to use an Ice Spike to impale the Elk but my dad suddenly came from behind me and grabbed my hand pointing it away from the Elk. Suddenly, the flapping sounds that I heard became louder and clearer, like gigantic wings flapping and it¡¯s getting closer. I looked at my dad and saw him make a terrified face. The kind of face one makes when they lost all hope. We backed away slowly and back to the trail, until a powerful gust of wind coming from above hit us and heard an ear splitting roar. Everyone covered their ears and was stunned. I willed myself to look forward and saw movement from the trees. ¡°Everyone! RUN!!¡± My dad shouted to everyone and started running, snapping everybody to action. Everyone started running to where we came from to get to the horses. As I run, I looked back and saw the Elk now looking upwards to the sky and started running. A moment later, it was grabbed by a black claw that¡¯s as big as a horse. I was terrified and looked away from the scene and focused on riding back to the village. Some of us, me included looked above and saw a huge black dragon pass by, it is so huge that the whole village will be squashed if it ever decides to land on it. ¡°We can¡¯t go to the village! It¡¯ll kill everyone there!¡± I shouted to my dad. ¡°I know! We¡¯ll lead it away once we get on the plains!¡± My dad told us to not directly to the village, everyone agreed on it, wanting to protect their families and friends. Once we got on the plains, we could still hear its wings flapping. We immediately ran towards our horses, untied them and rode off in different directions. Only me, my dad and Karen. The dragon landed in front of us. The shockwave blew us off our horses and the horses just ran away from the dragon when we fell off, leaving us behind. I landed on my buttocks and just looked at the dragon, filled with fear. At this moment my dad ran to me, putting himself between me and the dragon, readied his bow and aimed at the huge adversary in front of us. I was wide eyed looking at my father ~No! Stop! You can¡¯t fight it! You¡¯ll just die! There¡¯s no point in doing this!~ was the only thing going through my mind while Karen ran up to me trying to help me get back up. ¡°Get up! We need to run!¡± She shouted, snapping me back to action. ¡°Dad! Let¡¯s go!¡± I grabbed his shoulder trying to pull him to me. But he only pushed me away. ¡°Go! I¡¯ll hold it back! Run!¡± He shouted to us. I wrapped my arms around him and tried to pull him away but to no avail. He easily tore me away from him and pushed me off again. ¡°There¡¯s no way you can! You¡¯ll just die!¡± I shouted and my vision gets blurry from the tears running down from my eyes. My dad just stayed silent aiming his bow at the huge dragon. Karen grabbed me and started dragging me away to safety. ~No! I won¡¯t let him die! Damn it!!!~ I gathered up my mana to try to cast Air Magic, what I want is wind with enough power to blow my dad towards me, towards safety. I judged that the mana I gathered up was enough to pull it off so I released it. Wind suddenly blew in front of my dad and he got pushed back. I poured more mana into the spell to keep it up until he¡¯s with us. But he planted his feet firmly and resisted the wind. I¡¯m running out of mana and can¡¯t keep up the spell. Eventually, the spell died down and my father didn¡¯t even move for more than 5 meters. ~NO!! NO!! Damn it! Of all the times now is not the time to suck at Magic!~ I broke off from Karen¡¯s grip but as soon as the dragon took a step, the ground trembled, knocking both of us off our feet. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Go!!¡± Dad shot one of the arrows aimed for the dragon¡¯s eye. Karen was doing all she can to drag me all the way to the forest when the dragon roared again, making my ears bleed and immobilizing me and Karen. ~No! Dad!~ Was the only thing I thought and I looked back towards him. I saw the dragon getting ready bite into my dad when an incredibly powerful gust hit the ground, strong enough to make my father fly to where I am and to stagger the dragon. ~A gust hitting the ground?! Another one?!~ I looked at the dragon and saw it look up at the cause of the gust. I followed its sight and noticed in my peripheral that my dad was doing the same. What we saw was a small black dot falling to the ground. The dragon didn¡¯t waste time to fire a Fire Breath at the black dot. I gasped and told my dad and Karen to cover their ears. The dragon let out his Fire Breath and with it an ear splitting roar even with the ears covered. I struggled to look up and I saw the Fire being absorbed and condensed into a ball and then the black spot disappeared and the next thing we felt was a shockwave coming from the dragon and a very loud ~BOOM~ followed by a pillar of Fire erupting from its head. The shockwave was strong enough to blow us away a few meters from where we were standing. The dragon¡¯s head was smacked down to the ground by a man wearing black robes. Through the dust particles in the air, we saw the man stepping off the dragon¡¯s head very casually. ¡°Waahh¡± I was amazed at what I am seeing; a dragon being suppressed by one man alone. The dragon started getting up and shook its head, it groaned slightly and I saw a part of its head destroyed. The man looked back at the dragon and faced It. He extended his hand to the dragon, and when it stopped, the dragon¡¯s whole body was pressed to the ground by an invisible force. My knowledge in Magic is very lacking so I¡¯m not sure what kind of Magic it is I can only assume that it is a Magic that manipulates gravity. I can only assume that he is a very powerful Magician, probably the most powerful one out there. In spite of this, the dragon was still alive and stirring. It was trying to get up but couldn¡¯t due to the Gravity Magic weighing down on it, a moment later, the dragon¡¯s body started convulsing, like something was trying to get out of its body. Then it¡¯s body exploded from inside out, nothing was solid besides the scales, just pure blood. It covered around three kilometers of the area, that¡¯s of course including me, my dad and Karen. it was very gruesome. The man then started waving around his hand rotating it, and along with it, all the blood started circulating and forming a ball floating on his palm, even the blood that splattered on me and my dad. Then the ball of blood just slowly dematerializes like it never existed. Me and my dad just sat there stupefied and saw the man walking towards us. I didn¡¯t know what he was going to do, I¡¯m almost out of Mana, I still have a little but it¡¯s certainly not enough to protect us from this man. He then stopped in front of us, he was wearing a black robe with a hood that had silver embroideries on it, it had pentagrams on its sleeve and at the bottom where his ankles are, he took off his hood that covered his face. His face looks young, somewhere around 25 years old, clean and shaven face, black hair that was long enough to be tied to a ponytail and eyes that looks sleepy, no rather than sleepy maybe tired? He asked, ¡°Where¡¯s the closest village?¡± I opened my mouth to answer but before I could utter a sound, right behind the man was a patch of light just floating around there and then a person appeared out of nowhere from that light. Spatial magic? I didn¡¯t know for sure but I remember someone saying that¡¯s how you teleport. Suddenly the man who was standing in front of us jumped to the side and fired a Fireball at the person who appeared. The Fireball was stopped and returned to nothingness by the woman who appeared. She had long blonde hair that reached down to her buttocks. She was slender, and she was a little shorter than the man. She wore white robes in contrast to the man with golden embroideries in the shape of a star on her sleeves, on the place where her heart should lie and on the bottom covering her ankles. She looked at the man with her sky blue eyes that looked like they were glowing and emitting mana. ¡°Are you planning to kill them too?¡± She asked the man while walking towards me and my dad. She put herself between us and the man. Fired a Gale at the man. The man negated it with his own Gale. ¡°Of course not! I just wanted a place to rest!¡± The man shouted at the woman with a voice hinted with annoyance. ¡°Yeah right! You¡¯re planning on using these people as bait for your hunting are you?!¡± The woman replied with another question, which made me and my father perk up when we heard it. ~You don¡¯t mean he was hunting the dragon?!~ I was getting anxious. Just thinking that our lives were used as mere bait for a hunt! ¡°NO! My target isn¡¯t even here!¡± The man was now getting even more annoyed and shot a glare at the woman. ¡°Then how do explain that big hole on the ground huh?!¡± The woman pointed at where the dragon stood and died. ¡°Oh come on! Look around you! There¡¯s dragon scales all around! There was a dragon attacking the people, so I killed it.¡± The man explained the situation and made it seem like it was such a trivial thing. ~We almost died!~ I shouted in my head. ¡°Hmph! I¡¯m still onto you.¡± The woman declared she¡¯s not giving up. Crossing her arms to her chest. ¡°Yeah, yeah, you¡¯ve been onto me for a century now. Frankly, it¡¯s getting annoying. I keep telling you that I never used humans as bait.¡± The man shrugged his shoulders stating his annoyance towards the woman. ¡°Then how do you explain what happened fifty years ago?! Where the Magus almost raped those women and you suddenly saving the day?!¡± ¡°Pure coincidence! You know how I am; I would never use humans!¡± The man defended himself from the woman¡¯s onslaught of words. ¡°Hmph, nowadays I don¡¯t even know anymore¡­¡± The woman gave up with a shrug. The man looked at us and walked over to us who didn¡¯t know what to do facing these powerful beings. In the corner of my vision, I see the woman about ready to rush in at him until he asked his question. ¡°So? Where¡¯s the closest village so I can sleep?¡± The man asked us his original question. ¡°Uh¡­ We¡¯ll lead the way.¡± My dad started walking past the man and towards the village. ¡°Okay¡± The man followed behind my dad and me followed by Karen followed after them. The woman started walking towards us and caught up to us. ¡°I¡¯m not leaving him alone; he might just kill everyone in your village.¡± She stated her statement to me but was not addressed to me. The man just put his hands on his waist and sighed. ¡°Do what you want.¡± I just didn¡¯t care anymore, I just wanted to go back to the village, take a bath to forget about this whole ordeal. We walked in silence for about two hours until we reached the village. My father talked to the guards about sending out scouts to try to find the people in the expedition group who ran away. We then walked to my house, it¡¯s not a very grand house, although it is a bit bigger than all the other houses in the village but that¡¯s just how it is when your dad is the village chief. There we parted ways, Karen waved us goodbye and went back to her house. I offered to take her home but she insisted for both of us to go and rest immediately. My dad served as a guide to the two powerful Magicians around the village. I immediately went to the bath and cleansed myself. I practiced my Water Magic by controlling the water to take form of whatever I imagine. I always do this whenever I¡¯m bathing. I believe this practice makes me cast Magic a lot faster. Although I see improvement it¡¯s very slow and very little. Trying to be the strongest Magician is looking bleak right now. I started feeling incredibly tired because of the training that I was doing, not to mention that whole ordeal with the dragon, so I decided to head off to bed. I walked into our bedroom without even bothering to put on anything and just laid down on the bed made of wood and a mattress stuffed with hay. I thought back to the two powerful Magicians and wondered what they were doing right now. I envied at how powerful they are and resolved myself to be a better Magician. After finding new inspiration to get stronger, it didn¡¯t take long till my body resigned to sleep. (Volume 1) Chapter 2 The light coming from the window shone on my eyes waking me up from my sleep. ¡°Uhh¡­¡± I let out a groan like one of the undead would make, annoyed that my sleep has been disturbed. I faced away from where the sun had been shining down on my face and tried to sleep again. But after a few minutes of just lying there I gave up trying to sleep. It was only yesterday since the incident with the dragon and my dad just immediately resumed his duties as the village chief as soon as we got. Starting with looking for the people who separated from us during the encounter with the dragon. I just wish he spend more time with his son sometimes. I sat up on my bed, stretched my arms and wiped my eyes with my hands. I then stood up and made way to the bathroom. Of course hygiene is important so the first I do is brush my teeth. I looked in the mirror and saw my disheveled hair. My black hair that was long enough to cover the top part of my ears was very disheveled, it made it look like I just passed through a terrible windstorm. I looked away from the mirror and walked to the bathtub, I waited till it was full and soaked myself in the tub. ~Ah! So good¡­~ Baths are the best, they make you feel completely refreshed, both mind and body. I then immersed my head underwater to wash my head. I emerged my head and started getting ready for some Water and Ice Magic training. I gathered the Mana coming from myself and prepared a spell that controls the Water. Once the image has been completed in my mind, I released the spell and a tiny waterspout appeared on the surface of the water. I then readied another spell. One that would freeze the water to ice. I released the spell but I made a mistake and froze the whole bathtub with me in it. I immediately readied a Fire spell and attempted to melt the ice. But again, the fire that I made was too powerful and nearly burned everything including me. I stopped the fire with a Water spell that spreads water around. After that whole mess up, I decided to get out of the bathtub. ¡°¡­Why do I suck at Magic¡­?¡± I questioned myself and just sighed at my shortcomings. I got out of the bath and put on a set of clothes that I thought would be comfortable; a set of jogging pants and a black sweater over my white shirt since it¡¯s currently Autumn and almost Winter. I only ever put on what I think is comfortable. I walked towards the living room and prepared my breakfast, usually I¡¯m the only one in the house because that practically lives at the Village Hall now. I made my favorite combo; bacon and sunny-side-up eggs on rice. I started eating my breakfast and savored that good taste of bacon. ~Ah¡­ Life is good¡­~ I thought as I drank my cup of cold water. Whenever I¡¯m not a part of a hunting expedition, I don¡¯t know what to do for the rest for the day and staying in the house just made me bored and restless. So I decided to take a walk outside the village. As I exited my house, I noticed that there have been some damages to my ears because of the dragon¡¯s roars as I can¡¯t hear very well. The usual sounds of people chatting and going about their business is very hard to hear at the moment. In the distance, I saw the man in black robes sitting under a tree and reading a book. ~Hmm, I wonder if he¡¯ll be willing to teach me Magic~ I thought to myself as I walk towards him. Under a tree that¡¯s just a few meters away from him, I saw the woman that was dressed in white robes, the one who used some kind of Spatial Magic yesterday. I saw her perk up and look towards us when I approached the man in black robes. ¡°Um¡­¡± I tried to talk to the man about the book but I didn¡¯t know what to say, thinking that suddenly talking to a stranger I might come off as a weird person. Not only that, after seeing his Magic from yesterday, and how he destroyed that dragon so easily, I¡¯m a bit intimidated. ¡°What is it?¡± The man asked me before I could say anything without even looking up to me. I decided to go with a simple introduction first. ¡°I¡¯m Chris¡± I told him my name, trying to urge him to tell me his. ¡°Gabriel¡± He told me his name, but again without looking up to face me. ¡°Um¡­ Thank you for saving us yesterday. We wouldn¡¯t be here if it weren¡¯t for you.¡± I thanked him as I bow my head. He closed the book and looked up to me before saying, ¡°No need to thank me, it was only by coincidence that I landed where you guys are.¡± he then stood up and waved his hands as if telling me to stop. "Yeah, but it still doesn¡¯t change the fact that we still live because of you. But I have a request!¡± ¡°Hmm? What is it?¡± I look up to him as he asked what I wanted. ¡°Would it be possible for you to teach me Magic? My progress is a bit slow you see.¡± ¡°Ah, well, I¡¯m not very good at teaching, why don¡¯t you ask that woman over there? Oh, she¡¯s coming over. See you around.¡± He patted me on the shoulder and walked away, or rather, ran away from the woman. I looked over to the woman who was walking towards me. Her robe and hair swaying with the wind. She was indeed a sight to behold, but instead of a feeling of admiration swelling up it was a feeling of respect. She was just a bit taller than I am, me being 5¡¯4¡±, then she must be somewhere around 5¡¯6¡±, she had to slightly look downwards to look at me in the eyes. ¡°I overheard your conversation with him. What do you say I teach you some Magic?¡± She waved her hand to gesture a greeting. ¡°Please! I¡¯ll do my best to learn and not be a bother!¡± I once again lowered my head. ¡°Eh¡­ You don¡¯t need to lower your head¡­ For now, let¡¯s go to a suitable place for training.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± I followed her as she walked towards the village gate. ¡°So how old are you?¡± As we go around the village, she asked me a bunch of questions about myself, like my hobbies and my favorites. Just some idle chatter. ¡°I¡¯m eighteen and turning nineteen in a month.¡± I replied to her while we went past some stalls. I then realized that I still don¡¯t know her name so I asked. ¡°So, what¡¯s your name? And your age?¡± ¡°My name is Claire. As for my age¡­ Give or take a century¡­¡± She answered with a joking tone. ¡°Eh¡­ you look so young! There¡¯s no way you¡¯re that old!¡± I replied as I move wave my hand from side to side as to signify; impossible. ¡°Hahaha¡± ¡°Hahaha¡± We both laughed as we were walking. Until we heard a man yelling at us. ¡°Chris! Come over here! I need your help!¡± An old man that looked to be in his sixties beckoned at me. Claire and I walked towards the old man and I asked: ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Well, you see, I dropped the bucket to get the water in the well.¡± ¡°I see, here.¡± I walked towards the well and looked down. I started gathering my Mana for two spells; a Water spell and a Wind spell. I held out my hand to aim my spell accurately. What I was trying to do was make the bucket float up to us and drag the water and put it in the bucket. I released my spell and the bucket flew up and landed on the old man¡¯s hand and water was rushing up the well and into the bucket. ¡°Oh! Thank you so much!¡± The old man bowed at me to thank me. ¡°It¡¯s only natural to help!¡± The old man then walked away from us with me waving him goodbye. I glanced over to Claire and she seemed to be pondering at something. ¡°Where did you learn Magic?¡± She continued with a question. ¡°I learned through self-study.¡± I told her and she let out a sigh when she heard my answer. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°I see¡­ Isn¡¯t there anyone else who can use Magic in this village?¡± ¡°None, as far as we know, I¡¯m the only one.¡± I replied to her with a questioning face. ¡°Hmm¡­ I see¡­ I see¡­ You know, if you do Magic like that, your progress will be very slow and you won¡¯t be able to cast even more powerful Magic.¡± She put her right hand on her waist and held up her left index finger close to her cheek and leaned her cheek on her finger. ¡°Well, I do know that my Magic right now is very slow and inefficient, it usually takes me about five seconds to cast a single Ice Spike.¡± I told her about my struggle in Magic. Expecting that she can take me out of this slump. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s get to the training place.¡± She started walking again towards the village gates. We walked past the village gates, ¡°We¡¯ll be back¡­¡± I told the guards as we pass by the gate. ¡°¡°Understood!¡±¡± Both of them replied immediately at the same time. We continued walking for a good couple of minutes. We were walking straight towards a river that was a few minutes of walking away. We reached the river and stopped there. ¡°Here is where you will train.¡± She declared while presenting the river with her hand. I just looked around, it was a very peaceful place, only the sound of the river and the wind can be heard and the vastness of the plains can be seen all around it. ¡°Now, let¡¯s begin the lesson.¡± Claire sounded very excited and pointed at me. It made me jump back a little, but I nodded, excited to learn and finally improve my Magic skills. ¡°Alright! Now what I want you to know first is that there are two kinds of Mana; Natural and Inner.¡± She started explaining to me. ¡°There¡¯s also two ways to invoke Magic; by willing your Mana to do as you desire or by manipulating the surroundings through Mana Manipulation.¡± ¡°Huh¡­ I never knew, I always just gather the Mana from my own body, so I guess that would be Inner Mana?¡± I deduced just from the words alone. ¡°Very good. But the Magic that you invoked earlier could¡¯ve been done way easier than how you did it, since willing Mana to do a spell is usually only done at the higher Attunements like Spatial Magic¡± Claire snapped her finger and pointed at the river that was to her left in one smooth motion, signaling me to look over there and what I saw was a bubble of water floating out of the river. ¡°Woow! There was no cast time at all! How do you do that?¡± I asked very excitedly and eager to learn. ¡°All I did was infused the water with Mana from the surroundings and manipulated that Mana in order to manipulate the water. You try it. Natural Mana feels exactly like Inner Mana except it comes from the surroundings, not from your body.¡± I listened to her lesson as I try to redirect Mana from around to the water. At first I could only make ripples on the water, but after four hours of practicing, I finally did it. I finally made a ball of water the same size as hers float out of the water. I then started to form different shapes and it only took me another hour to get a hang of it. ¡°Nice job!¡± Claire applauded my success. ¡°Now try it on the other elements.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I started doing the same thing with the Wind, making it blow where I willed it and form mini tornadoes. With the Earth I formed various sculptures of animals, trying to make them as detailed as possible. Fire was the hardest, I was basically making something out of nothing but I finally did it after Claire told me that Fire is created when a material is combined with oxygen and a sufficient amount of heat. I didn¡¯t know what could be used as a combustible material, but realized that the grass under our feet can be used to make Fire. I had cheated at one point, using my Inner Mana to invoke a Fire spell when I was specifically told to just use Natural. I was pretty sure Claire noticed but she didn¡¯t press the issue. I had also noticed that when I used my Inner Mana, the incantation time has been greatly reduced. It was probably because I had been improving at manipulating Mana. All this training went on for another two hours and the sky started getting dark. ¡°Let¡¯s head back.¡± Claire told me and we started walking towards the village. The sun has set as we were walking. At that time, Claire gave me another set of instructions. ¡°Focus all of your mana into one point.¡± ¡°Okay¡± I held out my index finger and willed Mana to gather at the tip of my finger. After several minutes of trying, a ball of light lit up on my finger. ¡°Light Magic!¡± I shouted very loud while walking down the street of the village, undoubtedly waking some people up who were already sleeping. ¡°Congratulations on using Light Magic for the first time!¡± Claire tapped my shoulder as she congratulated me. ¡°This is also where we part, I¡¯ll meet you again at the training ground.¡± She then told me goodbye. ¡°Thank you so much!¡± I waved my hand goodbye at her figure. The sun has already set but I still have one more place to go. I walked to where Karen¡¯s house is, which is not very far from the Village Hall. ¡°Oh hey!¡± Karen greeted me as she opened the door. ¡°Come in.¡± I walked in her house, it was an average sized house all in one floor, despite that, it has all she needed; a kitchen, a bedroom, a living room and of course a bathroom. The living room greets you as you walk in, there weren¡¯t very many furniture in her living room, just a couch, a table and a bunch of chairs made of wood. ¡°Are your ears fine?¡± Remembering the incident with the dragon whose roar could¡¯ve probably been heard a continent away. ¡°Ah, that dragon¡¯s roar was very loud, I thought my ears were going to fall off. I do have some trouble hearing for a bit, but I figure it¡¯ll be fine in a couple of days if not weeks.¡± Hearing her say that, made me a bit worried. ¡°How about you?¡± She asked me as I thought of what would happen if she lost her hearing. ¡°Oh, my hearing¡¯s not affected at all¡± I answered as I took a seat on her couch. ¡°Wait here.¡± She walked over to the kitchen to get something. A moment later she came back with two cups of tea in her hands and handed one to me. ¡°Oh thanks.¡± I took the cup and took a sip. It was sweetened tea, just what I liked. ¡°So, what have you been up to today? I visited your house but no one was there.¡± She took a seat next to mine on the couch, leaning her body against mine. ¡°Ah, I had Claire teach me Magic.¡± ¡°Claire?¡± She lifted her face to look at me with a questioning look. ¡°She¡¯s one of the Magicians that came with us after the dragon incident yesterday. She offered to teach me so I accepted.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± She put her cup down onto the table. ¡°Just remember¡­¡± She paused her sentence and brought her face close to mine, and then a peck on the lips. ¡°Okay¡­?¡± The kiss had me surprised for a moment. There was no need for words; I am hers and she is mine. We both understood and wouldn¡¯t dare make her sad. I then put my arms around her and brought her in for an embrace. She put her arm around me, her other hand up to my chest and settled her head to my chest. I could smell the aroma of her shampoo. Adding to the fact that we were alone in her house, the current situation was very¡­ arousing. But I still remember making a promise to her parents; to not go any further than this until she turns eighteen, so I just held my urges in. We shared another hour with each other just locked in an embrace and talking about menial things. ¡°Why don¡¯t you stay the night? Both of us practically live alone anyways.¡± She asks as she broke away from our embrace. ¡°Okay, but I¡¯d rather not break my promise to your parents¡­ They¡¯ll kill me if the find out.¡± We walked over to her bedroom and shared the bed. Sleeping next to each other is how we spent the night. (Volume 1) Chapter 3 This one took a while... Mainly because of work... And I don''t know, I kinda rushed this one cause wanted it done before the holidays and I''m not gonna be able to write at that time...
A year has passed since I started training under Claire. In the span of a year, she taught various attunements. She had also cleared up what the difference is between Ambient and Inner Mana. Ambient Mana basically only allows the caster to manipulate the surroundings. While Inner Mana can be used to alter the World¡¯s Laws. From Gravity to even Necromancy are all done using Inner Mana. She said that it was very important that I know this so if I ever got into a fight using Magic, I¡¯ll be able to counter. But I don¡¯t think that I¡¯ll be getting into a fight anytime soon. The training that I do now are all using Inner Mana. I train to get even faster casting times, more powerful spells and longer lasting spells. ¡°Chris!¡± A man called out to me as I was walking in the street. ¡°Oh, Leslie¡± The man named Leslie walked over towards me with a container in his hand. Leslie is a pretty bulky middle-aged man. Whenever he hunts he would always give me some of his harvest. So every time I hunt I would return the favor by doing the same thing. No doubt that today too he¡¯s going to give me some of his hunt. ¡°Here, take it, we got a lot from yesterday. Me and my family won¡¯t be able to finish all of it, it will just rot.¡± He handed me the container which was filled with meat. I took the container from his hands. ¡°Thanks! I¡¯ve been focusing on training so much that I haven¡¯t had the chance to hunt as much so I¡¯m grateful for this.¡± ¡°I see, well don¡¯t overwork yourself alright, Karen¡¯s going to be the one that¡¯s going to have the most trouble if you do neglect your health.¡± He patted me on the shoulder as he said his words. ¡°I know, I know. She tells me that too almost every day.¡± ¡°She¡¯s a very good girl so don¡¯t give her a hard time alright.¡± ¡°I try not to¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Which reminds me, she¡¯s almost eighteen. Didn¡¯t you guys agree to not have sex until she¡¯s eighteen?¡± ¡°Yeah, well it was because of her parents though, mostly her dad. It gets really hard to restrain you know. She¡¯s gorgeous, kind, very caring, and she¡¯s slowly becoming a very good cook.¡± Leslie chuckled ¡°Hehe, you¡¯re a lucky man aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Hehe, I guess so.¡± He brought his face close to me and spoke in a low voice. ¡°But remember, you guys are still young. Don¡¯t be too hasty in having a child. It¡¯s a lot of trouble to raise a child, make sure you¡¯re committed. It¡¯ll probably be easier to raise a child in the other continents. Why don¡¯t you ask one of them when you see one?¡± ¡°Oh, those people that wear those needlessly elegant clothes?¡± ¡°Yeah, them. Why don¡¯t you talk to them and ask how you can be as luxurious as them?¡± ¡°Eh, I¡¯m not really looking to live luxuriously. I¡¯m happy as long as I can provide for them.¡± ¡°Yeah, well, if you need help don¡¯t be afraid to ask. I¡¯m going back, my wife¡¯s probably looking for me now. Take care of yourself.¡± He waved his hand goodbye as he turned back and walked away. I waved back at him ¡°Thanks!¡± I dropped off the container over at the house before I headed off to the training grounds. On my way to training, I ran across Karen who was holding a basket. ¡°Oh there you are Chris. I¡¯ve been looking for you.¡± She approached me while wearing her usual shirt and long skirt. ¡°Oh hey, what¡¯s wrong?¡± We walked as we talked towards the training grounds outside the village. ¡°Claire came to me earlier and told me that she has something to do today so she won¡¯t be able to make it.¡± ¡°Something to do? Here in Phantasia?¡± I was curious because as far as I know, most of her day is consisted of her training me. ¡°Yeah, she didn¡¯t say what it was, she also with that man Gabriel when she left.¡± ¡°Ah, him. I¡¯ve seen him during training a lot of times. They¡¯d be talking for a while but then Claire for some reason would get really mad and sends him away.¡± I shrugged, remembering how ridiculous that whole thing was. She literally just blew him away with Wind Magic all the way back to the village. ¡°She must really hate him huh¡­¡± ¡°I guess¡­ I overheard them one time when they were talking. She said Gabriel doesn¡¯t follow orders that¡¯s why a lot of innocent people get involved with their affairs.¡± ¡°So¡­ That means they¡¯re working together? Doesn¡¯t seem like it¡­ They always bicker when they get in a conversation.¡± ¡°Well, whatever, they won¡¯t say anything if asked anyways. So, what are you up to?¡± ¡°I decided to come watch you today, and I brought food.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± I brought my face close to the basket trying to get a smell of it. She pulled the basket away from me ¡°It¡¯s Beef Patties with Mashed Potatoes.¡± ¡°You¡¯re getting better at cooking you know? I remember when you tried making stew and the meat was burnt and there was no soup at all.¡± Stolen novel; please report. ¡°That was back then and now I have my mother teach me. She comes in everyday and I have her teach me. Although she gets really annoying.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Every day she would ask me if she¡¯s going to be a grandma or not. It¡¯s really annoying now.¡± ¡°Be nice to her¡­ If it weren¡¯t for her, we wouldn¡¯t be together you know.¡± ¡°I know, but she¡¯s in such a hurry to have a grandchild. I know dad told us to wait until we were old enough but in the first place I had planned to only have a child when we get our own place, preferably outside of this continent.¡± ¡°About that, I¡¯m planning to talk to one of the visitors when I see one and ask them about what it¡¯s like to live in the other continent.¡± ¡°Visitors?¡± ¡°You know, the ones that occasionally comes dressed in elegant clothing.¡± ¡°Oh them. I don¡¯t know, they act like they own everything. The last one that visited demanded food, housing and women. We all just ignored him and apparently he died in the forest.¡± ¡°There has to be people that are not like them. It¡¯s not like all of them stop by the village.¡± ¡°Maybe, but I¡¯m not expecting it.¡± We continued our conversation until we arrived at our destination. I had once again warned Karen to stay far away and to run at the sign of me losing control of the spell. Today I¡¯m focusing on Gravity Magic. A spell called Black Hole as Claire called it. The spell manipulates gravity to make it absorb everything regardless of size. I had succeeded in invoking the spell but what I¡¯m trying to improve is the range of its pull and how long I can keep it in existence. I trained throughout the day just solely on improving the Black Hole spell. I get so absorbed in training that Karen had to call out to me to take a break and eat. The spell itself consumes most of my Mana and the fact that I have to control its suction range so it doesn¡¯t absorb everything within sight. Claire had told me to be extremely careful when invoking this spell as it can, if it was made big enough, swallow the whole world. Time flew by and by the time I knew it, it was already sundown. I looked over at Karen and saw her laying on the ground asleep. I pondered for a moment as to whether or not I should continue with my training or not. ¡°Hmm¡­ I guess I¡¯ll take her home first then continue.¡± I spoke to myself as I walk towards her. I carried her and used Spatial Magic to warp to her house. I laid her down to her bed, tucked her in and kissed her on the forehead. I turned around and warped back to the training grounds. ¡°What should I do now? I feel like I need to take a break from Gravity Magic.¡± I sat down with the village in sight as I ponder on what I should try on next. ¡°I wonder. What if I can make a barrier using Mana. Hmm¡­ Compacting Mana to solidify it.¡± I held my palm out to concentrate on where I should form the barrier. I gather the surrounding Mana and compacted a massive amount of it into my hand and the result was a cloudy yellow material. I pulled out the dagger that my dad gave to me for my birthday just a month after the incident with the dragon. The dagger was black in color as it was made with the dragon¡¯s scale. I plunged the dagger into the material and nothing. The dagger couldn¡¯t penetrate no matter how many times I tried. ¡°Nice!¡± I was very excited at how much potential this spell can have. I can make a barrier around me everywhere and anytime. The only thing that needs to get better is its color and if possible, make it transparent so it¡¯s not noticeable. As I was practicing making more barriers, the sun has totally set and the moon was now high in the sky. ¡°Oh yeah, Claire also told me that if I can imbue Mana to my eyes, it¡¯ll make me see clearly. I wonder if it works during night time?¡± I stood up as I finish recollecting Claire¡¯s advice. ¡°I¡¯ll practice on my way back.¡± I stood up from where I was sitting and started walking towards the village. I imbued my eyes with Mana as I was walking and sure enough, my eyes can see through the night as if everything is giving off their own light. ¡°Wow. How convenient.¡± I walked towards the village with my eyes imbued with Mana. As I got closer to the village I caught sight of someone, or rather, something. It was a human, or not. It was too big to be a human and what gave it away were its horns. It was also very muscular and taller than anyone I know. It was just standing on a hill overlooking the village. I somehow got a bad feeling about this thing. It¡¯s just standing there menacingly. ¡°What is that thing?¡± I wondered aloud. As the bad feeling in gut grew, I hurried towards the village, while keeping sight of that thing. A moment later the whole world was basked in light. It was as if a sun had suddenly appeared in the area. The light had greatly blinded me, even more so since I was using a spell to enhance my vision. I fell to my knees with my eyes closed and deactivated my Vision Enhancement. The light had vanished just as I did so. Slowly, I carefully started opening my eyes, which were still blinded by the light. A few attempts later to fully open my eyes and I was finally able to do so. I tried to look around and get a grip on my position. I looked to where that creature was and it wasn¡¯t there anymore. I looked around some more and noticed. That the village that was supposed to be there wasn¡¯t there anymore. There was not a trace of it left, just a huge crater where it was supposed to be. (Volume 1) Chapter 4 Been so long... but hey... 4 chapters are done and just need to get Changed it so there''s no indent on the paragraphs. I just thought it was meh.
Chapter 4 I just stood there, dumbfounded. The village which should have been in my sight is now nowhere to be seen and in its place a was a crater I was hoping that I was just hallucinating, so I slapped myself a couple of times trying to make sure I wasn¡¯t going crazy. I was scratching my head when all of a sudden I was smacked in the head by someone. I staggered by the force of the strike. I turned around to see the assailant and it was Claire and followed by Gabriel. ¡°Snap out of it! What are you doing?!¡± She grabbed my hand and our location changed instantly. We were now inside the crater where the village was supposed to be. ¡°What the hell happened here¡­?¡± Claire started looking around and Gabriel did the same thing. I saw both of their eyes started to glow just like when I first met them. Claire had taught me that by imbuing your body with Mana you will be able to enhance it. From what she said, this Mana Manipulation is not known to anyone. By imbuing the eyes with Mana, you will be able to see Mana directly, instead of just feeling it. That is what Claire had told me. So I did the same as them, everything in the surrounding started giving off a glow, even the air had very many little bits of glowing particles which I had only noticed now. ¡°Chris¡± I looked to the source of the voice, it was Claire and she was beckoning me to come over to where they were at. ¡°Do you see it? The disruption in the Ambient Mana is a sign of a spell.¡± I shook my head to her question. I was too distracted thinking about where the whole village has gone to actually pay attention to my surroundings. What happened to the village? What kind of spell would do this? Where has the village gone? W-what if¡­ Claire interrupted my negative thinking by talking to me. ¡°The Mana in this crater is disturbed so drastically. Someone used a very complex spell to achieve this.¡± She explained to me. ¡°Be careful what you see with your eyes Chris.¡± What did she mean by that¡­? ¡°So what kind of Magic was it? Teleportation?¡± ¡°¡­I don¡¯t know¡­¡± The thought that she was lying passed through my mind but was immediately cut off as we noticed the ever growing stomping and clanking sounds nearing our location. ¡°Come here¡± Claire beckoned to me and Gabriel and she invoked a Light Magic making us blend into the surroundings, rendering us invisible to the unsuspecting eye. Not too long after, the sources of the sounds revealed themselves as they walked to the rim of the crater we were in. I couldn¡¯t see their faces as they were covered with metal helmets and they were wearing metal armor that glinted in the moonlight. They were armed with spears in one hand and shield in the other. They just stood there around the rim and they easily numbered in the fifties. I breathed a sigh, steeling myself for a possible confrontation with them. Claire had just tightened her grip on my arm as I did that. ¡°That was amazing!!¡± A high-pitched squeaky voice had permeated the surrounding; it was very annoying. Two figures had shown up and the armored people had made way so that the two figures can pass through. The two figures went down to the crater, down to where myself, Claire and Gabriel were. One of the figures looked like he was about forty years of age; he was wearing white robes that had no embellishments on it. The other was the source of the annoying high-pitched voice. I had first thought it belonged to a female but the source of the voice is definitely male. ¡°That was amazing!!¡± the annoying voice shouted very excitedly, like a kid who had just seen his pet do a trick. ¡°What kind of Magic did you use?! It was so bright and then everything was gone!¡± ¡°That was a spell that breaks down everything into nothing but dust.¡± The old man said in a loud voice that the three of us hiding can hear very clearly. ~What did he just say~ I thought to myself as I started walking towards them. Claire grabbed my shoulders to stop me. ¡°Wow! Serves them right! I sent my dragon over here so he can eat. I was supposed to use him for my training to be a Dragon Knight.¡± ¡°Those people were barbarians Your Highness, they deserved to die.¡± ~Say fucking what?!!~ I broke free from Claire and Warped in between the two. ¡°What?!¡± The old man was startled and almost fell on his back. But he regained his balance and was about to fire a Fireball Spell from his hand. I didn¡¯t let that happen and used Gravity Magic to repel both of them from me and throw them quite a few distance away. ¡°Gaah!¡± The little brat exclaimed as he landed on his buttocks. He got up, wiping his butt he ordered; ¡°Kill him!!¡± At that moment, all of the armored guards came down and charged at me. I didn¡¯t care about those, I solely focused on the old Magician. I noticed that behind him was the figure that I saw before the bright flash of light happened. I thought it was unimportant and once again focused on the Magician. ¡°Boy, you don¡¯t know who you¡¯re dealing with!¡± exclaimed the old man as he fired consecutive Fireballs at me. Which didn¡¯t hit me at all as I had erected a Barrier before they hit me. ¡°What are you doing?!! Kill him!¡± the little brat again ordered his men. It¡¯s getting annoying just hearing his voice, so I decided to kill him first, besides, it through him that everybody is now dead¡­ I warped behind him and used a Spell that froze his blood into icicles protruding out of his body. He looks like a porcupine, but instead of normal spikes, it¡¯s spikes of blood. ~ Damn it. I should have made him suffer more. ~ I thought, regretting my decision of killing him immediately. How dare he?! The lives of my friends and family just disregarded like they were nothing but dirt. ¡°Your Majesty!!¡± Everyone turned and shouted, they ran towards where their ¡°Majesty¡± lies dead. Using an Earthquake spell I knocked down everyone to the ground. The Magician was not affected however and I saw in his hand a jet black ball. He extended his hand towards me and the ball extended at an unbelievable speed and hit my Barrier. I was blown away and hit the wall of the crater with a very strong force. ¡°Gaaah!¡± It knocked the breath out of me. I can feel my consciousness fading away too because of the impact. ~Dammit. I still need to kill him~ I thought just as I pass out. * * * ¡°He¡¯s grown quite strong huh?¡± Gabriel told me as we watched the fight unfold. With his power, he should be able to fight on par with one of the devils¡¯ generals. Truthfully, I¡¯m very proud of my student who is able to hold his own against a small army and a possessed Sage. ¡°That demon behind him. He¡¯s empowering the Magician. He needs to go.¡± I told Gabriel. Gabriel nodded and took a stance. ¡°You got the Magician and the others then?¡± He asked. ¡°Of course. He knocked out my student.¡± Expressing my annoyance, I dispelled the Light Magic that was concealing us and took action. Gabriel used Warp and separated the Demon and the Sage. He used so much force that both were thrown out of the crater. He anticipated where the Demon will be in his trajectory and casted a Wind Magic called Wind Cutter, which is enough to cut through a human being with ease. The Demon was then cut in pieces and Gabriel proceeded to burn its parts. I immobilized the armored guards with their own shadows. They cannot move even if they want to. I then used Gravity Magic to forcefully pull down the Sage who was still in the air. ¡°UGH!¡± He exclaimed as he hit the ground. I casually walked over him, the armored guards still immobilized are trying to get out of the Shadow Binding but to no avail. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°Ugh... What was that?¡± He groggily tried to stand up on his feet. But I didn¡¯t let him and used Gravity Magic to make him lie down on the ground. ¡°Argh!¡± He exclaimed as his head hit the ground. ¡°So, you made a contract with a Devil for power¡­ What a fool¡± I intensified the Magic until he started foaming at the mouth. There are two ways at which a person can gain power from a Devil; by possession or by contract. Those who have been possessed have no recollection of what they have done during the time they were possessed. While those who have formed a contract are very aware. But whichever method they used, there is still a chance for repentance. That is what I believe. Everyone else, including the Goddess says that there is no hope for them. But I say they¡¯re wrong, given the chance, they can repent from their evil deeds. ¡°Uuugh¡± The Magician stirred and groaned. ¡°Kill him Claire. He killed so many and for no good reason at all.¡± Gabriel shouted to me. This is why I hate working with him, no, with anyone in particular. ¡°He still have a chance!¡± I argued stubbornly but I know that I have no good proof for my argument. ¡°If we leave him be, the same thing will happen again! Look at him!¡± I looked at the Sage and with my eyes, imbued with Mana, I can see that there is a slight disturbance in the Ambient Mana. It signifies that the Sage was trying to cast a spell even at that state. ¡°You see it right?! He still wants to fight!¡± He¡¯s right¡­ ¡°But¡­¡± Before I could finish, an Earth Spike has impaled his head. ¡°Wha- ¡° ¡°He would¡¯ve done the same thing over and over. Claire, I¡¯m just saying that you need to think of the consequences of your actions.¡± I could not say anything, because he was right. Given the chance he would¡¯ve done it again I could see it in his eyes. I hung my head low, trying to figure out what¡¯s right and wrong. ¡°Urgh¡­¡± Chris had started to wake up. He held his head and struggled to sit up. ¡°What happened?¡± He asked. I rushed over to him to help him sit up ¡°You got knocked out when you fought the Sage.¡± ¡°Where is he?¡± He asked, still groggy from just waking up. I turned my head towards the Sage¡¯s body and Chris followed my sight. ¡°Ha¡­ha¡­¡± He laughed. But it was a laugh that seemed void of expression. ¡°Serves him right¡± He then buried his face to his hands and cried profusely. Gabriel took hold of my shoulders ¡°Let¡¯s leave him alone for now. He needs some time to take in what happened.¡± I nodded and stood up to follow Gabriel. I hoped that a Magician as talented as he doesn¡¯t get corrupted by malicious intents. I was very surprised at how quickly he grasped the concept of Magic, I didn¡¯t even teach him spells. I just explained how they worked. But he was still able to cast a wide array of spells just from that. He was even able to cast Warping spells at such a young age. For a few days, almost a week, we watched over him, making sure he¡¯s fine. At some point, he erected graves for everyone in the village. Fifty or so graves were erected and he even built a stone house that housed all of them. All of this took a day to complete. It was then that Gabriel and I decided to show ourselves. ¡°Chris¡± ¡°Claire, Gabriel. I couldn¡¯t sense your presence at all. I thought you had left¡± ¡°We won¡¯t leave you alone in that vulnerable state.¡± Gabriel told him so and I nodded in agreement. ¡°Is that so? Thank you for not leaving me.¡± With his power, no doubt the Devils will be attracted to him, to try to seize his power. He needs to know what he¡¯s going to be dealing with. ¡°Chris we need to talk¡± I spoke up, thinking of all the things that he needs to know. ¡°Claire?¡± Gabriel asked me in a low voice that Chris wouldn¡¯t hear. ¡°I¡¯m telling him what he needs to know. And if I¡¯m right, he¡¯ll be able to help the Goddess tremendously.¡± ¡°If you say so¡­¡± Chris walked over to where we were ¡°What¡¯s this about?¡± He asked, curious about the discussion we will have. ¡°Let¡¯s head inside.¡± We walked in the grave house that he built. There, I told him everything about Demons. About how they can possess humans, give them power and that humans can form a contract with them to get what they want. About how you can only see them using Mana Imbued eyes. About how Gabriel and I are fighting against the Demons. And lastly about how Gabriel and I are helping the Goddess Minerva to fight the Demons. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of the Goddess Minerva¡­¡± He stated, which doesn¡¯t surprise me, as he has been living in a village secluded in a continent crawling with very powerful beasts. ¡°It¡¯s not surprising, the people of the world are starting to forget about her and starting to worship other Gods, which does not exist in the slightest. Also, you live in this continent that not many people go to.¡± ¡°So, I¡¯m guessing you want me to help you guys out with fighting against the Demons?¡± ¡°Yes, but, you can refuse if you want, it¡¯s entirely your choice.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t gone anywhere outside of this continent.¡± ¡°That¡¯s easy, you know the Warp spell, as soon as you see the other continent, you can freely Warp to them anytime you want.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true¡­ I¡¯ll help out, I don¡¯t want anything like this happening to anyone after all. It¡¯s a nasty feeling.¡± He said, looking me in the eyes. ¡°I will warp you to the continent of Listeria once you¡¯re done preparing.¡± ¡°I¡¯m guessing we will be split up for more coverage?¡± He asked as he laid down flowers on each grave. ¡°Unfortunately yes. But you will be fine. You¡¯re a smart guy, and a very talented Magician. Just be careful not to drop your guard, they notice every weakness of the heart and attempts to possess a human using that weakness.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s about time for me to see other continents anyways. There¡¯s nothing left for me here, I might just make a home here as I do like the forest.¡± The last set of flowers were made into two wreaths and put on two different graves. I¡¯m guessing that was for his Father and Karen. ¡°Ok, I¡¯m ready.¡± He says as he stood up wiping his eyes. ¡°When you get there, the first thing you need to do is make money of course, you can¡¯t do anything without it.¡± ¡°Can I make money by selling parts of these beasts over here?¡± ¡°You should be able to.¡± I said as I finalize the spell ¡°Be careful, you¡¯re a very powerful Magician, if possible try not to expose your power, it can create a few complications with trying to live normally.¡± ¡°I see; I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡± Waving our hands goodbye I bid him a last farewell, as we might not see each other for quite a bit of time. ¡°Be careful out there! Remember all I taught you!¡± ¡°I will¡­ And thank you, for teaching and taking care of me.¡± And with that, I teleported him to an abandoned house that I know near the city of Atna in Listeria. (Volume 1) Chapter 5 Chapter 5 *Tok tok tok* ¡°Alice!¡± Brushing my long blonde hair, I was interrupted from a trance induced by the brushing by a knock that came to the door. I looked through the peephole of the door. ¡°Come in Rachel¡± I told the person on the other side of the door to come in. Rachel and I were friends since we were kids and have been together ever since. In my eyes, Rachel is the prettiest person I¡¯ve seen. she is so much more beautiful than I, or even any of those in nobility. Her silky black hair that goes all the way down to the middle of her back is tied in a very neat ponytail like always. Her small 4¡¯9¡± body makes her look so cute wearing her shirt topped with a leather coat and her pants. Her pretty face and amber eyes just mesmerizes me. While I do think she¡¯s very appealing, I don¡¯t have any feelings towards her as I would have for the opposite sex. ¡°You look so cute as always Rachel!¡± I walked up to her and gave her a big hug, like how one would cuddle a life-sized stuffed animal. She tried to push me away from her. ¡°C-calm down!¡± At her words I stopped trying to cuddle her. ¡°Guess what?¡± she asks me. Knowing her, I¡¯m pretty sure it has something to do with Magic. Ever since we were saved by a Magician from a pack of wolves, she¡¯s been dedicated to learning more about Magic. Although, I haven¡¯t been really interested in it. ¡°What is it?¡± I asked. ¡°I was able to conjure two fireballs!¡± ¡°Ooooh! That¡¯s amazing!¡± I was genuinely glad for her, as she has been trying for months to do what she just did. *Tok, tok, tok* Another knock came to the door. I went a peeked through a hole through the wooden door that acts as a peephole. I peeked and saw it was a figure that I knew, it was an old man wearing white robes. It was the Sage named Daniel. I opened the door to inquire what he wants. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Ah! Alice, quickly, you must hide.¡± He came into the house and beckoned for both me and Rachel to come to him. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s him again¡­¡± I had a feeling it was about this. ¡°Yes, Prince Hector still wants to have you as his concubine.¡± Daniel drooped his head. Daniel worked with the Lord of the city as his Sage. The Lord and his family rules this city, and their influence stretches as far as the corners of the continent. All of the places where their power reaches out are suffering from poverty as these ¡°Lords¡± rules with fear, corruption and violence. ¡°So, what do you want to do?¡± The Sage named Daniel looked at me as he asked the question. Unknown to my knowledge, I had apparently attracted the attention of the King of the country¡¯s son. This prince¡¯s family is corrupt, cruel and malicious. His¡­ ¡°courtship¡± has been going on for about three weeks and since then our household has been harassed, subjected to attempted bribery, blackmailed and at some point I was almost kidnapped. We wanted to get away but the whole continent of Listeria is entirely under the Lord¡¯s control, and getting to another continent is another thing entirely as we are just commoners. ¡°It would be nice if I can hide out somewhere for the time being.¡± I said aloud my thoughts. ¡°But where¡­? This country¡¯s Lord served the Emperor of the world. He can easily use his connections to find you.¡± Rachel stated as if saying there¡¯s nowhere safe to hide from the prince¡¯s bastard family. ¡°I know a place out of the continent.¡± Rachel and I just turned to looked at Daniel who told us this information. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell us this¡­? Our family could¡¯ve gotten out of this predicament already¡­¡± ¡°Well¡­ The place isn¡¯t exactly safe, there are huge powerful beasts prowling the whole continent even more so at night time, I¡¯m also not sure if my friend over there will be there.¡± Daniel spoke. ¡°Also I can¡¯t cast Teleport so often, I can only teleport twice a day, I can only take two people with me at a time and it will also take me about eight hours to cast the spell again.¡± ¡°I guess it can¡¯t be helped.¡± A sigh and a shrug escaped me. Rachel spoke up ¡°Wait, you said it¡¯s prowling with powerful beasts. You can protect us from them¡­ Right?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ I know a place that they avoid. We just need to get there.¡± Daniel averted his eyes from Rachel. I¡¯m guessing he has no confidence about the topic. ¡°Hey, you didn¡¯t answer my question.¡± ¡°Unfortunately¡­ I¡¯m too weak to kill these beasts.¡± Daniel confessed. ¡°Then why are we going there in the first place??¡± Rachel asked him for an answer. ¡°Well¡­ It¡¯s either that or a life with the oppressing Prince.¡± There was no need to think about it. I refuse to go with that perverted lowly bastard. Just thinking about being with that guy for even a second sends shivers down my spine. How in the world did he even got attracted at me? ¡°Let¡¯s go, you said you have a friend there right?¡± ¡°Yes, I can contact him once we get there. If I can¡¯t we¡¯ll just have to run there.¡± The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.¡°Are you sure about this Alice?¡± Rachel asked me as I was getting my clothes for the day. ¡°Of course, I refuse to be with that bastard.¡± ¡°If you say so¡­¡± Rachel hung her head and sighed. ¡°I¡¯m ready whenever.¡± I went inside my room, there, I changed into pants that are comfortable to move with and a shirt. I went out of the closet fully dressed. ¡°Ok, I¡¯m ready.¡± Daniel held out his hands. ¡°Hold my hand. I¡¯ll start the spell.¡± Me and Rachel both held his hand and prepared for the spell to activate. ¡°Wait!¡± I interrupted Daniel and he broke the spell. ¡°What is it?¡± He asked dumbfounded. ¡°Send a telepathic message to my Dad first. Tell him we¡¯ll be gone for the day.¡± Daniel closed his eyes, focusing on the message, then ¡°He says good move.¡± I smiled. ¡°Ok, now you can teleport us to this place.¡± Once again, we held his hand and he started casting the teleport spell. Even though Daniel works for the corrupt Lord, he is far different from them. What the Lord corrupts in his wake, Daniel tries to help those caught up in it. A moment later, the scenery around us changed little by little into that of a forest with tall and beautiful lush trees with the sun¡¯s rays barely touching the ground. ¡°Wow¡­¡± Me and Rachel both were awed; we haven¡¯t seen anything like that. In fact, there¡¯s no place in the continent of Listeria that was like this. ¡°Don¡¯t let it fool you. The beasts here can kill you just by breathing.¡± His statement snapped us back into focus. I was skeptic at him, surely that¡¯s not possible. ¡°Hold on, I¡¯ll try to communicate with him right now.¡± We waited for him for a while until he finally turned around back to us. ¡°He said he will be here in a little bit. He has some business to attend to. For now, let¡¯s just hide.¡± We nodded agreeing with him. Not long after we hid in a bush, we started feeling tremors which were getting more and more intense. ¡°Um¡­ What is that?¡± I turned to Daniel who was covering his mouth. ¡°Don¡¯t make a sound¡± He said with a low whisper. I nodded and looked around for the source. After a while, Rachel gasped which made me turn to where she was looking. What I saw was a huge animal the size of a small house, it had big fat legs and spikes on its back. My eyes widened and held my mouth to not make a sound. From my side I can feel Daniel shaking profusely. ~ With all that shaking, you¡¯ll give away our position! ~ I thought as I looked at him. It was then that a man had appeared in front of the beast. The man who was slightly taller than I was wearing a yellow shirt and brown pants. The beast was startled and tried to attack the man, the beast tried to use a sweeping motion to attack the man but before its claws could reach, the beast suddenly plopped on the ground with so much force that it created an outline of the beast on the ground. The man then walked up to the beast and rubbed its head as one would rub a pet. The beast was then able to get up and ran off from where it came from. ¡°It¡¯s safe now guys!¡± He shouted, I¡¯m assuming he¡¯s talking to us. Daniel then stood up and walked towards him. ¡°Thank you Chris, you saved me again.¡± Rachel and I stood up from our hiding spot as Daniel talked to the man named Chris. ¡°Hey old man, didn¡¯t I tell you how to invoke Magic more efficiently¡­¡± ¡°Uh¡­ yeah¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t ¡®uh yeah¡¯ me, I saw you were trying to cast a spell, it was such a weak Fireball too. I taught you how to invoke more powerful spells.¡± ¡°I was scared!¡± retorted Daniel. ¡°A Magician needs to be calm. Or else he will not be able to cast spells efficiently. You know this¡­¡± ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Daniel lost the argument and started to scratch the back of his head. This man was at least as old as Rachel and I, but he was already able to surpass Daniel in terms of Magic, which Daniel dedicated most of his life to. ¡°Well then, you¡¯re getting remedial lessons.¡± Chris turned around. ¡°Also¡­ You didn¡¯t say you were bringing guests. What if they died because of your weakness¡­?¡± The man named Chris walked towards us and held out his hand. ¡°I¡¯m Chris, as you may have heard before from this old man. I¡¯m also his teacher.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Alice, and this is Rachel. Thank you for saving us from the beast.¡± Rachel and I bowed our heads in gratitude. I also spoke for Rachel who is shy towards strangers. ¡°Oh, no, no, that beast was harmless unless provoked. Probably just wanted to play around.¡± ¡°Hmm? Why did it attack you though?¡± Daniel inquired. ¡°Ah, he was probably just startled since I just appeared out of nowhere in front of him.¡± He explained as he casted a look of mockery at Daniel. ¡°Come, we might not be lucky enough to meet another harmless beast.¡± And with that, he gestured for us to follow him. (Volume 1) Chapter 6 Chapter 6 The three of us followed Chris through the thick forest. There¡¯s so much foliage here that I can barely walk without bumping into a branch or stepping and almost tripping on a root. ¡°So, what brings you here all the way out in this continent?¡± Chris asked as he maneuvered through the forest. ¡°Some¡­ Complications arose in the city.¡± Daniel answered before I could. ¡°I was hoping we could stay for a while until sundown.¡± ¡°Of course, but you are getting supplementary lessons on Magic. That was a pathetic spell you tried to invoke with the porcupine. An ember can start a better fire than your spell.¡± ¡°Eh¡­ Go easy on me this time.¡± ¡°No.¡± I chuckled under my breath, seeing a guy that¡¯s around our age which is 20 years old, lead around a Sage who dedicated most of his life in pursuit of Magic. I¡¯m also amazed at how Daniel doesn¡¯t show any kind of humiliation or anger from how Chris is treating him. Before we knew it, we arrived at a clearing with a mansion made of stone in the middle of the clearing. ¡°Here we are!¡± He opened the door and gestured for us to come in. Daniel spoke his mind; ¡°Why make a mansion so big just for yourself? Didn¡¯t you tell me that no one pretty much lives here?¡± Chris just shrugged his shoulders ¡°Just felt like it¡­ Come, sit over there, I¡¯ll go get some tea.¡± ¡°Ah, thank you¡± Daniel spoke and we bowed as thanks. ¡°So? How is it? Not bad right?¡± Daniel spoke to us, asking for our opinion. ¡°Umm, I feel bad for imposing on him every time this happens. Also, we need you to get us to this place.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. But- ¡°he was cut off mid-sentence as Chris called out to him. ¡°Daniel! You¡¯re starting lessons after you finish your mug.¡± He walked over, holding two mugs and two other mugs floating and following him. ~Oooh, that¡¯s pretty convenient~ I thought, not knowing how he was doing it. I turned to Rachel to see her eyes and mouth wide open. I nudged her with my elbow to get her out of her surprise. ¡°He¡¯s a Magician?!¡± She turned to me to ask in a whisper. ¡°You didn¡¯t see him earlier? When he repelled the giant porcupine?¡± ¡°Eh¡­ Ah¡­ No¡­ I was¡­ Cowering¡­¡± Rachel shrunk back, seemingly ashamed of how afraid she was with the beast. I just returned back a smile at her. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Daniel asked us, surprising us. ¡°I-it¡¯s nothing.¡± ¡°Okay then.¡± He dismissed as he took a sip of his tea. I turned again to Rachel. ¡°So? Why don¡¯t you ask him to teach you?¡± ¡°Eh¡­? B-but¡­¡± ¡°You have to get over that shyness of yours¡­ I mean, you¡¯re fine talking to me, but if you don¡¯t ask him now, you won¡¯t be learning Magic any time soon.¡± She just lowers her head and kept quiet. Seeing her like that, I just sighed and decided. I raised my hand ¡°Can we watch your training later on? My friend here wants to learn more about Magic.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Chris answered. ¡°Just stay back when I say so, I¡¯m going to have Daniel here cast some dangerous ones.¡± Daniel stood up ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡± Chris nodded to him and gestured to follow him. We followed him outside of the mansion, in the clearing. ¡°You know I told you to not neglect your training. Just because they gave you the title of a Sage doesn¡¯t mean anything.¡± As he finished his statement, four different Magics just materialized around him. Ice, Fire, Earth, Lightning, the wind also kicked up a very powerful gale. ¡°You two, stay back. You! Defend yourself!¡± And with that, everything just shot at Daniel all at once. For numerous hours, we just watched Daniel try to defend himself and retaliate but to no avail. All of his spells doesn¡¯t even reach Chris. Rachel and I just watched them speechless. At one point, I wondered how the surroundings are totally fine even with all these spells, but gave up trying to figure it out. Daniel has a Fireball in his hand, about to throw it at Chris but then it suddenly disappeared. ¡°What?! What was that?!¡± Daniel was confused and at what just happened to his spell. I had thought it was just him cancelling the spell but seeing his reaction, I figure Chris had something to do with it. ¡°That¡¯s enough, the sun is setting.¡± I had only just realized when Chris said it. I turned to Rachel who was still staring very intently at the two. I nudged her arm, ¡°Hey¡­ It¡¯s sunset.¡± She was startled and nodded to me. ¡°What was that Chris?! I had a Fireball ready!¡± Daniel shouted at Chris. ¡°Ah¡­ It¡¯s a spell I recently develop¡­ It dispels Magic, but your mind must be even more powerful than your enemy as you are trying to get the person¡¯s accumulated Mana to work for you.¡± ¡°Oh goodness¡­. I¡¯ve never heard of anything like that¡­ You know if you just lived in a different continent you would be regarded as a Magus, the highest rank a Magician can get.¡± Daniel just held and shook his head. ¡°I do live in Atna though¡­. I just don¡¯t want make myself known.¡± ¡°What?? You live in Listeria?¡± Daniel asks. ¡°Well¡­ I wouldn¡¯t call it MY home¡­ Let¡¯s just say I acquired it.¡± ¡°Acquired?¡± ¡°It was abandoned, so I renovated it.¡± ¡°Huh¡­ So? Where do you live? So I can have you teach me some more.¡± ¡°Not telling¡­ I do want my peace and quiet sometimes.¡± ¡°Fair enough I guess¡­ But why not make yourself known? With your skills there¡¯s no doubt that you¡¯ll be a Magus.¡± Daniel had told me once that a Magus is the highest title a Magician can hold, the next being a Sage which is what Daniel is. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± We saw Chris thinking very seriously about it, which is weird because based on his actions, I wouldn¡¯t take him to want to be recognized by anyone. ¡°I¡¯ll think about it some more. I¡¯m sure there would be a lot of things I would be able to do just by holding the title. In any case, the sun is setting. Shouldn¡¯t you guys be heading home?¡± When Chris said that, I noticed that the forest has gotten darker than before, looking at it now, it¡¯s a very eerie place. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re right.¡± Daniel turned around to us. ¡°Hey! It¡¯s time to head home!¡± Rachel and I got out of our safe place and walked over to them. ¡°Come, hold my hand.¡± Daniel held out his hands towards us. At that moment, Chris hit Daniel in the head with a slap. ¡°Wrong!¡± Chris shouted to Daniel. Chris then snapped his fingers and at that instant, the scenery changed to that of the city entrance of Atna. ¡°Ugh¡­ Looks like I have so much to learn.¡± Daniel drooped his head, looking dejected. ¡°Who is he? He looks so young but he just completely overpowered you in terms of Magic.¡± I was curious who Chris really is. It¡¯s just baffling to see someone be so powerful. ~ Is this what all Magi are capable of? ~ I thought to myself. ¡°I don¡¯t really know either, when Lord Rulio decided to hold an expedition to Phantasia, we were almost wiped out but we were saved by Chris. When I saw how Magic, I asked if he can teach me, and that¡¯s pretty much the extent of our relationship.¡± ¡°I¡¯m curious too. I wonder if I can become as strong as he is?¡± Rachel looked to be full of admiration and determination. Rachel¡¯s goal is to become a Magus in her lifetime. This has been her goal since we were saved by a Magician from wolves. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Rachel, I¡¯ll see if I can have him teach you too.¡± Daniel said to her. ¡°He¡¯ll be a lot more help than I would be.¡± Rachel bowed saying thanks. I¡¯m feeling very tired, if these two talks about Magic, we could be standing here for days. ¡°Well, I¡¯m tired, let¡¯s go home.¡± I suggested to go home so I could avoid them losing track of time in a conversation. ¡°Oh yeah, it is getting late. Here, I¡¯ll walk you guys home. There¡¯s no telling what that bastard Prince will do.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Expressing my gratitude, we followed behind his footsteps, towards home. The next morning came and I was greeted by knock on the door. Looking through the peephole, I saw that it was Rachel so I opened the door. ¡°Did you just wake up?¡± Rachel asks, probably because of my disheveled hair that she found out. ¡°Yeah¡­¡± ¡°I need to go shopping for food. You wanna come?¡± Rachel has been helping my Father who is a tailor. She also lives by herself, which I thought was dangerous because she¡¯s a very attractive woman, no doubt that someone will have the idea of attacking her. ¡°Yeah, let me just wash myself first.¡± I walked over to bathroom and took a quick shower, I don¡¯t want to keep her waiting. After brushing my hair to look decent, I was ready to head out. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Eggs, bread, milk, meat, vegetables.¡± Rachel recited as we walked to the marketplace. ¡°What are you making today?¡± I asked. Hoping to eat some of her cooking. ¡°Well¡­ I was thinking of just making stew.¡± ¡°Hey¡­ Isn¡¯t that¡­?¡± I noticed Chris just a few stalls in front of us. ¡°It¡¯s Chris. He did say he has a house here.¡± Rachel declared. ¡°Yeah, wonder what he¡¯s doing here?¡± ¡°Well, I mean, he¡¯s here¡­ So he should be shopping¡­¡± Rachel stated the obvious clearly with a hint of insult. ¡°Oh Har Har¡­ That¡¯s obvious.¡± Firing back with a hint of sarcasm, I started walking towards him with the intent of asking him about if Rachel can study under him. I want her to be able to properly pursue her dream. ¡°Wait, where are you going?¡± Rachel putting her hand on my shoulder, trying to stop me. ¡°I just want to talk to him.¡± ¡°About what?¡± Rachel tightened her grip on my shoulder. She probably figured out what I was going to talk to him about. I¡¯m pretty sure she wants to do it herself, but the problem is that she will never get anywhere if she¡¯s so shy to strangers. Chris turned to us and saw us. ¡°Oh hey!¡± He walked over to us which made Rachel slightly startled. ¡°Um, Alice right and¡­?¡± He tried to remember our names. ¡°This one is Rachel. She¡¯s shy towards strangers so don¡¯t mind her.¡± ¡°Hey there¡± Chris offers a hand to Rachel. Which to my surprise, Rachel shook her hand with him. ¡°U-um, i-if possible¡­ C-can you t-teach me in M-magic?¡± Surprise was probably written all over me, as I had just heard Rachel ask on her own. I was very surprised, at which point, I did nothing else besides just give her a pat on the back. ¡°Of course! Finding someone who wants to learn more about Magic is exciting for me!¡± He shook her hand even more which made Rachel startled and almost lose her balance. Chris noticed this and apologized. ¡°Oh, sorry¡­ I got too carried away.¡± Rachel¡¯s face lit up with glee when Chris said yes. I nudged her arm to snap her out of it. ¡°Ah! Thank you!¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing, plus, like I said, it¡¯s fun seeing someone who is enthusiastic about Magic. So how about it? We can start now, it¡¯s still early in the day.¡± ¡°Um¡­¡± Rachel looked lost in thought. What is she hesitating for? ¡°Before you guys start can you drop me off my house?¡± I¡¯m not that interested in matters of Magic and I would just end up being a nuisance. ¡°Y-you¡¯re not coming?¡± Rachel asks me with eyes filled with worry. She needs to get used to talking to other people. I get that we only met Chris a day ago, but Daniel holds him in such high regards that I just ended up trusting Chris. ¡°Nope, this way, you guys can focus on training.¡± ¡°T-then¡­ I¡¯ll go- ¡° ¡°I¡¯ll take care of your house, so you can focus on learning from now on¡± I pat her on the shoulders and whispers ¡°Just go Rachel. This is your dream.¡± She nods. ¡°Okay¡± ¡°Well then, shall we escort you then?¡± Chris offers to bring me home along with Rachel. (Volume 1) Chapter 7 Was it too abrupt? Oh well... That''s all of Volume 1. The second volume is already in the works, rough drafts and everything.
Chapter 7 It¡¯s been two weeks now since Rachel started training under Chris. I was wary of him at first but Daniel holds him in such high regards that I decided to trust him for now. Rachel has been looking for improving her Magic. Daniel was not a very good idea for a mentor because he works with the Lord of the city. He will be suspicious if Daniel is gone every day. Ever since Rachel started her training, she¡¯s been going home late and waking up early to leave. I couldn¡¯t go anywhere at all as I refuse to go outside alone. Who knows when the brat would show his face again. So today I decided to accompany her. I might just get bored and fall asleep watching them, but it¡¯s a lot better than staying cooped up in the house. ¡°Alice!¡± Rachel¡¯s shout was heard from outside my house. ¡°Just a second!¡± I replied back as I get my coat and the basket I filled with food for lunch. At some point during the two weeks that Rachel was training, I got curious at what she was learning. Part of it was also that she was coming home late and tired. ¡°You okay?¡± Rachel asked me the odd question. ~Hmm? Something wrong with my appearance? ~ I thought to myself before answering ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m okay.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ It¡¯s really strange that you decided to come with me. You¡¯re not even the least bit interested in Magic.¡± ¡°Oh. Well I was getting bored during the day. I couldn¡¯t get out of the house without anyone accompanying me. Well anyways, how¡¯s your training going? He¡¯s not pushing you around is he?¡± ¡°What? No, why would he¡­?¡± ¡°Well, you¡¯re small and shy.¡± I put my free hand on top of her head. Letting her know of our difference in height. She brushes off my hand while pouting. Her expression was so cute that I couldn¡¯t hold myself and started squeezing her in my embrace. ¡°Wha! What¡¯s gotten into you?!¡± She lets out a shriek and tries to push me away to which I just responded with an even tighter hug. ¡°But you¡¯re so cute!¡± After a while, with no struggle coming from her I let her go. She clears her throat and brushes her shoulders and pretended that nothing happened. ¡°Well I¡¯ll have you know that my training is going perfectly fine.¡± ¡°Oh yeah? You¡¯re not shy around him anymore?¡± ¡°Um¡­ We talk¡­¡± Fiddling with her fingers as she answered. ¡°Hmm¡­ Not to the point of having useless conversations yet huh? I thought that since he was teaching you that you wouldn¡¯t be as timid around him. Maybe even get him as a boyfriend.¡± ¡°What? What are you saying¡­ That¡¯s not going to happen.¡± ¡°Why not?!¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m very timid and I¡¯m not that attractive.¡± ¡°Oh come on, you¡¯re only shy towards people you don¡¯t know at first and what are you saying?! You¡¯re the cutest girl I¡¯ve seen!¡± ¡°Oh stop¡± She slapped my arm as we both giggle. ¡°So, how are you doing with your training?¡± She still hasn¡¯t properly answered the question. ¡°Well we¡¯ve been working manipulating Ambient Mana this whole time.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Maybe it was just because I didn¡¯t care much about Magic but I have never heard of the term. ¡°It¡¯s basically the Mana in the surroundings. There¡¯s an infinite amount of it and it can neither be created nor destroyed.¡± ¡°Then how did it exist in the first place?¡± What she just said made me a bit curious, how can it exist if it can¡¯t be created. ¡°I don¡¯t know; he didn¡¯t tell me how.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Then how does this help you? Instead of teaching you spells.¡± ¡°Well, by being able to freely manipulate Mana, you¡¯ll be able to take control of the elements which is a lot more convenient than the conventional spells.¡± I tried to talk but I was cut off by her. ¡°For casting more complex spells like teleportation, we would need to use our own reserves to basically disobey the law of the world.¡± Yet again I was cut off from speaking. ¡°The problem is that a person¡¯s Mana pool starts off incredibly small, but it is possible to permanently expand it by making it overflow. The problem with that is that there¡¯s a chance that you can die from too much Mana and it just runs rampant inside you.¡± ¡°What?!¡± My sudden outburst interrupted her and earned the attention of those around us. ¡°That¡¯s dangerous!¡± I grabbed her by the arms. ¡°C-calm down! He¡¯s not going to let that happen! He sucks away all my Mana whenever my Mana pool gets full and overflows.¡± She says while trying to push me away. ¡°B-but¡­¡± My friend has a chance of dying in front of me. I don¡¯t want that to happen. ¡°I said calm down. I¡¯ll be fine. I have to do this to get stronger.¡± Thinking about it now, I still have no idea why she¡¯s so dedicated on trying to be stronger. All I know is that she wanted to be like the Magician that saved us back when we were little. ¡°Oh, there he is.¡± My eyes wandered to where Rachel was looking at. In front of a stall was Chris. He was wearing a black leather coat and pants. He was basically all black from the hair to the toe. He was holding a bouquet of flowers and was just standing there. I look at Rachel who was also looking at Chris. ~ Hmm¡­ Maybe it¡¯s for her? It¡¯s only been two weeks. But then again if you spend most of your time with a girl like Rachel then I suppose it¡¯s possible. Not to mention she¡¯s a very pretty girl. ~ I decided to tease her for a bit. ¡°Flowers for you already? It¡¯s a bit too fast isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°What? No, that¡¯s not happening,¡± ¡°Aww¡­ Why not?¡± ¡°Hey guys!¡± Chris was walking over to us and waving his free hand. Rachel and I waved back at him. ¡°You guys ready?¡± ¡°Yeah. Alice is coming with us today.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine. I just need to take care of something first before we start. I¡¯ll go ahead and drop off both of you first.¡± ¡°Okay¡± Rachel turned to me and asked. ¡°Are you ready?¡± I nodded and she turned back to him and nodded. Without warning, the scenery changed from the market to that of a river and a forest in the background and behind us was a vast plain. I felt dizzy from the sudden change. ¡°Wait here for now while I take care of this.¡± And the next moment, he vanished. I regained my composure from the dizziness. ¡°You know what his business is?¡± I asked Rachel. She shrugged and shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know, it¡¯s the first time.¡± We just waited there talking about how tranquil the place was and what Rachel does for her training. Before we knew it, Chris had gotten back. ¡°I¡¯m back. I¡¯m sorry for making you wait.¡± ¡°That¡¯s no problem. Shall we start?¡± I see that Rachel can talk to him now but it¡¯s all strictly business whenever they talk. Although I feel like Chris is trying to get out of that. I walked away from them to a safe distance, just like how we did back with Daniel. I watched them as Chris made a wave from the river as high as two trees standing on top of each other. Rachel was instructed to replicate it. We¡¯ve been together for about fourteen years now. When we met, we were almost killed by a pack of wolves. That was when a Magician came to save us. As far as I know, that was when Rachel started her fascination to Magic. I¡¯m very happy that she found someone to teach her Magic. I was watching Rachel try to generate a wave as big as what Chris showed her but what she generates are not even close to the size of Chris¡¯ waves. Sitting under the shade of the tree was so comfortable that it made me very sleepy, so I decided to let myself fall to sleep. * * * The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°I think that¡¯s fine for now. You¡¯re getting better and better at manipulating Mana. Just a bit more practice and we¡¯ll be able to move on to more complex spells.¡± Chris said to me as I try to make a wave out of the river as large as what he demonstrated. It¡¯s so hard trying to take control of so much Mana at once. All he told me to do to get better was to keep manipulating Mana in everything I do. Which is what I have been doing. ¡°It¡¯s hard trying to control that much amount of Mana¡­¡± Releasing my control over Mana, the river unnaturally became calm. ~ Huh? That¡¯s¡­ weird¡­ ~ Confused, I leaned over to the river. ¡°You noticed?¡± He asked as he chuckled. ¡°I was keeping the river calm as you tried to make the wave. I figured it was also a good time for you to practice going against other Magicians.¡± ¡°W-what?¡± ¡°Yeah, your control over Mana have been getting better as I said.¡± I was probably grinning with a stupid look plastered on my face because he just looked at me like I was crazy. But I was happy, being told of the progress of my hard work. I was snapped out of my trance when he clapped his hands. ¡°Why don¡¯t you go ahead and get something to eat? Alice brought something to eat as I remember, she¡¯s over there sleeping.¡± He pointed towards a tree and Alice was under its shade sleeping. I nodded and started walking towards her. I started wondering what Chris does for lunch. He always just brings me something to eat and head off somewhere else. ~ He does look skinny¡­ Maybe he just goes off to nap somewhere. ~ I turned around to invite him to eat with us but found out that he¡¯s already nowhere to be found. I shrugged it off and just headed off to where my best friend was. She¡¯s been such an amazing friend for me. She¡¯s always thinking of my well-being. Looking at her comfortable state, I hesitated if I should wake her up. The next thing I knew was me waking up to a sunset and Alice was there still asleep. I got up from where I was sleeping and walked around to shake off the drowsiness. I see Chris who was over by the river doing something amazing. Atop his palm was a ball of blue flame enclosed in a ball of water and with electricity crackling around it. I¡¯ve seen him command more than three elements before with his sparring with Daniel. Daniel told me once that the most a single person can control is three different elements. The ones who achieved that were the Magi, the most powerful Magicians. ¡°Oh you¡¯re awake. Both of you looked so peaceful so I didn¡¯t wake you guys up.¡± A black sphere appeared on his hand and swallowed up the ball of elements. I then disappeared taking the ball of elements with it. I realized I was staring at his palm with my mouth open when he spoke to me. ¡°You¡¯ll be learning how to do that soon enough, we just need to expand your Mana pool a bit more and fine tune your manipulation of Mana.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ Thank you so much for teaching me. With you help, I¡¯m one step closer to my goal.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure why but I just felt the urge to thank him properly for putting up with me. ¡°A goal huh? Keep that up and you¡¯ll become so powerful in no time.¡± He looked at me in the eyes. ¡°Back then I didn¡¯t have a particular goal to pursue Magic, but two years ago I found it. Now I¡¯m doing a lot of experimenting with spells to see what I can come up with.¡± Two years ago huh? Something happened two years ago. It was really well known but I had forgotten what it was. ¡°The sun is setting, both of you should probably head home.¡± That¡¯s it! It was supposed to be the death of the heir to the throne of the empire. I doubt it¡¯s related to him, but then again, it¡¯s not impossible. Chris suddenly appeared in so close to me. Waving his hand close to my face. ¡°You okay? You weren¡¯t answering¡­¡± I was trying so hard to remember that I completely lost track of what¡¯s around me. That¡¯s not good. Chris sighed, ¡°I was asking you if you can wake her up.¡± He pointed at Alice. ¡°It¡¯s already dark out.¡± ¡°Y-you¡¯re right¡­ I¡¯ll go wake her up.¡± I jogged over to Alice and woke her up. She slept through the entire day so it¡¯s not a surprise that she got a headache. ¡°That¡¯s because you slept so much.¡± I told her with a scolding voice. She just laughed and shrugged it off. She held her head and tried to fix her disheveled blonde hair. Blonde hair is rare in this world. Which is most likely why the trash Hector wants her. ¡°You¡¯re ready to go? It¡¯s already dark outside.¡± She nodded at my question. ¡°I¡¯ll walk you guys home, I need to speak with Daniel anyway.¡± The next instance we were directly in front of Alice¡¯s house. ¡°What the?!! Don¡¯t move!!¡± A shout came from neither of us three. I looked around and in front of Alice¡¯s house were guards armed with swords, spears and bows. Among them was the trash Hector. ~ Why is he so damn persistent?! Just leave my friend alone! ~ A man appeared beside him. It was Daniel. ~ Did he sell us out? ~ I thought as I saw him with a smirk on his face. ~ Damn it! I knew it was strange of him to just suddenly help us out. ~ ¡°Ooooh, so nice of you to finally come for me my love. I was beginning to think that you were with another man. It turns out it was just Daniel¡¯s friend.¡± The guards surrounded us as Hector spoke. ~ Don¡¯t tell me Chris is a part of this too? ~ Hector¡¯s eyes fell on to Chris. ¡°Daniel told me all about you. What do you say about joining my workforce? I pay very generously.¡± Chris started scratching the back of his head. ¡°Hahaha, well it¡¯s an interesting offer but I would rather not work for a stupid, self-centered bastard like yourself.¡± A sigh of relief came out of me. But he didn¡¯t have to aggravate him. Hector started walking towards us, towards Alice. ¡°Hahaha, such a foul mouth, but soon you will realize that everyone including you, is at my mercy.¡± He extends his hand towards Alice who slapped it away. ¡°Get your filthy presence away from me.¡± Alice growled at him. Hector suddenly grabbed Alice by the hair which made me use wind to blast him away from us and past his guards. He landed on his feet and restored his balance. ¡°You bitch! How dare you?! Daniel! Take care of the Magician!¡± Daniel bowed to him as Hector barked his orders. Daniel then went straight for Chris and warped both of them out of the area. ~ Damn it! I knew Daniel couldn¡¯t be trusted. Why did we even believe that for a second he was on our side? ~ ¡°As for you bitch.¡± He pointed at me as he spoke with a rough, raspy voice. ¡°Kill her!¡± I have no experience in fighting. The best I could do was to stall them and keep them away from Alice and I. I noticed in the distance behind the swordsmen was a glint. I realized too late that it was an arrow aimed at me. By the time I realized, there was already no time to react. ~ Crap ~ I thought I was done for and closed my eyes but the impact never came. What stood before me was Alice who had an arrow through her chest. ¡°Alice!!!¡± I screamed her name with a shrill voice. I tried to catch her falling body but she was yet again pierced with even more arrows. ¡°NO!!!!!!!¡± ¡°Stop!! You imbeciles! I did not order you to kill the blonde!!¡± I caught Alice¡¯s body, preventing her from hitting the ground. Tears started rolling down my eyes onto her face. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chris reappear, he looked at my direction and when he looked at Alice he snapped his fingers and everyone, all the men that were with Hector, even Hector himself started getting pulled into a spot on the street. They all converged and collided with each other but the unknown force kept pulling them in. ¡°Aaaaargh!!!¡± ¡°Stop!! Stop!!¡± ¡°Gaaaahhh!!¡± They all screamed in pain. Not long after, their bodies started bending in the wrong directions until finally, their screams stopped and their bodies destroyed. I looked over to Chris as I hold on to Alice, pleading, hoping that Chris would be able to do something. He walked over to us and put his hand over Alice¡¯s head. He raised his head to look at me. My vision started getting blurry as I started wailing. ~ No, No, No ~ He lowered his head and shook it. He held my shoulders, likely to convey his sympathy as I sobbed the night away. (Volume 2) Chapter 8 Chapter 8 I sigh as I look at the Mana that Rachel is trying to manipulate. Its bonds are too loose, resulting in the Magic she¡¯s conjuring to be so weak. It seems that something is bothering her or else she wouldn¡¯t make such a poor performance. So I decided to halt the training session. By forcing my own Mana into the spell¡¯s structure, I can break the bonds of Mana that holds the spell together, resulting in a dispelling the Magic. ¡°Stop.¡± She turned to me with a surprised look on her face as I say the words. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± She asks. ¡°I should be the one asking that. Your spells were so weak. Your flame wouldn¡¯t be able to burn anything besides a candle wick.¡± She drooped her head as I tell her the facts. ~ Did I go too far? ~ I started to regret what I said to her. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m not feeling very well today.¡± ¡°I see¡­ Why didn¡¯t you tell me? We could¡¯ve cancelled today¡¯s training.¡± ¡°No¡­ I want to learn fast.¡± ¡°Well we¡¯re putting off today¡¯s training. We¡¯ll go to the market to get some medicine for you.¡± I walked towards her as I speak. ¡°But¡­ We¡¯re running low on money.¡± I put my hand on her forehead and the other hand on my own forehead. I had just realized that we really are running low on money as she said that. ¡°We should still have enough to buy medicine for you though.¡± We started walking towards the house as we speak. ¡°We should, but¡­ Medicine is pretty pricey, we might not have enough for food after the purchase.¡± ¡°We can just hunt for food.¡± I shrugged. ¡°The lands including plants and animals all belong to their respective Lords who rule that section of the land.¡± She explains as she sat down on the couch. ¡°I would rather not create unexpected troubles.¡± ¡°Ugh, you¡¯re right. We can just hunt in Phantasia then.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that dangerous? Those beasts are saturated with Mana. You said it yourself.¡± She¡¯s right. As soon as I found out, I stopped eating meat from them. Too much Mana is bad, it can destroy the body from the inside. I went over to the kitchen and got her a full glass of water as I ponder on what to do for our money problem. ¡°Here, drink some water.¡± I handed her the glass of water. She took it and started drinking slowly. She started living with me ever since Alice died two months ago. I can¡¯t help but feel that it was my fault that she died. If only I didn¡¯t take so long to kill Daniel, I would¡¯ve been able to prevent her death. Not even that. If only I noticed that Daniel was a traitor, it wouldn¡¯t have gotten that bad. It¡¯s so maddening that even though Hector and Daniel did those evil deeds, they didn¡¯t have a Devil possessing them or they contracted to. ¡°So? What are we going to do?¡± She asks me, pulling me away from my negative thoughts. ¡°Hmm¡­ We could get a job?¡± ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s a good idea? They¡¯re still looking for the perpetrator for Hector¡¯s death.¡± ¡°We should be fine. It¡¯s not like they know who did it.¡± ¡°Yeah, but what if there were actually witnesses? They just don¡¯t want to come out with it. What then?¡± I didn¡¯t know what to say. From what I remember there really shouldn¡¯t be anyone who was there. I just decided to play along with her cautiousness. ¡°Relax, I know a person that can give us a job. He¡¯s a friend of mine, aside from us, he¡¯s the only one who knows what happened with Hector.¡± I took the empty glass from her and put it back in the kitchen. ¡°Anyways, just stay here and rest, I¡¯ll go talk with him.¡± She shook her head. ¡°No, I¡¯m coming with you.¡± ¡°No, you¡¯re sick, go get some rest.¡± I pushed her back down to the couch as she tried to stand. ¡°Why?! It¡¯s not like I¡¯m dying. Besides, it¡¯s boring not being able to do anything.¡± ¡°Still no. I can¡¯t have you worsening your condition.¡± I turned around and walked away from her. I casted my Warp spell but before I even noticed it, Rachel was already holding on to my arm. ~ Shit ~ The warp spell was already activated when I regained my composure from the surprise. ~ Damnit. I didn¡¯t think this through. ~ The scenery changed, we were now in an office room. The walls were covered with bookshelves which were filled with books. The person sitting on his desk that was in front of the huge window looked up at us. His head was bald, devoid of all hair. He had a fairly muscular body and a caramel colored skin. ¡°Don¡¯t think you can just leave me alone in that house.¡± Panting as she tugs on my arm. A second later she collapsed on the floor. I swooped down to catch her. I then put my arms under her knees and the other behind her shoulders and carried her to the couch in the office. ¡°Leon. I¡¯ll be using the couch for a bit.¡± I laid her down on the couch and put her head on a slight incline on the armrest. She started shivering profusely so I took off my coat and covered her like it would a blanket. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with her?¡± I turned to look at Leon for some advice. His eyes glowed a pale blue. Glowing eyes is usually the sign of a person imbuing Mana to their eyes. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. I recently just found out that body strengthening or manipulation is one of the highest and most dangerous form of Magic. If done right, the caster can grant himself immortality, which is what the Goddess Minerva has done. If done wrong, a slow gruesome death awaits the caster. This is the reason that I haven¡¯t taught it to Rachel yet. ¡°Look at her.¡± Leon gestured to me. I imbued my eyes with Mana and looked at her. I saw her Mana in such disarray. A normal person¡¯s Mana would usually be calm, but hers is now like a torrent. The structure of the Mana that¡¯s rampaging inside her is much similar to Ice Magic. ¡°Ice Magic?¡± Did she attempt to cast Ice Magic and failed? I will question her later. ¡°Looks like her Magic backfired on her. Most likely she tried to cast Magic that is beyond her own skill.¡± I never taught her Magic that was beyond her. She might¡¯ve seen me cast them but I never taught her how. ¡°What do I do?¡± Leon gives out a chuckle. ¡°Relax, she just needs to drink medicine that calms her Mana down and she¡¯ll be fine in a few minutes.¡± He snapped his fingers and a man wearing a butler uniform opened the door. ¡°Quick, bring me medicine to calm the Inner Mana.¡± The man rushes out of the room to obey his orders. Just a few seconds later and the man came back with a white pill and a glass of water. He handed them to Leon who took them. ¡°Here you go sir.¡± ¡°Thank you, you may go now.¡± The man left the room after doing a bow. Leon handed me the pill and the glass of water. I crouched down beside Rachel and set down the glass of water. I started lightly shaking her. ¡°Rachel, wake up.¡± Thankfully, she¡¯s not a heavy sleeper so she woke up with just that. ¡°Hmmm¡­ What¡¯s going on?¡± She asks, her voice groggy. I helped her sit up. ¡°Here, drink this. It¡¯ll help you get better.¡± I handed her the pill. She nodded and put the pill in her mouth. I then brought the glass of water to her mouth and slowly poured it. I helped her lay back down on the couch. ¡°Thank you Leon. I didn¡¯t know what to do.¡± He chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen you so frantic.¡± Embarrassed, I started scratching the back of my head. ¡°So? What were you here for?¡± In the background, I can hear Rachel shuffling on the couch. ¡°We¡¯re running low on money. I was hoping you could help us.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ How about you work as Contractors? It¡¯s pretty convenient to be one. You can get jobs at any city that has established a Contractor¡¯s Guild. It¡¯s perfect for you too, since you can just accept a job anytime you want.¡± That is very convenient. Most of the cities in this world will have a Contractor¡¯s Guild set up so there¡¯s no problem with this. I looked over to Rachel who was now sitting up. ¡°Are you okay with this?¡± I asked her. ¡°Yeah. Being able to decide when to take up jobs is very relaxing.¡± ¡°Excellent.¡± Leon clapped his hands and when they parted, two blank cards made up of diamond appears. ¡°Uh¡­ Diamond?¡± Diamond is the hardest mineral in the world. It is also very rare. Needless to say that by holding a diamond card makes it known to everyone that you are an important person to that organization. ¡°We¡¯re not exactly trying to be noticeable here.¡± I said to him. ¡°No problem, I¡¯ll just give you a diamond card and an obsidian card. You can just use the diamond card if you want unrestricted access to anything.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­. Sounds good.¡± I took both of the cards and so did Rachel. ¡°You just infuse your own Mana to it and it will automatically fill out the information. Of course, any information you don¡¯t want anyone to see, you can just alter them or block them out.¡± I nodded and let my Mana infuse with the cards. All my basic information appeared. Gender, height, weight, hair and eye color, age, how many contracts I¡¯ve completed and lastly, what rank of Magician I am. The cards say that I am an ArchMagus. Which cannot be right because to be one, you have to be personally appointed by the Goddess and as far as I remember, I have not met the Goddess at all. The ArchMagi are the most powerful Magicians only below the Goddess. The only ones I know are Leon, Claire and Gabriel. Supposedly, there are about twenty of them which makes them severely outnumbered by the Demons. I changed that rank into a Sage, as there is quite a numerous amount of them. ¡°Alright, now for your first contract. It¡¯s something east.¡± Leon handed us a piece of paper. On it, it says the job details. ¡°Guard a caravan coming out of Lumeris?¡± I thought it was a weird request since Lumeris is about a week away on foot. How did this request come to here when it could have been put up in Lumeris where it was closest? ¡°The reward is pretty high¡­ Ten thousand silver coins.¡± Rachel said. That is an unusually high reward for just guard duty. ¡°Do you know anything about this?¡± I asked Leon. ¡°No, I only put up the requests sent by the clients.¡± ¡°Whatever, we¡¯ll take this.¡± I didn¡¯t care about the details; the reward was stupidly high. And if it was just guard duty, it¡¯ll be easy. ¡°Oh, keep that paper. Show it to the clients and they¡¯ll know you¡¯re from us.¡± I stood up, preparing my spell to leave the room. ¡°Chris.¡± Leon called out to me. ¡°We¡¯re just about ready.¡± I squinted my eyes at his words and gestured towards Rachel. ¡°I see¡­ Well, good luck on your first job.¡± I nodded to him. I took Rachel¡¯s and warped us back to my house in Atna. (Volume 2) Chapter 9 Chapter 9 The sun shone right on my eyes and woke me up. I have got to move that bed to where the sun can¡¯t do that again. I tried to go back to sleep but I suddenly remembered that we were supposed to head out to meet up with the clients today. I jumped out of bed, washed my face and mouth and rushed downstairs. Rachel was already in the kitchen preparing breakfast. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re awake. I made breakfast with what we have left.¡± She set down a plate of sunny-side up eggs and bread on the table. ¡°Thank you. Are you feeling well now?¡± I pulled up a chair and sat down. ¡°I¡¯m okay now. The medicine he gave me worked really well.¡± She sat down as well. ¡°What were you doing anyways? Your Mana was going rampant inside you. It was some kind of Ice Magic¡± I broke the yolk of the egg and dipped the bread on it and ate it. A simple breakfast is always the best. Rachel did the same. ¡°Oh¡­ Maybe it was because I was trying to make Cold Fire.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You know, it¡¯s fire but instead of burning you, it freezes you.¡± I have absolutely no idea on how to even do that so I just let it be. ¡°Well, don¡¯t do that again until you have mastered manipulating Mana.¡± I say that knowing that there is no way that she can do that without knowing Body Strengthening. ¡°I promise. I¡¯m not too keen on freezing to death.¡± She says as she bites off a piece of bread. ¡°Speaking of which, when are we meeting the clients?¡± And here I thought that she was just waiting for me to finish up my food. ¡°After we finish eating. After all, the sooner we get the job done, the better.¡± ¡°Hopefully they provide food. We won¡¯t have enough for two days.¡± ¡°Hopefully¡­¡± We cleaned up the dishes after we finished eating our breakfast. ¡°We¡¯re just going to fly over there, since walking will take us about a week to get there.¡± ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll just go change clothes before we go.¡± After just a few minutes she came downstairs wearing the cloak we bought and a plain gray shirt and silk pants. ¡°Finally ready?¡± I said with a slight irritation in my voice. I found no use in washing up as we¡¯re just going to get dirty again since we¡¯re staying out there for a few days. ¡°I didn¡¯t take that long¡­¡± I waited for her to reach the bottom step before heading out of the house. ¡°Are you going to be fine flying by yourself?¡± I ask. ¡°I¡¯m not that used to flying but I should be fine.¡± She says as she starts hovering. ¡°That just means you need practice and this is the perfect time for that.¡± I went and gestured for her to lead. ¡°I¡¯ll catch you if you mess up.¡± With that, we started our flight towards the caravan. We were travelling at a very high speed. The caravan was supposedly about three days away from Atna and we reached it in just a few hours. ¡°There they are.¡± I pointed as I get in front of Rachel. ¡°Let¡¯s land over there.¡± I pointed over to the trees just a few minutes of walk away from them and landed there. ¡°Why are we hiding?¡± Rachel whispers to me. ¡°It¡¯s just a precaution.¡± ¡°For what? No doubt they would¡¯ve seen two human figures flying towards them.¡± She retorted in her normal volume. ¡°They couldn¡¯t have, I was casting Light Magic to keep us concealed the whole time.¡± We started our walk towards the caravan. ¡°This whole three hours of flight?¡± ¡°The whole time.¡± ¡°You¡¯re crazy¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re the crazy one, just a few months of teaching you and you¡¯re already so strong. You¡¯re almost to my level.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because you¡¯re a good teacher. Besides, I only know how the spells work, I haven¡¯t really mastered them.¡± We argued over who is the crazier person is between us until we reached the caravan at around noon. ¡°Oh, we¡¯re here.¡± I peeked my head out of the bushes to take a look at them. They were setting up to cook some food. I decided to come out of the bushes and pulled Rachel with me, revealing ourselves to them. One of the guys saw us and quickly unsheathed his sword. ¡°Who the hell are you?!¡± The other people got alarmed and ran over to us unsheathing their swords and readying their bows. ~ Well that¡¯s a warm welcome¡­ ~ I thought as I raised my hand in surrender and Rachel did the same. ¡°We¡¯re from the Contractor¡¯s Guild.¡± ¡°Oh yeah?¡± A young man stepped closer to us. He was wearing a leather armor protecting his stomach region and underneath it was a rather elegant robe that went down to his ankles and a sword that seemed to have a string tied so that one can¡¯t unsheathe it hanging on his waist. ¡°Show us your proof!¡± The wind blew softly making his brown hair flow with the wind. I pulled out the contract that Leon handed to me and my obsidian guild card and Rachel also pulled out hers. ¡°Sages huh? ¡­Fair enough.¡± He turned around and motioned his hand and the others sheathed their blades and put away their bows. ¡°Sorry about that. Our caravan was recently attacked by bandits so we¡¯re quite a bit paranoid right now.¡± He turned back around and faced us and held out his hand. ¡°The name¡¯s Nicholas, Nicholas Fugue. I¡¯m pretty much the leader of this caravan.¡± Last name, that means he¡¯s rather high up in the social hierarchy. I shook his hand as a greeting. ¡°My name¡¯s Chris, the lady beside me is Rachel.¡± Rachel did a curtsy as she was introduced. ¡°It¡¯s good that two Sages have come. We¡¯re severely lacking in manpower after the bandits took some of our men.¡± ~ Severely lacking huh? ~ Including Nicholas, there are around twenty people in this caravan. That¡¯s way too much people for just a caravan with just two wagons. I pulled Rachel close and whispered her to be careful, to which she just nodded. ¡°Come on, we were just about to eat when you guys came along.¡± He waved his hand to signal us to follow him, so we did. We went to the back of one of the wagons and there they had set up a cooking station under the shade of the rather tall wagon. They were preparing meat skewers. It wasn¡¯t that appetizing as it smelled like it was just burnt animal. ¡°Have some, we have a lot more.¡± Nicholas picked up a skewer. The meat on the skewer was a rather well-cooked meat. I shook my head, ¡°We just ate before we met you guys. I¡¯ll have to pass on your offer.¡± Rachel also shook her head when Nicholas asked her. ¡°Well, more for us.¡± He started munching down on the skewer. Rachel and I mostly just kept to ourselves by staying quite a few distance away from the group. Occasionally, some of them would strike a conversation with us. To which we only replied with straight to the point answers, which made them lose interest and leave us alone. Everyone eventually finished eating and we started moving again. The rest of the trip was rather lackluster. Before we knew it, it was already sunset. ¡°Let¡¯s set up camp here for the day!¡± Nicholas stopped the caravan and declared so. Rachel and I were each given a sleeping bag, which we just set on the ground away from the group and just sat there relaxing. ¡°Hey! Can you help me with this?¡± One of the men shouted to our direction. ¡°Got it!¡± I stood up and told Rachel to wait here for me. ¡°Thank you, I just need help setting up this tent.¡± I grabbed hold of the stake and he started pounding it to the ground with a hammer. I looked away from it so dirt won¡¯t get on my face. I found myself staring at one of the wagons. A silhouette was formed as the light of the sunset shone through the covers of the wagon. ~ Hmm¡­ ~ I pondered for a bit whether or not I should do something about it right now. ~ Let¡¯s try to find out more before acting. ~ With that, I went around just helping out with setting up camp. I asked them what they were transporting. All of them said the same things; spices, furs and cloths. The sun had already set and the surroundings are now dark. Making myself invisible by casting Light Magic, I walked over to the wagon where I saw the silhouette. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Let¡¯s just kill them boss.¡± I saw Nicholas and five other people conversing right beside the wagon. ¡°They already our faces, if we leave them alone they¡¯ll know it was us and kill us!¡± ¡°He¡¯s right boss. Both of them are Sages! They¡¯ll surely kill us when they realized they¡¯ve been robbed!¡± ¡°No!¡± Nicholas, who was addressed as boss, raised his voice. ¡°I have established this rule many times! We only steal and not kill!¡± ¡°You¡¯re going to get us killed!¡± ¡°Enough! This conversation is over! If I find out something happened by tomorrow, we¡¯ll all be in prison!¡± With that, Nicholas turned to leave the group. The five people that were left waited for Nicholas to get out of sight and out of earshot. ¡°Fuck him! He¡¯s going to get us captured and killed!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just do this on our own. They should be over there setting up.¡± He pointed at the direction of where Rachel and I decided to sleep. ¡°Two Sages¡­ No doubt they¡¯ll have quite the amount of fortune on them!¡± They started sneaking towards their destination. Silently, I followed them. I looked over and saw Rachel setting up her sleeping bag. I had thought about knocking out these five people but I decided against it. I want to see how Rachel handle herself in combat besides myself. The men got clumsy and let themselves known by excessively moving in the bushes. Rachel noticed this and turned around just to see them so close to her. They were surprised that Rachel turned around and immediately tried to grab her. Rachel froze their feet to the ground and stepped back, resulting in the assaulters falling on their faces. ~ Nice ~ I thought as I watch the encounter unfold. ¡°Damnit!¡± One of them drew their sword and used it to break off the ice the rendered him immobile. The others did the same and in just a few seconds, all of them were freed their feet from the ice. With a grunt, they started charging towards Rachel. Rachel once again used Ice Magic but this time, she froze their whole bodies except for their faces. The men started shouting words of insults, threats and curses towards her. ¡°You bitch!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll fucking kill you!¡± ¡°Let me go!¡± ¡°What the hell is going on?!¡± It was Nicholas. He showed up with pretty much everyone in the caravan. He saw the five men who were frozen in ice besides their faces. He drew his slender sword from his waist along with its scabbard. He didn¡¯t unsheathe it from the scabbard. ~ What a weird guy. ~ I thought with a bit of admiration as he follows up with his rule of not killing anyone. The rest started getting their weapons ready and I figured it was my time to step in. Before anyone could do anything, I activated my Gravity Magic forcing everybody to lay on the ground. ¡°What the hell is this?!¡± Nicholas who was struggling to stay on his feet finally succumbed and fell to the ground. Most of them had already passed out because of the pressure, but Nicholas stayed struggling to get up. I applied more pressure and he finally passed out as well. Confirming that everyone had passed out, I deactivated my Light Magic and made myself visible again. ¡°Where have you been?!¡± Rachel screamed at me as she saw me appear in front of her. ¡°I¡¯m sorry about that. I was taking a walk around the camp.¡± ¡°You could¡¯ve took me with you.¡± She said with a frown on her face, which somehow looked very alluring. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. How about you come with me right now. I saw something pretty interesting just a while ago.¡± I held out my hand to her and she took it. Following my lead, we walked over to the wagon where I saw the silhouette. ¡°This wagon?¡± Rachel asked as she released her hand from mine. ¡°Yeah, this is where I saw them.¡± At that moment, a rather loud thud was heard from the inside. ¡°See¡­?¡± Rachel and I unfolded the cover that was covering the wagon and looked inside. What we saw was a rather young woman wearing a rather elegant dress. She had black hair that was kept rather neat with a white headband. Beside her is an old man who is wearing what looks like a uniform. I¡¯m guessing he works for this young woman. His wrinkly face and mostly gray hair was contrast to his rather well built body that can be seen even with the uniform on. ¡°Stay back!¡± The old man shouted as he put himself between us and the young lady and took a combat stance with his fists up in the air. ¡°Relax old man.¡± I put my hands up in surrender while Rachel backed up slowly from the wagon. Without them knowing, Rachel started disconnecting the covers from the wagon. ¡°What do you want from us?!¡± ¡°Like I said, relax. I¡¯m not going to do anything¡± I said as I was unwilling to talk to him while he¡¯s so agitated. Not to mention I¡¯m also getting sleepy and I¡¯m getting a little bit grumpy. I saw Rachel had finally finished disconnecting the covers and gave me a thumbs up. With that, I pulled on the cover, revealing the outside to them. ¡°Wha?!¡± The old man was startled and charged at me. I sighed in annoyance, I dodged his attack and tripped him, making him fall to the ground face first. He immediately got up and turned to face us. What faced him was Rachel and I both pointing our finger, that has a Fireball floating at the end, towards him. ¡°I said relax!¡± I screamed at him, making the Fireball bigger in size. The young woman stood up. ¡°Please don¡¯t hurt him!¡± She tripped from the wagon and to the ground. ¡°Ah!¡± ¡°Miss!¡± The old man shouted and rushed at her to help her get back up. He then turned to glare at us. ¡°This wouldn¡¯t have happened if you just stopped being hostile you know.¡± I said, crossing my arms in front of me. ¡°Hard to do that when your whole caravan gets overtaken by bandits and some stranger with glowing eyes suddenly finds us.¡± Right¡­ Eyes¡­ Since yesterday, when Rachel fell ill, I had started to keeping my eyes activated for as long as I can. Today I was successful in keeping it activated for a whole day. ¡°That doesn¡¯t really mean I¡¯m evil¡­¡± ¡°I wonder about that. A long time ago, I was attacked by someone with the same eyes.¡± Based on what he said, it might¡¯ve been an ArchMagus. But it¡¯s not a guarantee, it may have just been a very powerful Magician. I¡¯m a good example of this, as I haven¡¯t been appointed to be one yet and soon, Rachel will soon be one of the examples for this. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re still alive then.¡± Those who have their eyes strengthened can have pretty much total control over Mana since they can see it. Which means that they can be extremely powerful existences but that doesn¡¯t mean that all of them are. The only determining factor of this will be whether or not the individual has mastered controlling Mana. ¡°Well, I had help from the whole city.¡± I noticed the Mana around him. He was getting a spell ready. I¡¯m now really getting annoyed. I¡¯m not even trying to be hostile here. In what he would consider a surprise attack, he fired off a simple Fireball at me. ¡°You know what, I don¡¯t want to deal with both of you right now.¡± I used Dispel on it and the Fireball vanished. He just sat there surprised that his Magic was ineffective. I walked over to the wagon cover and ripped out a portion of it and wrote on it. I sent it to Leon using Warp. I¡¯m sure he can deal with this. ¡°This one other guy can deal with you.¡± With that, I warped them to Leon¡¯s office. ¡°Lost your temper there?¡± Rachel asked as she patted my back. ¡°I don¡¯t understand, I wasn¡¯t even the least bit hostile towards them.¡± ¡°Well, he did say he was attacked by someone with the same eyes. Maybe it traumatized him?¡± I sigh. ¡°Maybe. Whatever, I¡¯m tired, let¡¯s go home.¡± Rachel nodded, ¡°Yeah, I want to take a bath, I¡¯m all dirty now.¡± ¡°Why not just use Water Magic to take a shower here?¡± She slapped my back. ¡°While there¡¯s like twenty men around?! No!¡± ¡°Ow. Sorry, sorry.¡± I tried to rub my back where I was slapped to try to relieve the pain. ¡°Go ahead and Warp us.¡±