《My Best Friend is the Main Character!》


 1: A Portable Warp Formation?

    Before me, an army of thousands surged towards me like a tide. Some soldiers looked like regular people, barring their specter white skin, while others seemed like Chimera Beasts made of human parts. They had limbs that were disproportionate to their bodies or clearly severed body parts that were magically patched up with someone else¡¯s matching body part. Without exception, their eyes were hollow and lifeless, the souls clearly having left their bodies. They trudged forward through the wasteland towards the city dozens of kilometers behind me.


    Suddenly, a figure rocketed out from the middle of the army. It was launched into the air by a massive bone that burst from the ground, flying directly towards me. As the skull and bones of the Skeleton came into view, it shot its arm towards me, detaching from its frame entirely. The arm quickly regenerated as it did the same thing with the other. There were a dozen skeletal arms raining down on me in a mere second and the Skeleton was relentlessly punching around me to try and seal my escape.


    ¡°An undead that doesn¡¯t know the meaning of death!¡¯ I crouched down as I finished and took a deep breath, gathering the strength in my legs. ¡°Grrah!¡± I exploded from the ground towards the Skeleton that was about twenty meters up, deflecting all of the bony punches in my path with my own punches and kicks. ¡°Maybe coming back gave you a feeling of immortality, but allow me to remind you what dying¡¯s like!¡± I arrived at the bold Skeleton in a few seconds and reeled back my arm until it was uncomfortable. ¡°Do me a solid¡ª AND DIE!¡± I punched the Skeleton in the face¡ª err, I guess it was actually the skull. Its head fell into the zombie army, knocking some over and causing nearby zombies to topple like dominoes. Despite the pile of corpses that started stacking up, the army only looked like it encountered a small bump as it trampled over them without a hitch. I couldn¡¯t help but lament as I looked over the hundreds of zombies and dozens of Skeletons that were marching in waves towards Human territory. As I landed atop the pile of corpses I created, I blew off my fist and looked in the general direction I saw the skull bounce. ¡°Phew... Again, I guess.¡±


    I realized that telling an undead to die was a bit redundant, so I tried to amend what I said. I wasn¡¯t sure if it helped at all.


    Suddenly, laughter rang out from above me and drew my attention to my best friend running on air towards the army of undead with his arms behind him. His receding back always instilled confidence in me, but now that we¡¯ve left our hometown behind, I felt a bit more emotional looking at it. He glanced back as he left me behind, wearing a confident smile. ¡°Good work, Zinaether!¡± I smiled at his compliment and observed his knee length dark green robe flutter violently as he dashed forward. If not for the large maroon colored waistband, it no doubt would¡¯ve been left behind by his speed. He faced the undead army once more and the magic aura around him grew fierce. ¡°Send a message to the Demon God when you respawn back at his castle: send something with a bit more intelligence next time!¡±


    As he yelled out a not so subtle taunt, he stopped running. His hands shot out towards the recovering undead and two large magic circles instantly formed in front of his hands, one pale green and one orange. Following their completion, a raging tide of flames erupted from the ground beneath the undead as if they were standing on an active volcano. Patches of earth were launched into the sky by the force of his magic and fell like deadly hail. At the same time, a vicious wind rounded up the zombies outside the range of the flames and swept them into the fire and debris, combining into a devastating tornado of flames as tall as a building that ravaged the wasteland littered with disintegrating corpses.


    -As expected of Justin. He¡¯s so cool.- The familiar figure glowing from the light of the flame tornado perfectly encapsulated the word heroic to me. His curly hair was blown gently by the wind generated from his magic and gave off a majestic feeling when combined with his brown skin turning golden beside his flames. It was as if he was some sort of holy being. To top it off, his gray eyes showed neither hatred nor excitement, but resolve. Resolve to kill every undead in front of him¡­ again.


    ¡°So cool~!¡± For a split second, I thought I accidentally let my thoughts slip. I quickly realized, however, that the one who said that was my sister. Her silver hair was tied in a ponytail that reached midway down her back and her royal blue eyes shone with admiration when she looked at Justin. The pink half robe she wore was bound by a single button on her chest and fluttered lightly from Justin¡¯s spell. She also wore a skintight black long sleeve that left her midriff exposed, which was highlighted by Justin¡¯s flames. She had a fanatical look on her face as she watched the destruction and re-death brought about by the tornado of flames.


    My lack of amusement at her reaction was reflected in my straight face and flat voice. ¡°Zinaethia, could you maybe focus on your job, please?¡±


    She responded by glaring at me with icy hatred. Holding that expression, she looked back towards the undead trying to regain their footing amidst a swamp that seemed obviously out of place in the dry, dusty wasteland that was otherwise filled with dead grass and hard soil. With a lift of her hand, the size of the swampland tripled and trapped more undead. Dozens of Skeleton Horses were tripped and sent their zombie riders face first into the mud. They all began to sink under their weight, making it difficult for them to maneuver. The other undead suddenly caught in the range of her magic weren¡¯t in much better positions as they slowly sank into the swamp.


    In actuality, there was no need for her to watch the undead she trapped. Unless a miracle occurred, or some extremely powerful Demon showed up, they weren¡¯t going to break out of my sister¡¯s trap. There was one reason I asked her to focus: what self respecting little brother would be okay with their sister drooling over their best friend?


    ¡°I¡¯m impressed, Zinaethia.¡± Justin descended from above us and the fire tornado migrated towards Skeleton Horse zombie Riders while avoiding us. ¡°If this is what I can expect, I look forward to working together in the future.¡± Zinaethia immediately blushed and buried her face in her hands.


    -Have some self respect, sheesh.- As I finished that thought, I felt a sharp pain in my arm. I looked down and noticed my sister¡¯s nails digging into my forearm. The eye that was initially covered by her hand glaring at me once again.


    ¡°You just thought something rude about me, didn¡¯t you?¡± My sister spoke in a low tone, the threat in her voice was obvious. Was the look on my face just as obvious? Moreover, didn''t she have her face covered by her hands, she shouldn¡¯t have been able to see my face to begin with, right?


    -A woman¡¯s intuition sure is scary.- I looked over to Justin to plead for help. He was watching us with a smile, but his eyes contained a trace of sadness. I understood his thoughts instantly after meeting his eyes. -We¡¯ve finally started our journey, but all that means is that we¡¯ve initiated the countdown until he leaves¡­-


    The somber thoughts caused my expression to sink a little, but what I was worrying about was still a ways off. On a different note, wasn¡¯t it about time my dear sister let me go? I had started bleeding!


    After Justin calmed down Zinaethia enough for me to pull my arm away from her vicious grip, we looked over the battlefield. We were fighting for over three hours and the waves of undead were finally ending. Justin¡¯s magic annihilated a massive amount of the wave of the remaining undead, but there were still some stragglers that managed to not get caught up in the destruction.


    ¡°Zinaether,¡± Justin gestured towards the survivors of his spell with a sweep of his arm, ¡°-would you be so kind?¡±


    At Justin¡¯s behest, I sighed and wiped away the blood drawn by my sister, then cast the shadow magic spell: Shadow Domain and shrouded the wasteland in pitch darkness. The shadow mana within the domain was now under my control, and thanks to my spell, I could sense the presence of everything in the darkness and instantly warp anywhere within it. One by one, I decapitated and stomped the remaining zombies and Skeletons, crushing their skulls under my boot and squishing their rotted brains. Since they were already dead, there wasn¡¯t any blood splatter, which I was thankful for. -Now if only they could do something about the smell of literal death.-


    After I wrapped up the last of them, I warped back next to the others and deactivated the shroud of darkness. Zinaethia questioned me as soon as she regained her sight. ¡°Got all of em?¡±


    ¡°Obviously. Why else would I deactivate my spell?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t get frozen.¡± I gulped involuntarily at her words as chills shot down my spine due to my confidence that she really would freeze me. It was like my body was trying to prepare for what was to come.


    ¡°Alright, alright, before that though, let him take us back to the city.¡± Justin chimed in with his opinion, which I was pretty sure no one asked for.


    ¡°What am I, a portable Warp Formation?¡± I mumbled to myself as I urged the mana in my blood into action. An image of a city gate not far from where we were fighting appeared in my head, and a dark blue magic circle with a white glow spawned in front of my outstretched hand. After a second, a portal appeared to lead us there.


    After we all stepped through and I closed the portal, we showed our magister IDs to the gatekeeper¡ªto avoid the entrance toll¡ªand entered Twin Star Lake City.


    The roads were paved in stone slabs to allow vehicles easy passage through and there were many buildings made of a mixture of wood and stone scattered about, giving the entire city a very open, yet populated feel. There were multiple buildings for various things, including restaurants placed here and there, but there were more chefs who cooked outdoors. They had long lines waiting and I couldn¡¯t blame them since the scenery of the city was very green and pleasant. The flowers within the city were flourishing and felt like they gave the city an atmosphere of serenity in addition to the obvious scent. There were many great places to sit and feel at one with the nature around. Plenty of people and families could be seen interacting and smiling with one another as if there was only happiness within the city. The stark contrast between here and the wastelands was jarring.


    In the distance, I could see a big lake and multiple ponds in various directions that were orange and shimmering due to the setting sun. The lake looked especially magnificent as the sun was right above its horizon, making it look like two suns would soon clash. There were lots of trees of various shapes and sizes throughout the city; tall, cone shaped trees with dark green leaves shaped like arrowheads near the bodies of water, thin trees with long branches that hung over the roads lined the streets, and trees with thick trunks that split into multiple thick branches near the base of the tree that grew into the sky and continued to split into more branches that formed semi-spherical canopies were located in the open spaces.


    Along the way, there was a man standing on the side of the road by a stall that seemed quick to set up and take down. He was advertising his goods to the few people on the street. ¡°Reroll Gems! Get your Reroll Gems here for cheap! Only five hundred mana crystals! Only gonna find this deal from me! Get them while they last!¡±


    Some showed contemplative looks like they were seriously considering rerolling. I watched with sympathy as people struggled to make their decisions and couldn¡¯t resist remarking as we passed by the stall. ¡°Ahh, the struggles of a magister. Non-magisters don¡¯t know how tough it is to make decisions like this.¡±


    Rerolling was exactly like it sounded like. With one of those gems, a magister could alter their mana vein to change their magic natures. ¡°Are you reminded of the time when you wanted to reroll?¡± My sister asked me with a snarky grin on her face like the concept was hilarious to her.


    ¡°You wanted to reroll? Aren¡¯t you blessed with the rare and powerful chaos magic? Why would you want to risk losing that?¡± Justin looked at me like I was crazy. Now I was irritated because I had to go out of my way to explain myself for something that didn¡¯t matter, and it was all thanks to my sister.


    ¡°Alright look, I didn¡¯t want to reroll. If I did, I would¡¯ve. Just think about it from my perspective for a second. Sure, chaos magic which is said to only emerge in one of every ten thousand people sounds cool, but the problem with it is that there was no one to teach me anything from their own experiences using it. In addition, while not Hidden Class like chaos magic, bright and shadow magic are Rare Class magic too. No one in my hometown was able to teach me anything aside from fundamental mana control that could be applied to all magic. Until you came along, I didn¡¯t want to test out on anyone because I wasn¡¯t sure about the destructive power of chaos magic, so yeah, I considered rerolling.¡± I turned to my talented sister and continued my rant. ¡°Some of us aren¡¯t generational talents that can cast spells one week after they awaken and fly through the tiers of strength in a year to become complex magisters at eleven years old. Some of us can¡¯t laugh in the face of the magic circle technique that has been in place for over a millennium. Some of us have to take our time and wait for opportunities to increase our strength.¡±


    I may have put a little extra in there, but it had been years since I last saw my sister and she was always mean to me, so I said what I needed to say.


    Zinaethia raised an eyebrow at me and smirked. ¡°Looks to me like it¡¯s only one of us.¡±


    I winced and glanced at Justin before arguing back. ¡°He¡¯s the Destined, he doesn¡¯t count!¡±


    Zinaethia shook her head in disappointment. ¡°I agree. That doesn¡¯t change what I said.¡±


    ¡°I¡­¡± I trailed off. Sure enough, whether Justin was included or not, I was still the only one who didn¡¯t become a complex magister within a year of starting. All that adding in Justin did was make me appear like the worst by comparison! ¡°That¡¯s because I didn¡¯t have a teacher! Not to mention you bastards with Common magic have it easy. Water, earth, fire, and wind mana are as common as their classification implies. This is especially true for you, Zinaethia! Even if freeze is a Rare Class nature, Snow Sand City is barely off of the border to the Icebound region. With how much it snowed and hailed on our beach, cultivating your freeze magic wasn¡¯t difficult at all.¡±


    ¡°Oh please!¡± Zinaethia sounded tired of patiently listening to my complaints. ¡°Like day and night are rare! Light and darkness are only a bit more profound than other common mana, which is why the ancestors who devised our systems to judge magic put them in Rare Class.¡±


    ¡°But because they¡¯re Rare Class, the half nobles had a monopoly on spell books for my natures. Not to mention Hidden Class spell books literally didn¡¯t exist in our library.¡± I tried to get Zinaethia to see reason and agree that my situation was difficult to grow stronger in.


    ¡°Who needs spell books? I stopped using spells altogether by the time I was thirteen. Even Justin can feel mana as an extension of himself. All he really needs to do is cast a basic Orb or Beam spell and he can guide the mana to do the rest.¡±


    ¡°Again,¡± I once again complained, ¡°he¡¯s The Destined! Just because he can achieve complex spell levels of control with a basic spell doesn¡¯t mean I can.¡±


    Justin must have seen his opportunity to cut in because immediately after I finished talking, he spoke up. ¡°Besides, what matters is that whether it¡¯s my special constitution that lets me feel mana as an extension of myself, Zinaethia¡¯s circle-less spell casting technique, or Zinaether¡¯s method of forming his magic circles in a single second, we¡¯ve all crossed the threshold for complex tier and can easily display that power in battle. After all, even for nobility, most people¡¯s limit in life is an advanced tier magister. For commoners like you and Zinaether, even advanced tier is a dream, with most of them capping out at intermediate tier at best.¡±


    Zinaethia snorted as she looked at me. ¡°You¡¯re right, Justin. As long as he got here, I guess it doesn¡¯t matter how long he took.¡± The tone of her voice made it obvious that she was still looking down on me, but Justin at least put an end to that conversation.


    We kept walking long enough for the orange sky to turn purple, before we stopped in front of a house that stood apart from all of the other buildings in the city. It was made of white wooden planks and had golden accentuations that made it seem like the house was holy and untouchable. The area around it was fenced off from the outside world by a tall white wooden fence, and inside the fence was a huge lawn arranged with all kinds of flowers. Some were small enough to be crushed underfoot without a second thought, some were as tall as me, some were so purely white that it almost felt like it could pull me into a white abyss, some were a crazy combination of colors that were almost hypnotizing.


    There were two people in the lawn already, moving about with something in their hands. They were a man and a woman with short, straight black hair, solid black eyes that seemed to carry no emotion, and flawless white skin that looked smooth to the touch. Both wore black vests with white long sleeved undershirts, black pants, and were watering the plants one by one with watering cans the size of their heads. The man wore a long, solid black tie and an overcoat, and the woman wore a black bow tie and had a flower in her hair. She noticed us approaching, calmly walked away from the flower she was tending to, and opened the fence gate for us. She wordlessly bowed as Zinaethia walked past her with a slight nod. As my sister strode forward, the man also paused his flower watering to bow to Zinaethia.


    ¡°Welcome home, Lady Zinaethia.¡±


    ¡°Welcome back, Mistress.¡± The man spoke with a deep, hollow voice and the woman smoothly chimed in after with a similar, albeit more feminine one.


    Zinaethia didn¡¯t break stride as she addressed them. ¡°Mmm, proceed with your duty. Come on, Justin.¡±


    She made her way towards the door to the house while beckoning Justin forward. He entered the gate, following behind her and leaving me at the entrance. She wasn¡¯t going to invite me in, was she? Did she perhaps forget about me? But how horrible was it to forget your own brother, yet remember his best friend?


    I wanted to stand there and cry from the feeling of my heart getting crushed by my sister¡¯s ignorance of my existence, but the woman holding the gate was staring at me. She didn¡¯t look displeased, annoyed, or anything, she was just staring. Maybe it was because the stare seemed completely devoid of emotion, but the longer she looked at me, the more unnerving it was. I pulled my hood over my head and ducked slightly so I wouldn¡¯t see her stare at me, and fell in stride behind Justin. I was unsure if I imagined it, but I thought I heard a sigh behind me before the sound of the fence gate closing.


    The path to the doorway was a straight line cutting the garden in half made of stone, however it was modified using magic so it had a smooth, nearly metallic sheen. The veranda was wooden and had a single step elevating the doorway. Two smooth wooden columns held up the angled overhang that extended out from the wall adjacent to the doorway to cover the entire porch.


    As we entered the door, I glanced around. The inside was extremely spacious and small tables with more plants were placed along the wall. The ground was made of magically modified stone and the floor had countless intricate and precise designs of an ever changing scenery. At the entrance, the design started off as an expansive forest with birds flying above, but quickly grew into a jungle with large cats roaming inside as it moved deeper inside the house. As I followed it along, the jungle became mountains with countless animals on it. Then, it morphed into a lake surface with fish swimming about. I would¡¯ve kept tracking it, but it carried on beyond my vision.


    -Is this big sis¡¯s work? If she wasn¡¯t so unreasonably strong, she would make a great artisan. Or maybe it¡¯s because she¡¯s unreasonably strong¡­-


    ¡°Whew! Good to be back! Thanks again for letting us stay here, Zinaethia.¡± Justin spoke in a louder than necessary volume as he stretched his arms towards the sky and rolled his neck around, jolting me out of my contemplation of the artwork on the floor.


    Zinaethia revealed a jovial smile that was really pretty. I wasn¡¯t sure if I had ever actually seen her smile like that before. It was almost uncomfortable. ¡°You could stay here forever if you¡¯d like~. Not you though, you¡¯ll have to find somewhere else.¡±


    -Wait, isn¡¯t that backwards though?- How wrong was it to kick out your own blood brother, but offer his best friend to stay forever? Why did my dearest sister treat me so poorly?


    While such thoughts were running through my mind, Zinaethia managed to catch Justin¡¯s arm in her embrace, leaving him unable to escape. He looked over at me with an awkward expression.


    I moved behind my sister and cast a chaos spell. A stream of dark blue light with a white glow connected the circle to my sister, transferring a small amount of chaos mana into my sister''s mana vein. I was able to form my magic circles in a second, and the spell I was using, Transfer, was a foundational spell that every magister learned as a ten year old after they awakened their magic natures. Due to its simplicity, casting Transfer in even less than a second took no effort, so even a super genius like Zinaethia wouldn¡¯t be able to react to my surprise spell, even if she sensed the magic at that last moment.


    Using my chaos mana that I transferred to her mana vein, I could manipulate her senses to a certain degree. The more mana I transferred, the larger the effect and the longer it lasted, but I only needed a brief moment for this situation. With my spell successfully landing, her sense of sight and touch were under my control. Her grip loosened and Justin pulled his arm from her grasp. After he was freed, I lightly chopped my sister on the back of the head while simultaneously canceling the spell. ¡°No one wants a girl to hug their arm if they¡¯re flat. What¡¯s the difference between that and a guy?¡±


    I reprimanded her for holding Justin hostage while mixing in a jab at her.


    ¡­


    Okay, so maybe the whole thing was a jab, and there wasn¡¯t much reprimanding, but she always bullied me, so it was fair, right?This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Unfortunately for me, she didn¡¯t share my sentiments. As soon as I finished saying my piece, a frigid aura burst out from around her, causing the surrounding temperature to drop rapidly. Being able to cause such a phenomena with only her aura was a testament to her incredibly strong mana vein. -Uh oh. Is this the chill of death I¡¯m feeling?-


    My legs had already frozen over, and even if I blinded her and confused her senses, she could just use an AOE attack to make sure she hit me. ¡°Little sh*t! You think just because you¡¯re my brother I won¡¯t kill you?¡±


    ¡°Hey, hey,¡± Justin quickly chimed in, trying to reason with this crazy woman. ¡°Isn¡¯t magic use banned in the city unless there¡¯s a crisis?¡±


    -No you idiot! You¡¯re not supposed to try and counter emotion with logic! Calm her down before giving her the actual reason she¡¯s not supposed to murder me!-


    I spent my childhood with my sister. She was a very upfront and honest person, especially when it came to how she felt back then, and it was apparent that nothing had changed. With that in mind, it was fair to say I had a solid understanding of her character and how to handle her. When she was riled up, she was impossible to speak to. It didn¡¯t matter what you said, how you said it, or how much sense it made, she became a complete contrarian. The wise route to follow would be to reduce her anger so she would be more agreeable.


    ¡°You¡¯re right. How could I forget?¡± Surprisingly, she seemed to listen to reason and withdrew her frosty aura with a smile that seemed harmless to even insects.


    -It¡­ worked. I guess maybe she has changed¡­-


    In the next moment, however, she began cracking her knuckles and stretching her arms, maintaining that peaceful smile. ¡°I can just punch him to death, right?¡±


    -My ass! This is the same evil, tyrannical, imperious big sister I recall!- I turned to run away, but my legs were still frozen and I fell face first! Looking back towards my sister looming over me like a Demon that managed to escape the battlefield, my final thoughts flashed through my mind. -Am I really gonna die here?! Not like this! I haven¡¯t even had a girlfriend yet! What about my ancestral bloodline? How could I face my family in the afterlife?!-


    In my panic, I weighed the utility of a last ditch effort to survive.


    ¡°Wait! You can¡¯t kill him. If you do, I¡¯ll never forgive you.¡± Justin held up his hand to stop her, but after hearing what he said, my face immediately darkened.


    -How¡¯s that supposed to stop her? She¡¯s insane!-


    To my surprise, however, she stopped stretching and looked at Justin like she was about to cry. ¡°Whaaaa? Justin, that¡¯s not fair~! You heard what he said to me, right? I have to kill him! He should know what can and can¡¯t be said!¡±


    Justin shook his head at her complaints and shrugged like he was disappointed. ¡°Nope. I¡¯ll never talk to you again.¡±


    Zinaethia seemed like she was really struggling to come to a decision. Did she really want to kill me that badly? Eventually, my legs unfroze, but they were totally numb so I couldn¡¯t stand. I fell unceremoniously and landed on my butt. Meanwhile, Zinaethia looked at the floor dejectedly and mumbled a question in a pitiful voice. ¡°Was it really that bad?¡±


    Justin lowered his head and let out an exasperated sigh. ¡°Do as you please.¡±


    He proceeded to fold, ending right back where he started. I couldn¡¯t be too mad at him though. I could do without her public displays of affection, but I couldn¡¯t tell her how to live life. If I could, I would tell her to stop abusing me so much!


    I stood up after recovering the feeling in my feet and stared at my sister, who was still holding my best friend¡¯s arm and looking happy as could be. -She¡¯s insane¡­-


    Out of nowhere, I received a blow to the face and flew into the wall. I looked up and recovered my wits after landing¡ª err, crashing. I looked back at where I just was and saw my sister still holding her fist out, arm fully extended. I could only stare in shock as I rubbed the cheek that got punched. I wanted to get up from my uncomfortable position, but I couldn¡¯t muster any strength in my legs. -A woman¡¯s intuition is seriously terrifying.-


    We all went to the living room and sat on a circular couch that greeted us as soon as we entered. Across the room from the door, a square table for four was arranged, and a fireplace was built into the wall next to it. There was also a circular table placed in the center of the circular couch, but it was small and probably only meant for cups and snacks, not full meals. Aside from those, there was also another couch pressed against the wall opposite the fireplace and a couple of chairs between the circular couch and table.


    Zinaethia was still clinging to Justin¡¯s arm, but it seemed like he had grown used to it already or was ignoring it. As we made ourselves comfortable, the man who was outside earlier came over with cups of water for us, and the woman came with bowls of fruit for us to eat. They both placed their items on the table, bowed to Zinaethia, and exited the room. Justin¡¯s eyes bounced between the water and fruits before he grabbed a bowl of fruit. As he nibbled on his food, Justin began to talk. ¡°If only we could keep the Life Crystals of the undead. If we had them from all of the undead we killed today, we would be loaded!¡±


    Zinaethia looked up at Justin with a pleasant smile. ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about money, love. The Kingdom pays me, and when the church finds out I¡¯m traveling along with The Destined, they¡¯ll have no choice but to give me a great raise.¡± I looked at my sister incredulously after hearing her aspirations to get even more money from the region. She already lived better than some City Lords, so if she got a raise, wouldn¡¯t she be too rich? -It¡¯s truly frustrating to compare yourself to others.-


    Justin shook his head before settling his gaze on me. ¡°No amount of money is too much money, right Zinaether?¡±


    ¡°Huh? Oh yeah, it would also make it worth my shoes getting covered in zombie brains.¡± My off hand response actually reminded me that my boots were still dirty. I reached into a bag tied to the back of my pants and grabbed my rag that I kept for situations like this. Most of the brains naturally fell off on the walk here, but some were still clinging to the sides of my boots.


    As I reached down to clean my feet, my sister¡¯s angry voice made me halt in my tracks. ¡°Hold it! What do you think you¡¯re doing?!¡±


    I looked at her, then at my boots, then her again in confusion. It was obvious, wasn¡¯t it? ¡°I¡¯m¡­ wiping my feet off? I don¡¯t want brain stains on my only pair of shoes.¡±


    Justin chuckled, but he was drowned out by my sister¡¯s irritated voice. She rolled her eyes before redirecting her icy glare at me. ¡°Ohhhh, I couldn¡¯t tell. And what were you planning on doing with those brains?¡±


    I immediately realized what she was getting at, but didn¡¯t she have attendants? They would come clean it up later, right?


    I wanted to believe that, but the glare she gave me made my survival instincts kick in. I slowly sat up and set my feet back down, trying to avoid setting her off. ¡°Can¡¯t even wipe off my shoes without getting in trouble¡­¡± I mumbled in irritation as I stared at my boots. Why was it such a big deal for me to clean off my shoes?


    ¡°Have you got a problem?¡± My sister took note of my mumbling and addressed me like she was threatening me!


    ¡°No, dear sister. I was just complaining about having to destroy the undead¡¯s Life Crystals. It¡¯s such a shame, isn¡¯t it Justin?¡± I swiftly gave the correct answer and directed the flow of conversation back towards Justin. As long as he was the one talking, I could avoid verbal abuse from my sister.


    He nodded emphatically before he joined in my complaints. ¡°The worst part is that the Demon God doesn¡¯t even consider sharing. He just takes the shattered Life Crystals right back.¡±


    He was referring to the fact that shattered Life Crystals would poof into dust that always drifted back to Demon Territory. It was also assumed that the Demon God recycled Life Crystals due to reports of a Demon that supposedly came back after it was killed.


    ¡°Don¡¯t feel too bad, love. There¡¯s probably a special curse placed on the Life Crystals anyways.¡± Zinaethia spoke to Justin with a softness in her voice that I literally could only dream of hearing before she switched to a more educational tone. ¡°Think about it. Not only do the Life Crystals automatically return to the Demon God, but all levels of undead, be they zombies, Skeletons, or Demons are absolutely obedient. When you compare that to our God, who blessed us with the freedom to believe what we want, that false God is just a filthy tyrant. You probably wouldn¡¯t want to keep anything influenced by the Demon God. It might even curse you!¡±


    Justin nodded to her words. My knowledge about the undead was a small mound of dirt compared to my sister¡¯s mountain of knowledge, so I let her take the reins. I mean, she encountered their kind basically every day! If even she couldn¡¯t provide a conclusive answer, then there was probably no such thing. ¡°Speaking of curses,¡± Zinaethia glanced at me briefly before looking into Justin¡¯s eyes. ¡°Justin, how was it that you became friends with someone like him?¡±


    The last word she said felt like it was filled with malicious intent, making me unconsciously shiver. Did she think of me as a curse? -Dear sister, must you attack me at every opportunity possible? Even one such as myself, with such strong mental fortitude, would be hurt by continuous attacks of such a degree.-


    The pain in my heart wasn¡¯t negligible, but showing it around her was the same as leaving blood floating in the presence of a Shark Fiend. The ferocity of the attacks would only increase!


    ¡°Hmmmm¡­¡± Justin thought very loudly, totally unaware of the hurt I was feeling and answering my sister¡¯s question like she didn¡¯t just call me a curse! ¡°It was a few years ago¡­¡±


    I sighed and gave up on any hope that he would stand up for my injustice before I specified for my friend. ¡°Five to be exact.¡± I began to reminisce fondly on the day my destiny changed.


    Five years ago, in a coastal city in the plains of The Kingdom, Snow Sand City


    The sounds of the waves ebbing and flowing was soothing and rhythmic. The sand between my toes sank and shifted as I stepped. Occasionally cool water would just barely reach my feet, making the sand moist and slightly more firm. My calves felt like they were on fire, but it was a familiar feeling so it didn¡¯t hinder me too much.


    At age fifteen, I had pretty much discarded thoughts of rerolling. This was partially thanks to strong dissuasion from my sister, but I didn¡¯t want to reroll either. I mean, who would want to give up a Hidden Class magic? Not to mention my other two were Rare Class.


    Anyways, since bright and shadow magic weren¡¯t very offensive magic, and I was too scared to test out chaos magic, the only way I could become a decent magister was by training my body so I could fight while using my magic to hide from and deceive my opponents. I got strange stares because most magisters around Snow Sand City were able to test out their magic, so they would rather do that than work out. As for me, I felt like I had a solid understanding of bright and shadow magic since I recently broke through to the advanced tier, so I just had to get physically stronger. In order to do that, I was running along the beach to strengthen my legs. Sometimes there were people there practicing magic into the ocean or using it along the shore, but there was no one around at the time because it was too early. The sky was still gray, and the mist from the ocean made it a bit foggy. I¡¯d been doing it for a few years at this point, so I was pretty used to the familiar setting.


    ¡°Whew.¡± I sat down after doing sprints and looked back towards the city. I wiped off sweat from my forehead and moved my silver hair from hanging in my eyes. My stomach growled extremely loudly as I sat on the ground, but thankfully nobody was around to hear it.


    -I don¡¯t have any food at home. Maybe I should stop by a store before I go home¡­- As I was getting up to leave, I heard a faint rumbling that was gradually getting louder.


    ¡°...Huh?¡± I looked around trying to see if I could find the source. I read that chaos magic had the ability to affect the body and senses, and learned I could use it to enhance mine. Allowing the chaos mana to flow towards my eyes, I was able to see farther and clearer than normal. I also increased the brightness of my surroundings with a bright magic spell. Now that the scene was clear, I searched around again, but still didn¡¯t see anything. I urged the mana to my ears to echolocate the rumbling.


    ¡°No way.¡± I turned my head towards the ocean, but as I thought, there was still nothing in sight. ¡°But it really sounds like it¡¯s coming from that direction¡­¡±


    I felt unconvinced, so I peered into the depths of the ocean, using my chaos magic to push my eyes to the limit and using my bright and shadow magic to illuminate under water, but aside from some fish that seemed startled by the sudden light, there was nothing I saw that could be causing the rumbling. Besides, if there was really something causing the rumbling (which was still getting louder) underwater, the water wouldn¡¯t have been so calm on the surface.


    -Wait a second¡­ if I think about it like that, then wouldn¡¯t that mean..!?- After having an epiphany, I quickly looked into the sky. As I expected, there seemed to be something falling at a ridiculous speed above the ocean. -A wind magister practicing? But how high would they have had to be to fall at a speed like that? Plus, why wouldn¡¯t he start trying to change his course yet?-


    I had no idea what to do. It was not like I could catch him, he was falling like a lightning bolt over the ocean. In fact¡­


    ¡°Is he on fire?!¡± There seemed to be orange wisps frequently stemming from the falling figure. Was the mystery magister really falling so fast that he began to burn? Or was he a fire magister as well? Unable to find the answers to my questions just by looking, I waited to see if the magister would pull off an amazing feat and stop just above the water.


    CRRRRRRAAAAAAAAASSSSSHHH!


    A loud sound of impact rang out like thunder. The magister hit the water without slowing down in the slightest, and the splash that followed the crash caused a massive tower of water to briefly shoot into the sky and a wave that pushed a few feet past where the water normally stopped on the shore.


    -He¡¯s dead.- There was no way anyone would survive falling that fast from that high, even if they fell into water. He was probably crushed by the force of the impact and his body shattered. I sat there in disbelief for a good moment, replaying what just happened in my head. -Yeah, there¡¯s nothing I could¡¯ve done about that. Still, he may have a family, so I should at least see if I can find his remains and tell them what I saw. How unfortunate, though. Based on how high up he was, he must have been a powerful wind magister. I wonder what caused this?-


    As thoughts like that ran through my head, I took off my shirt and pants and placed them on the rock I put my socks and shoes on before I began training, then entered the ocean. When my feet touched the water, I couldn¡¯t withhold a gasp.


    ¡°Cold as usual.¡± I mumbled to myself as I proceeded deeper into the ocean. Aside from sprinting on the beach, I did all types of other training to increase my overall strength, including swimming long distances to increase my stamina and moving underwater to increase the time I could hold my breath. Although uncommon due to the threat of the Demon God, there were times when magisters fought each other for various reasons. My sister was a water mage and bullied me quite often, so this type of training was mainly a precaution in case I made her too mad one day and she tried to drown me.


    It was difficult swimming through the waves created by the impact, but I eventually reached the area where he hit the water. Rather than diving down and looking around, I used the Shadow Domain spell and tried to sense for anything that didn¡¯t seem like a fish.


    -It seems like his body managed to stay intact. That makes things easier.- After expanding my shadow magic for a while, I managed to detect what felt like a body floating back upwards. Wasting no time, I warped down to where I sensed the body, grabbed it, then began to swim back up while holding it. I¡¯ve heard that powerful shadow magisters could warp other people with them, but I hadn¡¯t reached that level of mana control yet. He was a lot deeper than I thought, but we eventually reached the surface. Once we were above water, I was planning on swimming back to shore while carrying him, but he started coughing up water instantly.


    ¡°You¡¯re alive?!¡± I was shocked because I just assumed he would¡¯ve died from impact, or was already dead while falling. Rather than reply though, he continued to cough up water. Without hesitation, I began to swim back to the beach. Although the waves mostly subsided, there were still some smaller ones that gave me a decent boost in speed on my way back. Once I was able to walk, I began sprinting to dry sand, then laid the magister down on his back. He had stopped coughing a little while earlier, but he didn¡¯t seem to be conscious.


    -I¡¯ve never seen him before. I wonder where he came from? More than that, though, how did he survive? Was he not falling as fast as I thought?- I began pushing on his chest to get any remaining water out of his lungs while my mind wandered. I¡¯d rather not perform mouth to mouth on a guy, so this was the best he was gonna get from me. If he survived, I was sure he would agree that not doing it was the best option.


    After getting him to cough up a bit more water, I looked around the beach. The whole ordeal had taken less than thirty minutes, so no one was here yet.


    -I wonder if anyone even heard anything?- Thinking about it, it was still practically dark, so chances were that most people hadn¡¯t woken up yet, much less left their houses and heard the rumbling this guy made while falling. Unable to determine what to do, I stared at the unconscious magister while trying to figure out a plan.


    -His clothes are quite strange. Where did he even come from? I guess since he fell over the ocean, I should consider the possibility that he came from a different continent, but it would be really troublesome if he woke up and we couldn¡¯t communicate.- Obviously if he was from a whole different continent, then his native language would be different. But why would someone come from a different continent from over the ocean? As a magister, his wealth shouldn¡¯t be small, but it¡¯s also a fact that I didn¡¯t know the circumstances of other continents. I didn¡¯t even know my own continent¡¯s situation in its entirety, so I couldn¡¯t even begin to imagine what other continents were like. -There¡¯s also the possibility that he¡¯s on the run. If I assume that, then him falling like that would be because he was shot down by magic. I didn¡¯t see anyone chasing the body while it was falling, so if this is the case, they¡¯re either watching me right now and are planning to kill me along with him, or they assume he¡¯s already dead, which would be reasonable. Hmmm, this may be more trouble than it¡¯s worth.-


    I didn¡¯t sense anyone¡¯s presence, nor any disturbance in the mana flow nearby, so I wasn¡¯t fearful of any random magister coming to claim my life right away, but the fact that he fell from the sky was suspicious enough as it was. I thought about just leaving him laid out on the beach. After all, I already saved him from drowning (probably) and it wasn¡¯t like I owed him any favors. I felt a scowl emerge on my face because I couldn¡¯t come to a decision. On one hand, he could¡¯ve been a curse that brings disaster upon those he comes into contact with, namely me. On the other hand, I had strong enough morals that I would¡¯ve felt bad if I just left him laying on the beach, soaked and on the verge of death.


    -Hmmm. Thinking about this rationally, it¡¯s a lot safer to just leave him here, but even thinking that way leaves a terrible feeling in my stomach. Ahhhhh! Whatever!- After having an intense internal battle, I made my decision.


    ¡°*Gasp* Hah¡­ hah¡­¡±


    ¡°Finally awake, huh? You speak Jovixian?¡±


    The figure under the covers in the corner quickly sat up and looked around my house before finally looking at me. His gray eyes were full of doubt and confusion. Without rushing him, I practically watched him force his mind to start working. His expression changed from confused, to surprised, to serious, to excited. After a while, he refocused on me and finally spoke. ¡°Do you mind listening to me for a while?¡±


    I was caught off guard by his question. He had been asleep for over a day, so I had plenty of time to predict his questions and plan responses. Most of my preparation was based on the assumption he¡¯d be cautious of me. Questions like ¡°Who are you?¡± or ¡°Where am I?¡±. I even brought out an old translation dictionary for Jovixian to Zexeran.


    Snow Sand City received ambassadors from Zexer, a continent where Humanity also lived, as Emissaries of Good Faith on behalf of God. God¡¯s Apostles, the religious figures selected by God to strengthen each of the eight regions, had forewarned us of this, so we held a city wide celebration upon their arrival. They brought the dictionary that I was holding behind my back as gifts and held a few classes to teach basic Zexeran to our residents before they headed to the capital of The Kingdom.


    A small frown formed on my lips because I brought the dictionary out for no reason. I realized it wasn¡¯t his fault, but I somewhat blamed this magister for it. Pushing that thought to the back of my mind, I responded honestly. ¡°I don¡¯t mind.¡±


    I was genuinely curious about this mystery magister¡¯s origins. For better or worse, I saved his life, so I was at least a little invested in him. ¡°My name is Justin. I¡¯m from a different world.¡±


    ¡°...Huh?¡±


    As if realizing how ridiculous he sounded, he quickly held up his hand to stop me from speaking. ¡°Wait, wait. I know that sounds impossible, but I promise on my life that it¡¯s true. Before you dismiss it, please let me keep going.¡± I looked at him for a moment. He seemed sincere, but after hearing what he just said, I decided to take everything he said with a grain of salt. After noticing I wasn¡¯t gonna say anything, he continued. ¡°I¡¯m not of this world. A being that called itself the Human God put me in a coma in my own world and sent me here with the mission to defeat the Demon God before returning me to my own world. It said something about magic and a special constitution to help me? I don¡¯t know. The last thing I remember is the feeling of my stomach dropping before I blacked out. When I woke up, here I was.¡±


    Seeing he was finished, I processed his story. I didn¡¯t really believe it, but all of the stuff he said was actually reasonable. God¡¯s Apostle from The Kingdom¡¯s church made a prediction about a year after the Zexerans returned to their continent that God was going to send someone called The Destined to our land to rout the plague known as the undead and Demon God from our land. Supposedly, The Destined was going to be stronger than magisters from our continent on a fundamental level, so this ¡°special constitution¡± would probably be the reason The Destined was fundamentally more powerful than the rest of us.


    Everyone assumed that the strength difference was going to be something like three Hidden Class magic, something unheard of, or a Unique Class magic or something. Assuming ¡°Justin¡± was telling the truth, that seemed to be wrong. Also, according to him, the last thing he felt was his stomach drop. When one fell from a great height, that¡¯s typically how they describe the feeling. I unfortunately knew from personal experience.


    After considering what he said from an objective standpoint, it wasn¡¯t 100% certain he was lying. I wasn¡¯t inclined to believe him right away, but I couldn¡¯t instantly discredit his words like I was planning to anymore. I looked at him a little longer, trying to figure out how I was going to approach this.


    ¡°Umm, well¡­ I guess it isn¡¯t unbelievable. So tell me, if you¡¯re from another world, how do you know how to speak Jovixian?¡± So maybe I was still a bit hung up on the dictionary, but it was still odd that he supposedly came from a different world, yet knew our language. In response, he tilted his head to the side and asked me a question.


    ¡°Huh? You said that word earlier, but I have know idea what that means. Aren¡¯t you speaking English?¡±


    ¡°English? Is that the language where you¡¯re from?¡± He nodded and patted his legs for a bit before starting to freak out and feel all over himself. Curiosity ended up getting the better of me, despite me trying to wait until he was done. ¡°What? Did you suddenly feel the effects of your special body?¡±


    He ignored me and kept going for a moment before seemingly giving up and muttering to himself. ¡°That damn Human God, doing whatever she wants to me and taking my stuff.¡± I was taken aback by his sudden cursing of the literal deity of our entire race. I was about to say something, but he spoke before I did. ¡°Do you have anything to write with?¡±


    I was confused, but I nodded and got up to grab a jar of ink, a brush, and a blank scroll.


    ¡°Ehhhh? Seems like a classic isekai setting, doesn¡¯t it?¡± He mumbled to himself while writing some strange script with the brush on the paper I brought him. ¡°This is how you spell my name. Have you seen these letters before?¡±


    ¡°No, never.¡± I took the brush from him and dipped it in the ink and wrote out my name. ¡°This spells Zinaether, my name. As you can see, we definitely use different writing systems, so we should speak different languages right?¡±


    Justin raised his hand to his chin and stared at my name, seemingly deep in thought. After a bit of time, he pounded his fist on top of his palm.


    ¡°This must be one of my perks!¡±


    ¡°Perks?¡±


    ¡°From my special constitution. It¡¯s probably something like, ¡®I can understand this world''s language.¡¯¡±


    I raised an eyebrow at him. ¡°You mean this continent¡¯s language?¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± We stared at each other for a moment. It was obvious we weren¡¯t on the same wavelength. In an attempt to form an understanding between us, I had to clarify something. ¡°Is it strange to have more than one language in the world?¡±


    I stared at him, wondering if everyone from his world spoke English. At least in our world, people of different land masses had different languages.


    ¡°Huh? No- Well I mean¡­ Maybe? But you¡¯re right, there are multiple languages in my world too. I guess this is just a preconception I had that¡¯s wrong. Is your language¡­ something like yo-yo, right?¡±


    ¡°You mean Jovixian? Yes, that¡¯s my language.¡±


    ¡°Do you speak any other language?¡±


    ¡°No, but I have just the thing for this. See if you understand what I¡¯m saying.¡± Saying so, I revealed my dictionary and asked word by word if he could understand me in Zexeran, trying to dig up the dusty memories of what I was taught a few years ago.


    ¡°The grammar sounds a little off, but you asked if I could understand you, right?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right! I guess you really can understand the languages of the world.¡±


    ¡°Kufufu. Maybe this won¡¯t be as bad as I thought. At the very least, I can talk to people, plus I already have a friend here! All that¡¯s left is to complete the task I was sent by God to do.¡± After finishing his monologue, he turned to me excitedly and asked me a question out of the blue. ¡°Zinaether, can you teach me magic!?¡±


    I was caught off guard by his question, so I took a second to process and respond. ¡°Huh? Wait wait wait, what? Where did this come from? Plus, you look old enough to be a magister already? Why do I have to teach you?¡±


    ¡°I might as well be a few minutes old in this world. I don¡¯t know anything about anything, and according to God, I only came to this world to defeat the Demon God, so I need to learn how to use magic! Please, help me out.¡± He looked me in my eyes, and I could feel the honesty from them. At this point, I pretty much believed that he came from another world. His story more or less aligned with what God¡¯s Apostle predicted, and he clearly wrote in a different language I¡¯ve never seen or heard of in this world, so it was hard to say he was lying. Following that logic, wouldn¡¯t I be an enemy of Humanity if I rejected him? He didn¡¯t know it, but he managed to put me in a hard to refuse position. I had to at least put on the airs to show I¡¯m not someone easy to manipulate.


    ¡°Hahhh. I have no obligation to do anything for you. As far as I know, you could be lying. That being said, it also could be said that I saved your life. Since I¡¯m your benefactor, I feel like it¡¯d be a waste to not teach you magic. My training is gonna be harsh, but if I see you ease up or try to quit, we¡¯re through, understand? You better be grateful!¡±


    ¡°Yes sir!¡±

 2: Trying to Comfort Myself?

    ¡°Ahh, you were so light hearted back then! Now you¡¯re all serious and ¡®Let¡¯s do our job.¡¯ I miss the training days.¡± Justin, after reminiscing about our first interaction, immediately started talking like an old man looking back at his glory days.


    My sister smiled sweetly at Justin before showing me a rare look of approval. ¡°Grabbing Justin from the ocean was probably the most significant thing you¡¯ve ever done. If nothing else, I can be proud that I raised you to do that.¡±


    -My dear sister, I would appreciate it if you would at least acknowledge my efforts to keep up with the monster known as Justin. Not only can he cast instantly, his body is comparable to manarock! For a poor support magister like me, keeping up with DPS magister¡¯s combat ability should be marveled at! Not to mention how fast he¡¯s grown. I was barely his teacher for a couple months before he surpassed me in strength!- My internal whining led me to look at Justin, the prophesized ¡°Hero of Humanity.¡± I understood that as a hero, his aptitude and mine should be incomparable. I understood it, but why was God so unfair!? -How can someone so talented be allowed to exist without the world laws making it fair for people like me? Where¡¯s the balance!?-


    ¡°Little Bastard, what are you so lost in thought about?¡± My sister jolted me out of my righteous indignation with her question.


    I didn¡¯t even think, instinctually replying with a predetermined answer. ¡°Just thinking about how much I love you, my dear sister.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡±


    I wanted to slap myself for saying that. I flashed back to my childhood, recalling how she would hit seven year old me while yelling at me to, ¡°Show her some damn respect!¡± On top of that, she made up the nickname ¡°Little Bastard¡± to use in place of my name. When she finally moved away to work for The Kingdom, I spent nearly as much time as I did cultivating my internal mana on trying to break free from her brainwashing! Unfortunately, the results were unsurprisingly unsatisfactory when they were unveiled.


    I wanted to get up and yell at her, but my rational sense recalled how she almost killed me mere moments ago. -The chill of death, huh? Now that I think about it, that would be a cool title for when we become famous as The Destined¡¯s squad. What would my alias be? It should be something cool, which shouldn¡¯t be difficult considering I¡¯m pretty cool.-


    Following that thought process, The Kingdom crossed my mind. ¡°Oh right, when does The Kingdom expect us to arrive? And are they gonna send someone to fill in for you while you¡¯re with us?¡±


    I asked my sister some questions that I was wondering about. ¡°Well, I informed them that we were meeting up and leaving some time soon, so we have a few days to rest before we have to be there. And I didn¡¯t ask about that! What do I care about what happens to this damn city that gets attacked every week! I¡¯m so sick of this place!¡±


    A small smile formed on my lips after she spoke. Whenever she started talking bad about something, that meant she really loved it. What? That¡¯s just me trying to comfort myself? Don¡¯t be ridiculous.


    ¡°You know,¡± Justin started, ¡°I was thinking about it, and what if we just traveled there on foot rather than taking the Warp Formation?¡± I looked at him like he was crazy. Such a ridiculous suggestion was obviously unreasonable.


    ¡°Whatever you want Justin~!¡± My sister immediately agreed, which was to be expected, so my input was probably irrelevant now. -Dear sister, you could at least be more reliable about important decisions like this.-


    Suddenly, a hand reached out and covered my face, placing its thumb and middle finger on each of my temples. A gripping force was exerted, gradually increasing its strength and subsequently increasing my pain. ¡°Huh? Ahhhhhhhhh! Okay! Okay okay okayyyy! Stoooop pleeease!¡±


    The hand let go and retreated back next to my sister. She seemed satisfied by my suffering because she had a slight smirk on her face. I proceeded to put my hands on the sides of my head and massage my temples to ease the pain with tears in my eyes. I knew it was pointless, but I couldn¡¯t help but ask my sister for her reasoning. ¡°Why? I didn¡¯t even do anything!¡±


    ¡°Hmm? Oh, I felt like you thought something rude about me.¡±


    ¡°All of that over a feeling you can¡¯t even confirm?!¡±


    I said that, but inside I was shocked that she always knew whenever I¡¯m thinking something like that. Even when we lived together a few years ago, it never felt like she was able to read my thoughts so much! -I should stop underestimating a woman¡¯s intuition. It¡¯s clearly stronger than psychic magic!-


    Justin cleared his throat to bring us back on track. ¡°Ahem. Anyways, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re wondering why I suggested walking there, but the answer to that is simple. We haven¡¯t been a team for very long, right? I feel like we should spend some time traveling together to improve our synergy, you know?¡±


    Zinaethia nestled closer to the arm she was embracing and narrowed her eyes with a smirk. ¡°We can kick the other one out and spend tonight improving our synergy.¡±


    I wanted to vomit after hearing that. I had to do everything I could to keep that image out of my head. Why was she like this?


    Justin just laughed off her remark and continued. ¡°No, really. We can practice using our magic together, or think of strategies  for when we¡¯re fighting the undead. We should also think of tactics to use against other magisters as well. After all, the undead aren¡¯t the only enemies.¡±


    Listening to Justin trying to prepare, I couldn¡¯t help but stifle a laugh. ¡°And I¡¯m the one who¡¯s all, ¡®Let¡¯s do our job,¡¯ huh? Look at you, jumping straight into strategist mode. Well, whatever. I¡¯m fine with walking I guess. Plus I can show my sister how much stronger I¡¯ve gotten¡ª¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t care about you, but if Justin wants to do it, let¡¯s do it!¡±


    It seemed like we were all in agreement, but¡­ -My dear sister, couldn¡¯t you at least let me finish before you crush my dreams?


    After deciding that we¡¯d walk to The Kingdom and practice our teamwork along the way, Zinaethia said she¡¯d cook for us (or rather, she said she would make some food for her and Justin, and I could figure something out) then decided to go to sleep early so we could start walking sooner. I was worried about what I would do because she really didn¡¯t make any food for me! Thankfully the attendants that took care of the house made me something to eat, or else I might¡¯ve gone hungry. While they were preparing the food, I learned they were brother and sister and named Shunaeser and Shunaesia respectively.


    The next day, on the road connecting Twin Star Lake City to The Kingdom, all three of us were discussing magic circles after Zinaethia brought up my casting speed again. ¡°I just don¡¯t get why he still even needs to form magic circles. By the time I was his age, I had almost forgotten what magic circles were even for!¡±


    ¡°Zinaethia, I¡¯d appreciate it if you didn¡¯t hold me to your ridiculous standards. I think it¡¯s pretty remarkable I was able to survive training with Justin for five years.¡± I tried to get her to understand I was actually pretty amazing in my own way. Justin agreed, so he chimed in too.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m glad it was Zinaether that was my teacher. He¡¯s probably the most trustworthy person in the world! Besides, I think you¡¯re just awesome for being able to skip the step of making the magic circle and directly moving your mana into action.¡±


    That was certainly true. Whether I liked it or not, my sister was indeed a once in a lifetime prodigy.


    Mana was omnipresent in the world. Some areas had higher or low concentrations of mana, or different prominent mana natures, but mana itself was a natural part of the environment. Magisters (with the exception of my sister) couldn¡¯t just manipulate the ambient mana freely, so they developed magic circles that allowed our mana to issue commands to the ambient mana. These commands were the spells that magisters used and the circles had effects that range from simply using the mana inside one¡¯s body to make an attack to converting ambient mana of a different nature into the circle¡¯s nature to have enough mana to form the desired result. Magic circles were infinite and had a range of complexities, with more complex circles being bigger and harder to form in exchange for more powerful and/or more precise spells. In order to keep people organized, spells were divided into tiers based on their complexity. In order of simplest to most complex, the spell tiers were basic, intermediate, advanced, and complex. Since magic circles were devised, they¡¯ve been refined and improved upon and countless more have been created and can be created, but magic circles themselves have been considered the foundation of a magister¡¯s strength and always present, unless they were my sister.


    ¡°Aww Justin, I didn¡¯t know you were such a sweet talker. It¡¯s surprising considering how foul mouthed and uncouth this one is. It¡¯s really unbelievable that you choose to associate yourself with him.¡± Zinaethia took Justin¡¯s compliment and ran with it, but she quickly switched her tone when she directed the conversation back to me. ¡°Besides, the little bastard still doesn¡¯t have an excuse. We have the same blood flowing through us. If I can say one thing about that one, it¡¯s that it is definitely my little brother, so I don¡¯t think expecting it to be able to mobilize mana without a circle is unrealistic.¡±


    I think this was the closest thing to a positive expectation that my sister has ever had for me. I would¡¯ve been moved, if not for one reason. -Did she refer to me as ¡°it?¡± So I¡¯m not even a person anymore, huh?-


    Justin responded to her cold hearted expectations with a voice that obviously was pitying me, which kind of made me feel worse. ¡°Even twins can¡¯t be expected to achieve the same feats as each other.¡±


    Even though he tried to defend me, his argument wasn¡¯t strong enough. Although I was reluctant, even I had to take my sister¡¯s side if I knew she was right. ¡°That¡¯s true, but it¡¯s slightly different for magisters. I¡¯ve told you that those in power in The Kingdom are considered to have noble blood, with the King¡¯s family even being said to have descended from the first magister, but I don¡¯t think you took that seriously enough.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    Justin didn¡¯t seem to understand, but before I could explain it, my sister seemed all too enthusiastic to explain how the power system worked. ¡°He means they were serious about their noble blood.¡±


    ¡°Noble blood?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Zinaethia nodded before shooting me a glance. ¡°Unless that one is a terrible teacher, he should¡¯ve explained that the reason magisters can even cast spells is due to their mana vein producing mana. Whatever type of mana the vein produces is the magic nature of that magister, which is the type of mana they can control and absorb. Excess mana produced by the mana vein during certain processes condenses in the heart to form a crystal that becomes more refined as more mana is gathered into it over time.¡±


    ¡°I learned that. It¡¯s the reason the Demon God tries to kill us magisters. He steals the Life Crystals since they¡¯re essentially the lifetime accumulation of a magister¡¯s mana.¡±


    ¡°Correct~! You¡¯re well informed. Maybe that one isn¡¯t completely useless after all.¡± My sister looked me up and down. She wasn¡¯t showing approval, but she didn¡¯t outright disapprove of me either. Was it bad that I felt happy about that?


    ¡°Anyways¡­¡± Zinaethia adjusted her hair and continued her lesson for Justin. ¡°That means the more powerful the magister¡¯s mana vein, the more powerful the Life Crystal, correct? The same is also true of the magister¡¯s abilities. If a stronger magister has a child, it¡¯s highly likely that the child will inherit their parent¡¯s strong mana vein and be able to become a strong magister. The reason the noble families have maintained their status is because they marry other strong magisters to produce strong descendants and keep their bloodline strong. That¡¯s why I believe in the little sh*t¡¯s ability to achieve circle-less casting. If I can do it, that means we have naturally strong mana veins, so it shouldn¡¯t be impossible for him.¡±


    That was probably the nicest thing she ever said about me. If she didn¡¯t say it so matter-of-fact-ly, I might¡¯ve cried due to overwhelming emotions.


    Ignorant of the joy I was feeling, Justin continued his conversation with my sister. ¡°I see. Is that why you¡¯re so hard on him? Because you believe he can do great things?¡±


    Oh? I was also interested in hearing if my sister was actually a caring older sister who simply had an icy exterior. ¡°What? Hell no, I just hate his guts! I get you lived with him, but imagine trying to raise the little bastard! It¡¯s always a snarky comment or sarcastic remark, but he acts so innocent, like he¡¯d never wrong anyone. That¡¯s why I had to beat it into him to show respect to people, especially when he first awoke his magic! Do you know how many pranks he played on me by messing with my senses and vision before I eventually left to work for The Kingdom and defend that god forsaken city?¡±


    And there go my dreams, thoroughly crushed and drifting like dust in the wind. Despite my shattered hopes, I couldn¡¯t just let this story be told one-sidedly!


    ¡°Hey hey! I may not have been the most peaceful little brother, but what siblings don¡¯t prank each other? If anything, she¡¯s the terrible one! Justin, imagine being raised by such a violent, rude, and worst of all, attractive sister! Do you know how many times I was almost drowned, frozen, and buried alive? For no reason!? There was no privacy until she finally moved away, and all the guys from the magic school who talked to me were asking me to try and set them up on a date with her! My childhood was full of physical and emotional abuse! I think it¡¯s a miracle I¡¯m a functioning human being after being raised by her!¡± The opportunity to complain about my sister to someone besides her rarely presented itself, so when I started the floodgates were opened. It wasn¡¯t like I hated Zinaethia, but she was awful when she was raising me.


    ¡°So I¡¯m a bad guardian, huh? Who was the one that started sending extra money after someone decided to pick up an, albeit handsome, stranger off the street?! I wanted to come check on you right away, but that god damned city just has to get attacked every damn day!¡±


    ¡°Wait, really?¡± I was struck off guard by that revelation. -Was she worried about me after I picked up Justin?-


    ¡°Yes really! If you were living with some girl, I would¡¯ve murdered you in your sleep before she seduced you into the honey trap.¡±


    -Of course not.- I was a bit disappointed that I got my hopes up, but in an argument you have to take everything in stride. Without hesitating, I shot back at her while maintaining an indifferent tone, even though I was feeling fired up. ¡°Wow, that''s crazy. Just like the fact that me asking for extra money didn¡¯t affect you in the slightest! Clearly, you were still living just fine even while sending over extra money. In fact, you probably should¡¯ve sent more, seeing as you still had some extra funds leftover.¡±


    After seeing Zinaethia¡¯s house, I knew for a fact that she had plenty of money to blow. At least, she had enough to have two attendants maintain a garden full of magical plants. For a poor man such as myself, such luxary would easily double or triple living expenses, so a rich older sister like her should be willing to help out her less fortunate little brother, right? ¡°Like hell! Learn to live on your own!¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    ¡°I was fifteen, Zinaethia.¡±


    ¡°I was living on my own when I was fifteen! And I was providing for a kid that wasn¡¯t even mine, and apparently not grateful in the slightest.¡±


    I threw my hands to the sky in exasperation. ¡°Once again, I ask that you not hold me to your ridiculous standards.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s ridiculous about it? Justin is closer to circle-less casting than you, and he¡¯s only spent half as long on magic as you have. Guess that means he¡¯s twice the man, huh?¡±


    But I could reply, Justin cut in. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s relax.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t upset, but I guess Justin was a bit uncomfortable with the atmosphere. I knew he had a younger sister at home, but I guess they didn¡¯t fight like we do. To be fair, I thought Zinaethia was a bit excessive and very emotionally driven.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± As if to prove my point, she made an extremely petty sound and turned away from me.


    ¡°Sorry, she¡¯s just really petty and hates losing.¡±


    ¡°Who lost?!¡± Zinaethia immediately snapped at me like I was publicly slandering her. All it earned from me, however, was a smirk.


    ¡°See what I mean?¡±


    Justin had to hold her back from attacking me, which I was grateful for. After he calmed her down, we continued on our journey towards The Kingdom. The road between The Kingdom and Twin Star Lake City was pretty straight forward. Along the way, we ran into a few people on their way to the city. Most were people going there to sell stuff, but we ran into the occasional magister on the way to gain experience against the undead on the front lines. The road traveled along the edge of a few Beast race territories, but Humans and Beasts were typically neutral and wouldn¡¯t attack each other unprovoked in The Kingdom.


    Typically that was the way things went, but the Gargantuan Ketxalconda that attacked us didn¡¯t appreciate such peace. The feathered snake was at least five meters long and as thick as an ardentwood tall tree. The first one to notice was Zinaethia, who quickly slid Justin and I away by turning the ground around us into a liquid and pushing the solid platform we were standing on back with a wave. At the same time, she jumped forward and landed a dozen meters away.


    Beneath where the three of us fled, the liquid soil fell into a black abyss big enough to swallow at least ten people. In the next instant, a massive snake with feathery wings burst through the surface and flew into the sky. Its thick tail swung back and forth as it ascended, flinging stone scales in all directions.


    I reacted quickly and grabbed Justin while simultaneously casting a chaos spell. I sensed a trace of mana I left lingering on my sister and cast my Instant Teleportation spell. In the next instant, I was looking in the sky at a perfectly square sheet of ice, blocking the storm of stone showering us.


    Zinaethia looked back at us, her royal blue eyes filled with worry. ¡°Are you alright, Justin?!¡±


    ¡°With Zinaether here, such an attack would never reach us.¡± Justin responded casually, but why were we ignoring how she totally ignored me?


    After a moment, the scales stopped falling, so Zinaethia dispersed her barrier. The ketxalconda¡¯s body shook in the sky, its figure appearing as a black silhouette since it positioned itself between us and the sun. It released a loud noise reminiscent of gurgling and hissing intertwining in a horrible cacophony.


    Justin patted my shoulder while squinting at the sky. ¡°Can you make this a little easier on the eyes? Its sneak attack proved its skill in concealing its aura, so it¡¯ll be hard to aim like this.¡±


    I nodded as I looked back into the sky. Extending my hand forward, a white magic circle quickly spun into existence, casting my bright spell after a second. In the next instant, it was as though an invisible mirror blocked the sky between our trio and the ketxalconda. The light from the sun that was beaming down on us suddenly flashed over the figure of the feathered snake in the sky.


    Justin smirked and pulled back his arm. Next, he stomped his foot and fiercely punched his fist at the ketxalconda. When his arm reached full extension, there was a flash of yellow around Justin¡¯s arm and a massive fist of lightning the same size as the Beast¡¯s body quickly climbed into the sky.


    The ketxalconda was no pushover and flew towards all of us, swirling around Justin¡¯s spell and avoiding it with ease. As it charged at us, the ground rumbled intensely before massive roots upheaved the earth beneath us.


    The massive plant tendrils were dozens of meters long and all at least as wide as a large person. They pierced towards us violently like giant spears, surrounding us completely and closing in quickly. Justin turned to Zinaethia and quickly doled out an order. ¡°Make a bunch of ice shelters for us. At least ten!¡± Following that, his head spun to me. ¡°Teleport us into one of the shelters.¡± Zinaethia only needed a breath to complete Justin¡¯s request. At a glance there was easily double the minimum ten. With so many options it almost made it difficult to choose. I picked a random one in the crowd and grabbed both of them as I cast another Instant Teleportation. In the next second, what surprised me was the sudden wave of heat I felt that was incongruous with what I just saw. My eyes darted to Justin, who looked towards Zinaethia and I as an orange light dissipated in front of him. ¡°Make sure to keep your auras down.¡±


    I instinctively retracted my aura and shot a questioning gaze towards Justin. In that instant, there was another loud gurgle-hiss accompanied by the sounds of shattering in crashing nearby enough to still feel the impact, but far enough away to not feel threatened. Justin might have been reacting to the noise, or maybe he read my expression, but he started explaining without me having to ask. ¡°I¡¯m a man who must repay a favor, no matter how small. Since it wanted to sneak attack us, it¡¯s only right to return the favor. On our last counter attack, it didn¡¯t seem affected by Zinaether¡¯s bright spell at all.¡± As Justin explained, there was another hurgliss a bit further away along with more shattering and crashing. ¡°I suspected such a scenario. Since it hunts underground, does it really need eyes? Plus it¡¯s a snake, so it probably has an organ for sensing heat. With the proof of the light being ineffective, I decided to enact a little ploy.¡± Another crash echoed, but this one was closer than before. ¡°By using Zinaethia¡¯s freeze magic as a disruptive filter and my fire magic to conceal our body heat, we would become invisible to the snake once we hid our auras. It would have to guess to find us, and I trust my luck enough to buy a little time.¡±


    Following the sound of another ice shelter being destroyed, Zinaethia looked at Justin with infatuation in her eyes. ¡°You¡¯re so quick witted. Those useless nobles in The Kingdom could stand to be more like you.¡±


    Justin smiled at my sister¡¯s flattery before facing me. ¡°After the next crash, follow the sound to teleport us to that snake. We shouldn¡¯t waste too much time here.¡±


    I nodded and willed my mana vein to generate more mana, rapidly expanding my aura and allowing me to teleport within its range more easily. I didn¡¯t know if the next crash would be nearby or not, it never hurt to be prepared. Luckily for me, there was yet another roar from the Beast before a booming crash that caused the ground to shake and the sharp sound of shattering ice made me wince. -Nearby enough. Looks like this won¡¯t be hard.-


    I grabbed Justin¡¯s arm and teleported us about thirty meters above where I heard the crash. I expected the ketxalconda to be flying high as a precaution, but it was actually down at the wreckage of the ice shelter it destroyed, slithering along the ground with its mouth open, consuming the debris, ice, and fire. Everything along its trail vanished as it passed.


    Justin reacted quickly and cast a wind spell, spinning me around as my body was parallel to the ground. I released Justin from my grasp after several revolutions, launching him straight down towards the ketxalconda like an arrow. A yellow magic circle briefly appeared below Justin¡¯s rapidly falling figure before instantly fading away. In the next instant, sparks flashed around him before he became a sharp sword of lightning that fell upon the ketxalconda. With a flash, a severed snake head flew into the air. Justin bounced out of the way as the blood spurted from the Beast¡¯s decapitated body.


    The ice shelters that remained simultaneously shattered into dust and the fires burning inside instantly died out. Zinaethia approached the head of the Beast as Justin jumped above the body and sliced his hand across the air while casting an electric spell. A slash of electricity cut across the ketxalconda¡¯s body, penetrating its stone scales and cutting it in half along the length of its body. Revealed towards the upper body, next to its beating heart, were a brown orb and a dark green orb.


    Justin caught me as I fell from the sky and we gracefully landed together. At the time of our landing, Zinaethia also walked over to the corpse and grabbed the two Beast Cores revealed by Justin¡¯s last attack. I looked around to discover the loose head was nowhere to be seen, just a puddle of blood where it used to lay. Justin let out a light sigh and smiled as Zinaethia approached us. ¡°Good work guys. Looks like I was worried about our synergy for nothing.¡±


    Zinaethia grabbed his hand with both of hers and got close to his ear. Despite that, she still spoke at a regular volume so I could hear. ¡°We can still get rid of the other one and improve our synergy.¡±


    I almost threw up. ¡°How about you improve¡­ in literally any other way!¡±


    She snorted and snapped back at me. ¡°How about you improve your casting skills!¡±


    In the end, after quickly disposing of the Beast, we spent most of the time talking about magic until it got dark. I say talking, but it was really Zinaethia trying to explain how to manipulate mana without circles. I was more confused because she used vague descriptions like, ¡°feel your mana leave your body,¡± and ¡°push its influence as far as possible.¡±


    -I get what she means, but I don¡¯t know how to put it in practice.- I could imagine what it felt like, but I couldn¡¯t create that feeling. The closest thing I could imagine was the feeling of chaos mana running through my blood and enhancing my senses, but thats was influencing my senses rather than ambient mana. It was like comparing pushing a child over vs pushing a grown man over. -Plus, my senses are within my own body, versus the mana that¡¯s a foreign existence. The only way I know how to manually get my mana to exit my body is by using magic circles to prompt it.-


    I seriously contemplated the issue, but I couldn¡¯t see a solution. Eventually I gave up and watched Justin contemplate her words for a while. Maybe he was trying to do it, but it didn¡¯t look like he was successful. After a while, he was apparently satisfied or gave up. ¡°Alright. I¡¯m done.¡±


    I gave him a thumbs up as I extended my other arm forward. ¡°Cool, let¡¯s go back.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± Zinaethia looked at Justin and I like we were speaking nonsense. ¡°What do you mean go back? It¡¯s already dark.¡±


    I smirked at her and chuckeled. ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s go back to the house. Unless you want to spend the night outside?¡± As I said that, I cast Gate, opening a portal inside Zinaethia¡¯s house.


    ¡°When did this become possible? Don¡¯t think it¡¯s okay to show up whenever you want now.¡± Despite saying that, she walked through the portal anyway and sat down on the couch. Justin and I followed close behind and also sat down before I closed the portal.


    ¡°Trust me, I don¡¯t intend to use this more than necessary. And this is a perk of my chaos magic. I read somewhere that it¡¯s about influencing senses, but that¡¯s technically inaccurate. I guess the best way to explain it is that chaos mana is a booster of other mana.¡±


    While I spoke, the two attendants of the house came and greeted Zinaethia before getting sent off to do something. Without missing a beat, she questioned my explanation. ¡°What does that have to do with having a gate in my house?¡±


    Given how vague I was, it made sense that she didn¡¯t understand how I open portals, but having an edge over my sister was an extremely satisfying feeling. I was almost reluctant to explain because this was something I knew that she didn¡¯t. Before I could truly relish in the rare instance of advantage over my sister, however, Justin decided to run his fat mouth.¡°Basically he leaves a trail of mana wherever he goes, and then he can feel that mana from anywhere and use chaos magic to open a portal there.¡±


    ¡°Justiiiiiiin! I was gonna explain that! Way to steal my thunder.¡±


    Zinaethia nodded lightly, but then turned towards me with confusion. ¡°That makes sense, but what does that have to do with chaos mana being a booster of other mana?¡±


    I sighed audibly and looked at the ground. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter anymore. I was gonna explain the fundamentals of how chaos magic worked, but you got your answer, so I bet you don¡¯t care anymore.¡±


    ¡°Pretty much.¡± She spoke in her typical, matter of fact tone, making me wince. I was expecting that, but when she confirmed my thoughts it still hurt my feelings a lot more than I would¡¯ve liked. I could practically hear my heart breaking. ¡°But I guess I¡¯ll hear you out.¡±


    ¡°Huh? Wait really!? You really mean it?!¡± My eyes lit up and my heart rate accelerated. Hearing my sister admit she was okay with me talking was probably the most heartwarming thing I ever heard her say. If only my dear sister  knew of the joy I was feeling in that moment, maybe she would even treat me better!


    ¡°Calm down! Don¡¯t get the wrong idea, I don¡¯t care about what you have to say. The only reason I¡¯m hearing you out is because I¡¯m thinking ahead.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Justin asked her to clarify, but to be honest, I didn¡¯t really care about what she meant. I was excited that I had free reign to talk in my sister¡¯s presence! With that in mind, I prayed for Justin to withhold any follow up questions he may have.


    ¡°Since we¡¯re headed to The Kingdom with The Destined, chances are they¡¯ll want to team you up with some young nobles on the path to reaching the Imperial Guard, the strongest from each of the 16 noble families, to tap into their full potential. I¡¯m probably fine since they already know me, but they may want me to compete against those kids. Since they have noble blood, there¡¯s a higher chance of encountering a Hidden Class magic like chaos, so I¡¯m okay with hearing out how it works.¡±


    I see, I see. So that meant I was up, right?! Hmm? I¡¯m too excited? Don¡¯t be ridiculous!


    Zinaethia looked at me expectantly while Justin seemed to begin thinking about something. ¡°Okay. So when I said chaos mana is a sort of booster to other mana, I meant that in about as literal a sense as you can imagine. In my five years of training with Justin, I got to experiment a lot, and I discovered that chaos mana doesn¡¯t have much attack potential, but rather can enhance your other natures. Think of chaos mana as a wild horse, and your other mana as the riders. By itself, it just runs around crazily, but when it works with other mana, it increases the speed and potency of that mana. The reason it can affect senses is because the bloodstream flowing through a magister¡¯s mana vein is interconnected with the other veins and arteries in their body.¡±


    Zinaethia nodded along with my explanation. ¡°I see. That makes sense. If you stimulate the mana in their blood with chaos mana, of course you can affect their senses.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. The reason I could make the portal here is also because of chaos mana. Since it¡¯s so wild, chaos mana is actually constantly leaking from my body separately from my aura and blends into the ambient mana. Since it¡¯s still technically my mana, I can sense it as if it was still within my body. After a lot of studying and practice I mastered the Gate spell, so I can open portals wherever my mana lingers. It doesn¡¯t technically have to be my chaos mana, but since it¡¯s constantly exiting my body and just kinda floating around, I typically use that.¡±


    A flash of realization shone across Zinaethia¡¯s royal blue eyes. ¡°So that¡¯s why you decided to come back here? We can just return to where we left?¡±


    ¡°Yup! I can even warp back home if I want.¡± I nodded enthusiastically. It looked like Zinaethia was finally starting to appreciate my abilities.


    ¡°Interesting. You may be more useful than I thought. Okay, you can go now.¡±


    There was a brief, yet palpable silence between us before I could react. ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°You said it yourself, you can go back home. So go.¡± She flicked her hands a few times, as if to shoo me away.


    -I thought she was finally seeing me in a new light, but instead of praise, she immediately kicks me out? Dear sister, please don¡¯t toy with my emotions so, my heart won¡¯t be able to take it!-


    She was still looking at me like she expected me to leave when it seemed as though she thought of something. ¡°Wait, so you¡¯re telling me you can open portals just by feeling your lingering chaos mana, but you can¡¯t do circle-less casting?¡±


    I was startled. How did she make such a connection between the two unrelated actions? ¡°Wait wait wait, those are two different things. That¡¯s like asking someone to move the sweat that¡¯s dripped off them already. The only reason I can even sense my chaos mana is because of magic!¡±


    ¡°Sounds like excuses to me. Honestly, it feels like the chaos magic is wasted on you.¡±


    ¡°...¡± I opened my mouth to retort, but ended up closing it again after a moment. I didn¡¯t even know how to respond to that. I actually thought it was amazing that I was able to do long distance teleports so easily, but once again, I was being held to unreasonable standards.


    ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t know why Justin respects you as much as he does.¡± We both looked over to Justin, who still seemed lost in thought. It didn¡¯t seem like he heard her, so I chopped him lightly on the back of his head.


    ¡°Hey bro, you good?¡±


    ¡°Hmm? Yeah? What happened?¡± He looked back and forth between the both of us.


    ¡°Nothing love. What were you lost in thought about?¡±


    Justin stroked his beard absentmindedly. ¡°I was just thinking about The Kingdom wanting me to squad up with some of their prodigies.¡±


    ¡°What about it?¡± I tilted my head to the side.


    ¡°I was simply wondering if they¡¯d stop us from traveling together? Do you know, Zinaethia?¡±


    ¡°Like I said, I wouldn¡¯t worry about myself, since The Kingdom already knows me, but it¡¯s possible. Although that would only happen if we were deemed unworthy, so I wouldn¡¯t worry about it. The chances are higher that we¡¯d all travel together, depending on how many they picked out as candidates.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a relief. I¡¯d rather just keep it as us three if I¡¯m being honest, but I suppose I wouldn¡¯t mind one or two more. Ideally, we could use a healing magister. It¡¯d really be great if all of us had different magic too. Between you and I, all we need is plant magic to cover the Common Class natures.¡± Justin looked at Zinaethia thoughtfully before turning his gaze to me. ¡°Beside the four Rare Class natures that we possess, what are the other ones we could use?¡±


    I raised my fingers to count off the remaining Rare Class magic natures. ¡°None of us have metal magic, acoustic magic, poison magic, psychic magic, or like you said, healing magic.¡±


    ¡°You know babe,¡± Zinaethia placed her hand on Justin¡¯s to get his attention. I cringed at her use of ¡°babe.¡± Eughh¡­ ¡°I could make a call to some of the higher ups and ask them if they can get someone. I¡¯m sure there¡¯s no lack of Rare magic among the nobles in The Kingdom.¡±


    ¡°Please don¡¯t call him that. I almost threw up.¡±


    THUMP!


    After receiving a punch to my shoulder that I could swear almost dislocated it, I promptly shut my mouth. Meanwhile, Justin responded to Zinaethia. ¡°It¡¯s fine. Like I said, I¡¯d rather keep it just the three of us. To be honest, I feel like anyone else would be weak links. Plus, I like our dynamic.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± I made a remark while still rubbing my shoulder in an attempt to ease the pain.


    My sister instantly replied with a bright smile. ¡°You could always leave.¡±


    -Dear sister, I realize you don¡¯t want me here, but you don¡¯t have to emphasize it so much.-


    After we finished talking, her attendants came back with plates of food for us. They were stacked with different foods, but the meal looked primarily meat based with vegetables to the side. The smell that wafted over as the two approached was enough to wake my stomach up and make it growl.


    We had a long day of walking and we were all pretty tired anyways, so after we finished eating we decided to go to sleep early and leave when we all woke up tomorrow.


    Continuing that routine, we spent about four days walking before we finally reached The Kingdom¡¯s gates.

 3: You鈥檙e Seriously Amazing

    In the wasteland that occupied the space between the Human and Demon territory.


    The ground rumbled under the march of the thousands of undead. Sounds of dry grass crunching underfoot echoed wherever the army passed. Although the ground was more or less clear, there were a few patches of dark red on the brown and yellow ground of the wasteland. Death was common in the wastelands, but the only evidence of that was the common sighting of large patches of dried blood adding to the color of the wastelands. No bodies could be seen on the ground.


    Behind the army, a figure in a sleeveless white half coat and baggy white pants suddenly appeared, seemingly stepping through thin air. After it looked over the surroundings, a toothy smile of understanding crept onto its face in understanding before it took another step. As if passing through a barrier, the figure disappeared.


    There was another wave of undead approaching Human territory through the wasteland, their numbers completely lining the horizon. Zinaethia had already notified The Kingdom that she, along with The Destined, were currently walking there now. The Kingdom prompted her to use the Warp Formation within Twin Star Lake City, but she was dead set on walking. Unable to actually force her to use it, The Kingdom could only remind her to not dawdle, as the course of the war may well be in the balance. Since she was currently traveling, her area of jurisdiction was left undefended. In order to fill the massive gap she left, The Kingdom had to issue a quest to the Mercenary Magister Guild as well as send squads of young nobles to gain experience in fighting against the undead.


    A young noble with spiky violet red hair volunteered to defend Twin Star Lake City when he heard about the situation from his father. His goal was simple, to gain clout among the higher ups in The Kingdom! ¡°If some random talent from a coastal city can defend the place, a noble like myself should have no problems. I was thinking about requesting some in the field training anyways.¡±


    Despite the clear arrogance he displayed in that statement, nothing he said was technically wrong. Nobles were inherently stronger than half-nobles and commoners who had more diluted blood than them, and therefore naturally weaker mana veins. In spite of that common knowledge, his father only shook his head and warned him. ¡°Be careful while you¡¯re out there. She was able to defend Twin Star Lake¡¯s jurisdiction single handedly, yet The Kingdom is sending squads upon squads of talents with enough potential to inherit the title of Imperial Guard out to defend it. That should not only be a testament to her strength, but the danger of the battle out there. You must always proceed with caution. And for God¡¯s sake, stop underestimating Lady Zinaethia. You¡¯re nothing but an ignorant calf with no fear of a tiger!¡±


    The noble¡¯s father had watched Zinaethia overpower his firstborn son, the Imperial Guard of their family! As such, he had a deep and profound respect for her strength. Although he could understand his second son¡¯s arrogance, since he shared such a feeling when he first met Zenithia, all that had changed.


    Now that she had apparently made contact with The Destined, his Majesty issued a summon in order to verify her claim. Since she was walking, the King was prepared to wait a few days and had people stationed at the northern gate so they could receive her immediately.


    The young noble was able to reach the city instantly thanks to the Warp Formation in his family¡¯s territory and was currently preparing to intercept the undead with his squad. ¡°We should do a check down before we encounter the undead. I refuse to allow even a single one of you to die.¡± Despite his strong words when he volunteered, the young noble actually took his father¡¯s words to heart. In the Complex Magister Academy, he and his squad trained together for years and were extremely close, therefore he was prepared to do everything in his power to keep casualties down to zero. The young noble didn¡¯t want to attend any of his friend¡¯s funerals!


    Everyone in the squad understood two important points about a battlefield: that it was unpredictable, and that life and death were never guaranteed. As such, they had to do everything in their power to prepare for the worst. The check down was an efficient way to find out relevant information from each other.


    ¡°First check!¡± The violet red haired noble yelled out a simple phrase, everyone in the squad responded in an orderly and efficient manner.


    ¡°Elathia! Mana reserves max!¡±


    ¡°Cazun! Mana reserves max!¡±


    ¡°Kyozin! Mana reserves max!¡±


    ¡°Nanskynn! Mana reserves max!¡±


    ¡°Good! Second check!¡±


    After confirming his squad¡¯s status, he looked over them as he proceeded to the second check. ¡°The healing potions are all accounted for and stored in our wristbands. Each of us has five.¡± Elathia, a pretty woman with hair that looked like liquid gold and bright pink eyes, confirmed how many healing potions they had. In total there were twenty-five, but these were only to be used in life or death moments since producing them was somewhat tedious.


    Using water from an extremely mana rich environment as the base, then concentrating the mana from healing magic into the water created a healing potion. The effectiveness varied based on the concentration of mana in the base and the amount of healing mana inside, but they were a lot faster to use than just standard healing magic and didn¡¯t require any mana to activate, meaning these could even be used to treat the injuries of non-magisters.


    ¡°All of our magic weapons are also prepared. This includes Captain¡¯s Blowgun and wind manarocks, Ela¡¯s Shadow Prison set, my Hioqi magic sword, Kyo¡¯s Thunder Storm set, and Kynn¡¯s magic shield.¡± Saying so, the tall and thin Cazun who had short gray hair that seemed almost metallic and large orange eyes, handed everybody their weapons.


    ¡°Perfect. Third check.¡± The captain nodded and turned to his next squadmate.


    ¡°Wristbands are functioning fine. Communications should not be an issue unless something happens during the battle.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll take care to make sure it doesn¡¯t. Final check.¡± The captain confirmed that communications were up with Kyozin, who had one of his yellow eyes covered by his neon green hair. He then turned to his final squad member, Nanskynn. Her hair was sky blue and short in length, barely reaching above her shoulders and her eyes were neon orange. She was also the shortest one in the squad.


    ¡°Everybody is completely calm and has no extraneous thoughts that may distract them during the battle.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m still thankful that a psychic magister like you joined our squad.¡± His words caused Nanskynn to blush slightly and she lowered her head to hide her face. The captain turned to face the rest of his squad and spoke loudly.


    ¡°That goes for all of you. You¡¯re all my important squad mates and friends. I won¡¯t tolerate any of you losing focus and getting yourself or anyone else hurt. Let¡¯s handle this mission and prove why we were one of the top squads at CMA before graduating.¡±


    ¡°¡°¡°¡°Yeah!¡±¡±¡±¡±


    Everyone responded positively to their captain''s speech. After finishing their war cry, they prepared to face the undead army that was approaching this time. Each put on their battle outfits. The women wore gold and white, lengthy hooded robes with a design of a castle tower with a crown on the back and the men fashioned tight fitting, black compression clothing underneath Beast armor or half length shoulder cloaks. Once they completed getting dressed, they set out from Twin Star Lake City in the direction of the battleground of the war against the undead, the wastelands!


    They walked neither fast nor slow on their way to the battlefield. The scenery gradually became less and less of the lush green plains that the city was located in and more of the dead, yellow and brown wastelands where Humans and Demons fought to expand their borders. Silhouettes of other squads appeared in the distance as they closed in on the battlefield. The sky also turned from blue to grey almost imperceptibly. Their captain was obviously in the lead, followed by Elathia and Kyozin who were walking in silence, and Cazun and Nanskynn talking quietly in the rear.


    ¡°Captain is taking this pretty seriously, huh?¡± Cazun leaned down and spoke to Nanskynn with a low voice. They were the tallest and shortest members of the squad respectively, so he had to lower himself considerably to get near her ear.


    ¡°Of course he is, this city has been defended personally by a member of the Imperial Guard after all. If he can defend this city well and make a name for himself here, he¡¯ll have an argument about why he should join a city guard. If it works, he can use it to springboard up the social ladder and gain enough reputation to have the right to challenge his older brother for his spot in the Imperial Guard!¡± Nanskynn explained their captain¡¯s motivation to her squad mate, which he responded to by nodding.


    ¡°Which means it¡¯s our job to make sure he can achieve his goal.¡±


    This time, Nanskynn was the one that nodded. ¡°Exactly. After everything he¡¯s done for us, it¡¯s the least we can do to try to pay him back, right?¡±


    With her last word, she smiled sweetly and stared at her captain¡¯s back. ¡°Easy now. If you stare at him so longingly he may finally notice your intentions.¡±


    Nanskynn blushed and her eyes quickly darted away from her captain¡¯s back to the ground near her feet while she wore an embarrassed look, forcing Cazun to stifle a laugh. Their captain didn¡¯t seem to notice, but Kyozin and Elathia both glanced back for a moment with raised eyebrows before returning their eyes forward. Once they looked away, Nanskynn lightly punched him on the shoulder and berated him. ¡°Be serious! We¡¯re about to enter a battle you know?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not like we haven¡¯t fought waves of undead before. Besides, Captain did his research. Apparently ever since Lady Zinaethia took over the defense of Twin Star Lake City, not a single Demon has been sent to attack here. Rumor has it that this place was a crisis zone that was constantly in danger of being swallowed up by the Demon territory, but once Lady Zinaethia showed up everything changed. The numbers have been obscured over the years, but the older locals who were around at the time claimed she single handedly defeated anywhere between five and fifty Demons on her first day of defense.¡±


    Nanskynn practically jumped from how startled she was. ¡°Fifty? Aren¡¯t they over exaggerating?¡±


    Cazun shrugged at Nanskynn¡¯s incredulous response. ¡°That¡¯s what me and Captain thought, but even barring that, five Demons by herself is already unbelievable. Most nobles have to form squads just to be able to take on a single Demon with some certainty, but the Demons had to form a squad just to challenge her, and lost anyway! She¡¯s like a Demon to Demons!¡± Nanskynn nodded and tried to imagine being able to take on even a single Demon by herself, but she couldn¡¯t even picture it. ¡°Getting back to the point, ever since that day, not a single Demon has been sent to attack the Twin Star Lake City. Although the waves of undead are ceaseless, it seems as though the Demon God has given up any real attempts at trying to capture the city thanks to her. With that in mind, I think I can stand to be a little light hearted.¡±


    Nanskynn sighed, helpless before Cazun¡¯s light hearted attitude. Her thoughts returned to the situation of Twin Star Lake City. When they arrived through the Warp Formation the city was peaceful and beautiful, the citizens were happily chatting away, and the city guards were slacking off by either sleeping or drinking. Nanskynn couldn¡¯t even imagine that place being a crisis zone in constant danger of being usurped by Demons. And to think it was all thanks to one person.


    ¡°There¡¯s a reason she acquired the title of ¡®Strongest Imperial Guard¡¯¡­¡± Nanskynn mumbled quietly and Cazun also nodded with a serious expression before it quickly changed to a light smile.


    ¡°Let¡¯s do our best to help Captain earn that title in the future.¡±


    ¡°It starts with this battle.¡± Saying so, they both sped up their pace and fell in stride with the rest of their party.


    The sounds of battle rang throughout the air. Looking down from above, countless flashes of colors shot across the yellow and brown ground of the wastelands. On one side, a sea of grey and green slowly approached Human territory. On the other side, a smaller but still considerable number of Humans faced the wave of undead, constantly firing off magic spells into the crowd of zombies.


    Squads of magisters each used their own methods and tactics to try and annihilate the approaching army. One squad in particular stood apart from the rest in terms of the speed they killed the undead. Three of its members were behind enemy lines wreaking havoc from within the army while other squads were stuck holding off its advancement.


    One of them sliced through one zombie after another with a blade of fire, cutting those in his path down like straw and leaving a long trail of fire that followed the path of his sword. His movements were sharp and dangerous, yet he flowed from one slash to the next elegantly, as if he was creating art with his sword technique. He moved fast through crowds of zombies and anywhere he passed by, heads would be sliced open and bodies would be falling.


    Another was surrounded by multiple streaks of lighting orbiting around him, creating rings of lightning that would electrocute anything that approached him. With the guide of his hands, the bolts would jump out and pierce multiple zombies before coming back and returning to orbit again. With every flash of lightning that extended into the army of zombies, dozens of heads would explode and undead bodies would collapse onto the ground and disintegrate into dust.


    The final member of the three that were infiltrating the undead side was actually facing off against a few Skeletons.


    The undead army consisted of three tiers of strength. In order of weakest to strongest, the tiers were zombies, Skeletons, and Demons. zombies were produced when the Life Crystal put into the corpse by Demon God didn¡¯t have enough mana to qualify ascending to a Skeleton. zombies had no conscious mind and were only reanimated thanks to the mana from the Life Crystal. As such, they had minimal mana control and only moved on orders from stronger undead. Although they had high physical strength and were unperturbed by pain, thanks to their lack of self awareness they were weak enough that even if new magisters couldn¡¯t kill them, they could at least avoid being killed by them.


    The power gap between Skeletons and zombies was so wide that it was hard to believe Skeletons essentially evolved from them. Skeletons somehow managed to regain their minds to a certain degree, meaning they were able to strategize and use magic! Not only that, but the strength of their bones were enhanced by their mana, which could result in strange mutations like spikes on their bones, horns on their skull, or tails emerging from their spines. Skeletons had access to a unique type of magic deemed ¡°bone magic¡± by Humans. Like the name implied, Skeletons could manipulate their bones with their magic, granting them a sharp offense and sturdy defense.


    The captain was facing off against three Skeletons. Two of them had no notable features, but the one that was obviously the leader stood in front and had four horns. The two outside horns were thick and curved backwards to sharp points and the inside ones were thin and pointed upwards at a slightly tilted back angle.


    Three Skeletons and a man stood a dozen steps across from each other. The area around them was empty. No zombies or magisters were within twenty meters of them. Time seemed to freeze. Suddenly, there was a dull boom and the captain became a blur that shot towards the horned Skeleton.


    He arrived in front of it in an instant. His figure became clear and his violet red hair fluttered violently. His arms were surrounded by high speed winds that rotated like drills and he punched at it¡¯s skull. The Skeleton ducked under the punch and swung its hand upwards, violently ripping through the captain! Bones also erupted beneath the captain¡¯s feet and formed a pillar of long javelin like bones skewering him. His figure distorted and faded away, and there was a crash next to the horned Skeleton. One of the regular Skeletons was on the ground without a skull. Standing above the pile of bones with a hand through its detached skull was the captain, holding a heart shaped crystal that was emitting strong mana fluctuations and contained a mysterious energy swirling within it.


    A Life Crystal!


    The captain immediately crushed it in his hand and the pile of bones beneath him turned to dust and drifted away. The him that was pierced by bones was an afterimage created using wind to distract the horned Skeleton so he could deal with the small fry. While the horned Skeleton was distracted, he needed to kill both of the regular Skeletons so they wouldn¡¯t distract him at some point later. With that plan in mind, immediately after he crushed the Life Crystal, he used his other hand to point at the second regular Skeleton. A yellow magic circle formed in front of his finger in two seconds, then a thin ray of lightning pierced through the Skeleton¡¯s head. Its fire-like eyes faded and it quickly collapsed on itself before turning to dust and fading away.


    The horned Skeleton turned around just in time to see the second Skeleton collapse and lunged at the captain. It thrust its claw like finger bones forward and countless bones began to branch out from its arm and shot towards the captain like a spear. In response, a wind magic circle formed to his right and a Wind Track carried him out of the way of the attack.


    He cast an advanced wind spell while he rode his Wind Track and the air around him began to swirl and launched a flurry of sharp wind blades that curved at various angles, making predicting and dodging them several times harder. The horned Skeleton tried its best, but small cuts began to stack up. Once one limb was completely severed, the rest began to get sliced off left and right until all four limbs were detached and chopped to pieces. The captain approached the¡­ Well, it wasn¡¯t so much of a Skeleton anymore as it was just a rib cage and skull tethered together by the spine and magic. He wanted to ask if there were any more Skeletons around, but he knew it was pointless. Undead couldn¡¯t talk.


    With that in mind he pointed towards the skull of the horned Skeleton and prepared to cast another electric spell, but his chest tightened and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He had a few years of experience fighting undead, not to mention his time in Complex Magister Academy, so his instincts were very sharp and reliable. At that moment, he felt as though there was danger nearby and quickly turned around. A storm of small, sharp bones were flying at him from behind! The horned Skeleton was trying to catch him right before he dealt the finishing blow, when his guard was the lowest. Out of nowhere, a thick wall of ice formed between the bones and the captain. All of the bones either crashed into it or were frozen inside of it. No matter what, though, not a single bone managed to reach him.


    -Perfect timing, as always.-


    -You can count on me, Captain.- The captain returned his focus to the horned Skeleton on the ground after Nanskynn¡¯s thought communication. The limbs of the Skeleton were rapidly regrowing, but they weren¡¯t done yet and it couldn¡¯t move. Since it was focusing on regeneration, it couldn¡¯t split its focus to keep attacking the captain. The captain aimed his finger at its forehead once again and cast the same electric spell that killed the last Skeleton. With that, all of the Skeletons in the area were killed.


    After looking around to confirm, he brought his wristband close to his mouth and cast Transfer on the acoustic manarock to begin a transmission to the rest of his squad. ¡°Cazun, Kyozin, we¡¯re pulling out of this area. I took care of the Skeletons leading this troop of zombies so they should become like loose sand and collapse soon enough. We can leave the rest to other squads while we regroup with Nanskynn and Elathia.¡±


    [Sounds good to me!]


    [Right.]


    Cazun and Kyozin confirmed the order and all three began to make their way back through the zombies. The captain was approaching the edge of the army where they clashed with Humans and called out to his squad. ¡°First check!¡±


    ¡°Elathia! Mana reserves about 50%.¡±


    ¡°Cazun! Mana reserves around 30%.¡±


    ¡°Kyozin! 30% as well.¡±


    ¡°Nanskynn! I¡¯m at less than a quarter of max.¡±


    ¡°Aleius! I¡¯m doing fine!¡±


    The captain clicked his tongue after hearing how his squad was doing. Ignoring that random man, Aleius, the rest of them were all worse for wear. Thankfully, throughout the battle they managed to slay a majority of the undead in this attack and crush their Life Crystals, but there were more than they anticipated so they were running out of mana. Especially Nanskynn, who used her magic to defend the others. They were only able to survive so long with minor injuries because she could use her psychic magic to determine when someone was in danger and use her freeze and metal magic to block attacks. As a result her mana consumption rate was a lot more severe than the rest. -I¡¯m at about 40% of my maximum amount of mana as well. This may call for a change of tactics.-


    An average squad of magisters usually consisted of about five magisters. While different groups had different types of magisters, squads always wanted at least one person to be able to deal high damage, one to block damage, and one to heal. The young noble¡¯s squad was actually extremely well balanced and stable. They had three attackers in the front to kill the undead, a healer in the middle to take care of the ones that managed to get hurt, and one defender who could cover everyone¡¯s back in the rear. Their formation was designed so the three attackers at the vanguard could kill as many undead as they could while the other two out of harm''s way for the most part so they could provide support in the most efficient way possible.


    After pondering for a moment, the captain gave new orders. ¡°Prepare for a retreat. We¡¯ve severely cut down the number of undead advancing towards Twin Star Lake City. The rest of the magisters that came should be able to handle it if they aren¡¯t complete wastrels. Our positions will be myself and Elathia covering us while you guys hurry back to safety. Let¡¯s go!¡±


    At that last sentence, two of the three vanguards fell back while one of the rear guards stepped forward a bit. Elathia transferred mana into four palm sized pitch black stones, then threw them towards the zombies in front of her in four different directions. Once the others got behind her, she set down the last stone in front of her and formed a black Transfer magic circle in front of her hand. A stream of shadow mana flew from the circle to the stone. Soon enough, thin black lines extended from one stone to another until they were all connected. If one were to look down from the sky, it would look like a pentagon was drawn on the earth. The thin black lines rose into the sky, creating walls of darkness that no light could enter, forming a structure of darkness that encapsulated the large area between all the stones.


    Shadow Prison constructed!


    Elathia¡¯s Shadow Prison set was a group of five shadow manarocks that were magically linked to each other. Using the spell concept of Shadow Domain as the foundation, a certain magical scientist developed a method to allow the set to be able form walls of shadow mana between themselves as long as all of the manarocks in the set were stimulated by a shadow magister. The main advantage of using the Shadow Prison set rather than the Shadow Domain spell was mana efficiency. Although the spell was directly under the caster¡¯s control and therefore more versatile, it also came at the cost of a lot of mana to cast and maintain. In contrast, although the Shadow Prison was less flexible in usage, it was able to maintain itself after its initial activation without any additional mana from the magister.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    After the Shadow Prison was formed, Elathia spoke into her wristband. ¡°Alright captain. We¡¯re waiting for y¡ª!¡±


    [Elathia?! What happened?! Respond!]


    The captain began to panic. He remained in the midst of the undead, allowing the Shadow Prison to form around him since he was also a shadow magister. He was planning on killing all of the undead trapped in the Shadow Prison before he made his way towards his squad since he still had a bit of mana to spare, but since Elathia was cut off from her communication, he forgot about all that and immediately warped to the edge of the Shadow Prison and ran out. The scene before him was almost enough to make him pass out from an explosion of emotions.


    Before his eyes, Elathia lay in a pool of blood, staining the dry dirt and dead grass of the wasteland red. There was a hole on the left side of her chest, blood ran down her mouth and chin, and her eyes were wide with shock. Just from the look on her face, the young noble could tell she didn¡¯t even know how she died. He looked up towards his squad and saw Cazun received a similar fate, and Kyozin and Nanskynn were both being held in the air by their throats by a man with dull gray hair and murky brown eyes that seemed to trap all light that entered. His white loose half coat and pants were stained scarlet and his dripping red hands holding the young noble¡¯s remaining two squad mates stood in stark contrast with his otherwise pale as paper skin.


    ¡°ALEIUUUUUUUS!¡± The young noble roared out in a rage and pointed his finger towards the one holding his two squad mates hostage. Without waiting for an explanation, he transferred mana to a royal blue manarock on his wristband and grabbed the Blowgun that appeared from it. Putting it on his finger, a pale green magic circle began forming at the tip of it, expanding rapidly. ¡°For killing them, you shall pay with your life! I swear it! On the name of Zyn Seigxin, I swear it!¡±


    Wind magic: Phantasm Spiral Shard


    As he finished declaring his revenge, a sound exploded as something shot out from the Blowgun. It was covered in a spiraling wind and was moving so fast that it was impossible to make out, only leaving an elongating tornado behind it. The two from Zyn¡¯s squad knew that it was a shard of wind manarock. The special property of wind manarock made it extremely light, meaning it was easy to carry and accelerate it with wind. In addition, the spiral nature of the wind increased the penetrative power of the shot, making this Zyn¡¯s most effective anti personnel attack. -This attack would be enough to pierce even a Demon! It¡¯s a bit excessive, he dared to kill my friends like that! He deserves to die a thousand times!-


    Aleius tried to move his hostages in front of the approaching manarock, but as if it knew he¡¯d try that, the winds guided the shot to curve around the hostages and hit him between the eyes. Aleius dropped Kyozin and Nanskynn, allowing them to breathe again. They were coughing as Zyn flew in and swooped both of them up without stopping. He quickly became a small dot in the distance, approaching Twin Star Lake City at max speed.


    ¡°Sht! Sht! Sh*t! Why did it come to this?!¡± Zyn couldn¡¯t stop cursing as he flew towards the Twin Star Lake City.


    ¡°Elaaaa! Cazuuuun! Captain, we have to go back and get them! What are you doing?!¡± Nanskynn was crying as she demanded Zyn to return. As the team¡¯s defender and a psychic magister, she was constantly protecting all of them and would always blame herself if they got hurt, whether it was emotionally or physically. Without a doubt she was the most in tune with each of the squad''s members. On top of that, she felt how shocked and terrified they were when they died. Now that they were flying away, she couldn¡¯t help but question her captain¡¯s actions. There was no way she could leave her best friends behind like that.


    ¡°Did you see any blood?¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± Nanskynn stopped complaining momentarily at Zyn¡¯s sudden question. Kyozin, who looked like he had lost his soul, also looked at Zyn, confused.


    ¡°When I shot Aleius, did you see any blood splatter?¡±


    ¡°Of¡ª huh?¡± Nanskynn was about to respond, but when she thought about it, even if she didn¡¯t see it, she definitely would¡¯ve felt some of the blood splatter on her, however she didn¡¯t feel anything like that. She looked over at Kyozin, and he didn¡¯t have any blood on him at all. Before she could gather her thoughts, Zyn spoke again.


    ¡°Somehow¡­ Somehow I think he survived my attack.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t explain it either, but no matter what, even if I wanted to go back for their bodies, I couldn¡¯t. This guy is obviously gonna be a problem. I have to report to The Kingdom about his existence as fast as I can.¡± As he said that, his shoulders were trembling, but not from the weight of his friends. Rather, it was the weight of his decision. Zyn thought back to before the battle.


    -¡®I refuse to allow even a single one of you to die?¡¯ Yeah right. Two of them¡­ Not just one, but two of them died today! And here I am running away just because I don¡¯t think I can win. Elathia¡­ Cazun¡­ I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ve failed you as a captain and as a friend.- Zyn¡¯s vision began getting blurry, then a tear fell from his eye and was immediately left behind in the distance. Trying to use his shoulder to rub his eye, he tilted his head to the right and noticed a strange flicker. All the alarms in his body immediately triggered. A feeling of anxiety, dread, rage, confusion, and sadness all swirled up into one and made him feel uncomfortable in his own skin. Without waiting to confirm what it was and without warning, Zyn immediately rose to a higher altitude. He was originally flying low to the ground in case his two remaining friends asked to be set down, but he could no longer afford such luxuries. Kyozin and Nanskynn were confused by the sudden rise.


    ¡°H-Hey! What¡¯s going on?¡± Nanskynn immediately checked his thoughts with psychic magic, her face filling with fear as soon as she did. ¡°That¡¯s impossible. That¡¯s actually impossible! There¡¯s no way he caught up! We were flying so fast and we had a head start. If he caught up¡­¡±


    She didn¡¯t dare finish her thought, but even without psychic magic, the other two knew what she was thinking.


    -There¡¯s no escaping him.- They all thought those words, but didn¡¯t speak them out loud, not wanting to bring that fear into existence. But whether or not they said it, reality proved their premonition correct.


    Suddenly, Zyn froze. No, that wasn¡¯t right. It was more accurate to say he was sinking at an accelerating rate. ¡°Th-This feeling!¡± Zyn struggled those words out as they began plummeting from the sky. Still trying his best to resist the force pulling him down, he looked down and began calculating how long until he hit the ground. Once he was a safe distance from the ground, he flung his arms forward, throwing Kyozin and Nanskynn ahead of him towards the Twin Star Lake City. ¡°Tuck and roll!¡±


    He called out as he threw them. The two of them were confused as they looked back at Zyn. They could see all the veins on his neck and head, showing how hard he was trying to resist the force to no avail. The two that were thrown managed to land safely, but their captain crashed into the earth, creating a giant dust cloud and leaving a crater.


    ¡°¡°CAPTAIN!¡±¡± The two called out towards their leader, but instead of his voice, an ominous laughter rang out, sending chills down their spines and causing their skin to crawl.


    ¡°Fufufu. FUAHAHAHAHAHAAAA! AMAZING!¡± Aleius walked out from the dust cloud, holding the limp body of Zyn. ¡°You¡¯re seriously amazing you know? Your control over mana is amazing, being able to curve the bullet like that. Your decisiveness is amazing. You immediately realized I was alive and tossed your dead comrades to the side to save the ones that were still alive. Even now, you didn¡¯t want them to get hurt in the crash, so you tossed them out of the way. Your ability to survive is amazing. I¡¯m surprised you still haven¡¯t kicked the bucket yet you know? Especially considering how Humans are so squishy. When you become a Demon, maybe we¡¯ll be able to work together, huh? I¡¯m sure with your ability, Lord Demon God will make you a general of the army easily.¡± Aleius tossed Zyn¡¯s body towards the other two, causing them to run over to him.


    ¡°Human?¡±


    ¡°Demon God?¡± They repeated keywords that Aleius had said as they both took out healing potions and poured them on his wounds and helped him drink it.


    ¡°Yes, yes, you¡¯re shocked and confused so you can¡¯t help repeating what I¡¯m saying to try and make sense of it. Let¡¯s save the irrelevant chatter and white noise for someone who will entertain it. Those are healing potions right? How long will they take to fix him up? If I get bored, I may just kill some time killing you both.¡± As he rambled on, Zyn began coughing. He had been in a strange state where he was conscious, but couldn¡¯t move. Naturally he heard everything Aleius had said.


    He struggled and stood up, then patted both of his friends on their heads. ¡°Thanks for being by my side all this time.¡±


    ¡°We would never leave you behind!¡± Kyozin wordlessly nodded and Nanskynn immediately reassured him as they stood up next to him.


    ¡°You two are basically out of mana though, right?¡±


    ¡°Mmm.¡± Kyozin nodded.


    ¡°Yeah. To be honest, I have a pretty serious headache. It feels like my nose will start bleeding at any second.¡±


    Headaches were the tell tale sign that a magister had overused their mana from their mana vein. When their blood-mana concentration levels get under 20%, their noses will start to bleed. If their mana levels reached absolute zero, their mana vein wouldn¡¯t be able to produce more mana naturally, essentially turning them into regular people. Zyn wouldn¡¯t allow his friends to throw their futures away! ¡°Give your weapons to me, then run.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°What?!¡± Nanskynn and Kyozin were startled by their captain¡¯s sudden order. Didn¡¯t he hear what they said about staying by his side?


    ¡°There¡¯s no reason all three of us have to die! If you give me your weapons, with my remaining mana I should be able to hold him off long enough for you two to get back to the city. There¡¯s no way he¡¯ll be able to take down the entire city filled with magisters.¡±


    It was a lie. Both Kyozin and Nanskynn knew it was a lie. Since Zinaethia requested and managed to defend the city by herself, the only magisters there were the city guards, who weren¡¯t outstandingly strong, and the regular residents who happen to be magisters. All of the other magisters were already in the wasteland holding off this wave of the undead! The only magister that may have been of any use was the city lord, however he had to defend the city and couldn¡¯t leave for any random reason. However, since their captain had gone out of his way to lie, they trusted him and went along with it.


    ¡°Mmm.¡±


    ¡°Yes¡ª Yessir.¡± They obediently handed over their magic weapons. Once they did, a gust of wind pushed them in the direction of the city. Understanding Zyn¡¯s message, the two turned around and ran, crying their eyes out and stumbling multiple times while wiping their eyes.


    ¡°You know, for all the amazing things you¡¯ve shown me, that was pretty lame. There¡¯s nothing stopping me from killing them whenever I want.¡±


    ¡°Hmph! You¡¯ll have to trample my dead body if you want to even head in their direction!¡± Without waiting for what Aleius said next, a large, pale green magic circle formed behind his back, generating a tailwind that launched him forward. Holding the shield he received from Nanskynn, he braced for impact. The magic shield was made from metal manarock.


    Manarocks had special effects based on what mana they had in them, and magisters who also use that mana can increase the potency of the manarock¡¯s natural ability. Earlier on when Zyn shot the wind manarock from his blow gun, the increased effect of being aided by wind magic made it one with the wind, essentially becoming weightless. That¡¯s why Zyn could so simply alter the course of the rock. That¡¯s also why Nanskynn, who could wield metal magic, used this magic shield. Even though he couldn¡¯t bring out the full effect of the metal manarock¡¯s natural ability, it was still as hard as usual and the metal manarock¡¯s special ability of extreme solidity was still present, even if it wasn¡¯t being enhanced.


    With all of that in mind, Zyn decided to attempt a charge on Aleius. He didn¡¯t really hope to win, but he was hoping to stall him for long enough that his last two friends could survive.


    All of a sudden, an extreme force crashed into Zyn, causing him to drop the shield and get sent flying backwards. After bouncing off of the ground a few times, he recovered his posture and landed on his feet before skidding to a stop. The shield happened to land right beside him, so he was about to pick it up when he noticed there was a huge dent in it.-Did he do that with his fist?!-


    After seeing that, Zyn had decided to trust the conclusion he reached earlier. ¡°You! One of your magic natures is the Hidden Class, force magic isn¡¯t it!?¡±


    ¡°How very perceptive. You¡¯re definitely awesome, being able to figure that out after only seeing it displayed twice.¡±


    ¡°...¡± Zyn didn¡¯t bother responding. The only reason he knew was because his father also had force magic. He had seen it first hand up close, so of course he would recognize it. -This guy¡­ he¡¯s gonna be a real problem if he¡¯s allowed to run free.-


    Discarding his hesitation, he threw out the Thunder Storm set of manarocks. They were electric manarocks, and Zyn just so happened to be an electric magister as well, so he could utilize these to their maximum potential. Yellow Transfer magic circles appeared in the air one after another, each sending a stream of yellow mana to one of the five manarocks of the set. After they received his electric mana, the Thunder Storm set crackled with lightning that made them look like stars and began darting around him before they shot out towards Aleius, long streaks of lightning connected where they were a moment ago to their current location.


    With the enhancement from Zyn¡¯s electric mana, their penetrative ability increased by ten times! Normal magisters may not have been able to see such a drastic enhancement in the manarocks¡¯ natural ability, but in addition to being a noble, he actually specialized in electric magic. The Thunder Storm set blasted through where Aleius was and there was a huge crash, but Aleius had vanished from the spot. -Bright magic invisibility? No, I didn¡¯t see any weird light fluctuations.-


    ¡°You¡¯re thinking too hard about it.¡± The voice sounded from right next to Zyn¡¯s ear. He was startled, but before he could react, an intense wind blew by him from where Aleius previously was.


    ¡°¡ª! He used force magic to launch himself away?!¡±


    ¡°Ding dong bing bong! What a smart guy! You¡¯re such a nerd to be able to figure out something like that. Sir Demon God will definitely like you.¡± Aleius¡¯s childishly happy voice sent a chill down Zyn¡¯s spine.


    Zyn immediately cast a Wind Track to carry him away and willed the Thunder Storm set to attack Aleius again. Since he transferred his mana into the manarocks, he had a magical connection with them that allowed him to control them as if they were an extension of himself, even without casting a specific spell to guide them! Focusing more on Aleius¡¯s movements this time, Zyn was able to keep up somewhat and direct the Thunder Storm set to follow after Aleius.


    While he was running and dodging, Aleius began to speak to Zyn again. ¡°You know, I keep saying it, but now I feel like amazing doesn¡¯t even do you justice. You¡¯re crazy man! I mean that in the coolest way possible. I mean, to be able to produce an attack I feel the need to dodge and keep it up for so long¡ª when Sir Demon God makes you a Demon, I¡¯ll be sure to put in a good word. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be in his inner circle of strongest fighters along with me in no time.¡±


    After finishing his piece, he suddenly stopped dodging. Well, to say that wasn¡¯t completely accurate. He allowed the individual manarocks to get near him, then sidestepped at the last second and hit them, destroying the Thunder Storm set one by one. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to take them head on, but in the end your manarocks are so fragile. If you had high quality gear, you may have been able to last a little longer. I guess the gift is just as useless as the people you receive them from.¡±


    At those words, Zyn was ready to fly into a rage, but he kept his cool. His goal wasn¡¯t to kill the bastard in front of him. Well it was, but it was an unrealistic goal. No, what he wanted to do was buy enough time for his friends to escape.


    Seeing his lack of a reaction, Aleius frowned. ¡°Even that wasn¡¯t enough, huh? That was the best provocation I could think of too. Darn. Well, since you¡¯re not gonna lose your mind to anger, I might as well reward you for being so awesome. You remember how I said I could kill your friends whenever I wanted? I wasn¡¯t kidding. I¡¯ve marked them with my mana. And with my chaos magic¡ª¡± He vanished from Zyn¡¯s sight. In the next instant, there was a hand grabbing the back of Zyn¡¯s neck. ¡°I can go where they are at a moment¡¯s notice. Do you understand now? I hate people who do pointless things, like those irrelevant comments they made. That¡¯s why I thought it was lame. If I hadn¡¯t already tagged them, I would¡¯ve thought this whole self sacrifice thing was pretty cool. It¡¯s a shame, but since you¡¯ve earned my respect, I¡¯ll allow them to live until I run into them naturally again.¡±


    Zyn¡¯s fist, which was clenched tightly since the moment he felt the grip on his neck, loosened slightly at his last words. -As long as they aren¡¯t unlucky, they can live out the rest of their days in peace. I¡¯m glad. I¡¯m sorry, Elathia, Cazun, I couldn¡¯t protect you, but I managed to keep those two safe. Please forgive this useless captain for feeling relieved right now.- Tears fell from his eyes as he thought of his dead friends.


    ¡°On one condition.¡± As if sensing he was at peace, Aleius interrupted his reprieve. Wiping his eyes, he gave Aleius a glare. ¡°That¡¯s what I like to see. Anyways, you should have one more type of magic you haven¡¯t used right? I¡¯ve seen your wind and electic magic, but what¡¯s your third nature? I want you to show me in a battle. Go all out! This will be your last stand as a Human before you get turned into a Demon!¡± Zyn had given up on responding to Aleius, writing him off as a psychopath. Rather than immediately using his shadow magic though, he pulled out his Blowgun and loaded a wind manarock, and started making a magic circle.


    ¡°...I see¡­¡± Aleius made a comment, then something shocking occured. The wind magic circle that was forming in front of the blowgun shattered. Zyn was startled, but he took it in stride, resigned to fight the best he could. The next spell he started casting was electric. The spell was different from any he had used during his battle with the undead, so he assumed it should work. In the instant his wind magic shattered, he made an assumption the magic Aleius had seen before wouldn¡¯t work. Thinking like that, he began to cast a complex tier electric spell, but to his shock and dismay, the magic circle shattered before completion again. ¡°Wasting time until the end? I told you to show me your last magic nature. I won¡¯t allow anything else.¡±


    ¡°How did you interrupt my spell?¡± Zyn was glowering at Aleius as he tried to deduce the cause of his spell¡¯s failure. ¡°I didn¡¯t feel any mental disturbance, so I don¡¯t think it¡¯s psychic magic.¡±


    ¡°You haven¡¯t earned enough respect to learn my third magic yet.¡±


    ¡°I see¡­ so it wasn¡¯t your chaos or force magic. I was worried for a second.¡± Before Aleius could respond, Zyn casted a complex tier shadow spell. Unlike the other ones, this magic circle formed completely and activated its effects. An area of pitch darkness formed around the two combatants.


    Shadow magic: Shadow Domain, cast!


    Zyn warped next to Aleius and threw a punch. His Shadow Domain had an additional effect added using the darkness to generate addition gravity. With the increased weight of his punch, his goal was to vent his anger towards Aleius, even if he had no hope to win. When his punch landed, however, his hand and wrist felt like they broke from the impact. He didn¡¯t hold anything back in that punch, but he didn¡¯t imagine Aleius¡¯s face would feel like a mountain he had no hope of hurting.


    ¡°Going for close combat instead of spells? Bad choice. You should remember how even your enhanced wind manarock couldn¡¯t hurt me. How did you expect a regular punch to do anything?¡± Zyn pulled back and warped a safe distance away within the darkness, shaking his hand from the recoil of the punch. ¡°Unless you were trying to do something else..?¡±


    A dark feeling rose within Zyn as soon as he said that, but it was too late. All of a sudden, and overwhelming pressure pressed down upon the whole area. Zyn had no choice but to drop to his knees. He began sweating profusely as he tried to resist, but he couldn¡¯t do anything. He had to give his whole attention to not being crushed by the pressure, he couldn¡¯t even try to cast a spell.


    The pressure was so immense that even the darkness began to distort, and eventually shattered. With the surroundings back in light, Zyn saw Aleius casually walking towards him. When Aleius got there, he grabbed Zyn¡¯s hand with the wristband and took it off. ¡°Man, you really are cool. You started a communication with your friends to transmit what you learned about me to them, huh? I get it, I get it, based on the way I talk I¡¯m suuuuuper sure you thought I wouldn¡¯t notice, but I¡¯m sharper than I look you know? It¡¯s pointless asking when you started recording since I have a pretty good idea, so I guess just let me tell them this: thanks to your awesome captain, you guys get to stay alive a bit longer! Exciting, I¡¯m sure, but I hope you do something useful with this information and tell The Kingdom about me. I think they¡¯ll be quite interested to know that I¡¯m The Destined! Well, for the Demons and undead anyways. Have fun trying to make counter strategies for me and my mysterrrrrious third magic nature that seemingly negates magic. And if you can, tell your Destined that I look forward to having a match. It may happen sooner than you think! I mean after all, he wanted Lord Demon God to send something with a bit more intelligence. Bye now~!¡±


    As he finished, he crushed the wristband and tossed it to the side. He turned to look back at Zyn, who was still sweating intensely. ¡°Oh, my force magic is still on, huh? My bad.¡±  After saying so, the extreme pressure on Zyn lifted, however he still didn¡¯t move. ¡°Huh? Have you given into despair knowing that even your last move was seen through? Don¡¯t feel too bad. Like I said, I¡¯m pretty sharp you know? Hmmm¡­ it seems that didn¡¯t cheer you up. Oh! I know just what¡¯ll do it. In addition to you, I was gonna make your subordinates that I killed into undead as well!¡±


    At those words, Zyn¡¯s eyes flickered. Not missing this, Aleius continued on.¡°There¡¯s a reaction! Well, I¡¯m not sure if they have enough talent to be Demons, but they¡¯ll be Skeletons for sure at the very least. I¡¯ll ask Lord Demon God to make them your subordinates again! That probably motivates you a little bit, yeah? Now be ready to do your best for Lord Demon God. Well, it¡¯s not like you really have a choice in the matter, you know?¡±


    Zyn realized Aleius was finished rambling and looked up to see Aleius¡¯s huge, psychotic smile. Then, there was a sharp pain in his chest, followed by nothing.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Four days after we started our journey, we finally reached the northern gate of The Kingdom. A giant gate made of royal blue bars with a design of a castle tower with a crown on top of it directly in the center stood before us with a line of people and vehicles extending into the distance in front of it. Silver stone walls were erected around the gate and spread as far as the eye could see. The wall was huge, tall enough to completely block vision of any buildings inside, and it looked like people were moving around on top of it.


    Compared to Twin Star Lake City or home, this place was incomparably vast. From what I heard from the city guards of my hometown, The Kingdom was an amalgamation of the sixteen noble families¡¯ territories, and each nobles territory was at least the size of our city! Apparently some were even larger, and that wasn¡¯t even mentioning the space within The Kingdom that was meant for commoners like myself. I peeked through the entrance gate and saw the buildings were huge and mostly made of stone, the streets were wide and filled with foot traffic and shop stalls, and the actual castle in the center of the city gave off an imperious aura that seemed to dominate the world as it stood head and shoulders above every other building and could be seen even though it was at least a hundred kilometers away.


    When we reached the entrance gate, a guard looked at all three of us, then knelt before Zinaethia. ¡°Lady Zinaethia. I¡¯m glad to see you¡¯ve arrived in good health.¡±


    ¡°Of course. Let¡¯s skip all the formalities, shall we? This is The Destined, and we¡¯re his squad.¡± As she said that, she pointed at Justin, indicating he was the one she was referring to. In response, the guard asked a question.


    ¡°All three of you are in his squad? I was under the impression it was just yourself and The Destined.¡±


    ¡°Does that matter to you? Just inform some of the higher ups rather than questioning me.¡±


    -Wait wait wait, he was under the impression it was just those two? Dear sister, mayhaps you forgot to tell them your little brother was the one who actually found him?-


    I looked over at Zinaethia. Seemingly sensing my stare, she turned her head and we met eyes. Her eyes showed no remorse or sympathy, as if saying, ¡°I didn¡¯t tell them about you, so what?¡± Feeling her intent as clear as day, my head dropped in defeat. Even if I wanted to be upset, there¡¯s no point in that now.


    Before long, a lady with golden hair down to her shoulders that was tied in a bun seemingly appeared out of nowhere. She wore a tight fitting, white, long sleeve shirt that revealed her shoulders and a long dress with lots of folds on it that fluttered lightly in the breeze. Covering one shoulder was a white and gold high collared half robe bound at the collar by a golden chain. Her skin was quite pale, but was vibrant, as if her vitality was bursting out of her. She was rather short, her head reaching my shoulders, but her aura was so overwhelming that it made my heart race. I subconsciously prompted my chaos mana to flow through me and resist.


    She approached Zinaethia with wide arms. ¡°Zinaethia! It¡¯s good to see you again!¡±


    ¡°Kiaethia! I¡¯m so glad it was you that came to get us rather than someone else.¡± To my shock and awe, Zinaethia seemed genuinely excited as she ran up and hugged this new lady, Kiaethia. I didn¡¯t even know she had access to such an emotion! After they finished, they both turned to look at us.


    ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Kiaethia Yuzutian. I¡¯m currently the next in line to be the head of the Yuzutian family and am part of the Imperial Guard. Zinaethia and I have known each other for about a decade, I think. You two are..?¡± She introduced herself to us with a salute.


    ¡°I¡¯m Justin. I¡¯m The Destined sent here by Human God to help defeat the Demons.¡± As he spoke, his aura generated an updraft that made his robe flutter majestically.


    ¡°I¡¯m Zinaether, but I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t actually care.¡±


    -You were just expecting Zinaethia and Justin anyways. I might as well just go home at this rate.- I gave a half assed introduction as defeated thoughts ran through my mind and I absentmindedly stared at the ground. I couldn¡¯t help it though. I was probably just as irrelevant as my sister made me feel in the eyes of someone from the Imperial Guard. They were the strongest among the strong after all!


    Kiaethia approached us, but rather than walking straight to Justin like I expected, I felt her soft hands on my cheeks and my face was turned towards hers. At such a close distance, her purple-orange eyes like the sunset filled most of my vision and I could smell the scent of flowers coming from her.


    I was stunned. No girl had ever done anything like this to me before, so I didn¡¯t know how to react. It was a situation I had absolutely zero experience in, so I froze, not daring to move. While I was stuck, she began speaking to me. ¡°Of course I care. You were the one that discovered Justin, yes? You¡¯ve done a great service to Humanity just by doing that. On behalf of all the Humans on this continent, I thank you.¡±


    After saying that, she kissed me on the tip on my nose, and that pushed me over the limits my mind could take. As she let go of my face, I fell backwards and landed on my butt. I could still feel where her lips were, but as I moved one of my hands towards my nose, a thought stopped me. -This is one of those things where the feeling will vanish as soon as I touch it, right? Does that mean I shouldn¡¯t touch my nose? But I¡¯m afraid I¡¯m just imagining it, so I really should confirm that just happened, right? But wait, what if she thought I was trying to wipe it off? Wouldn¡¯t that be rude?-


    My hand was stuck in mid air, unable to determine a course of action. Seeing that state she left me in, Kiaethia lightly laughed. ¡°Do whatever you feel is right. I won¡¯t think you¡¯re rude or anything.¡±


    -Did I say that out loud? I must have. Wait, I should be thanking her, right?-


    ¡°I just thanked you, so I believe the proper response is ¡®You¡¯re welcome.¡¯¡±


    ¡°R-Right! Thanks. I-I mean¡ª! You¡¯re welcome. Uhhhhh¡­¡± I felt like there was something else I wanted to say, but I couldn¡¯t think of anything. I was just stuck staring at Kiaethia. Seeing me struggling, she laughed again.


    ¡°You know, based on Zinaethia¡¯s stories, I imagined you were the type to act like he was more important than The Destined. I¡¯m glad to see it was just her habit of exaggerating.¡±


    ¡°Please don¡¯t believe her lies and slander. I promise I¡¯m a good guy.¡±


    ¡°Fufufu. Of course¡­¡± She chuckled as she finally turned towards Justin. ¡°However it seems she wasn¡¯t exaggerating when she told me how attractive you were.¡±


    Justin seemed a bit caught off guard, but he took the compliment in stride, unlike me. ¡°You¡¯re too kind. I¡¯m not anything special. However, I would appreciate it if you weren¡¯t trying to invade my privacy.¡±


    This time, it was Kiaethia who seemed caught off guard. Zinaethia walked over and patted her on the shoulder, smiling as she spoke to her. ¡°Looks like Justin is just too good, huh? Even circle-less psychic magic doesn¡¯t slip by him.¡±


    -Circle-less psychic magic?-


    ¡°Does that mean¡­¡± I began mumbling to myself, but before I could finish, Zinaethia interrupted me.


    ¡°Yes, she was reading your mind. That¡¯s how she was able to respond, so even when you didn¡¯t say anything. I¡¯d say I¡¯m disappointed, but to be honest, if I didn¡¯t know she was a psychic magister she¡¯d probably be able to read my mind as well, so don¡¯t feel too horrible. Just realize that you¡¯re trash compared to Justin.¡± And there it was. I almost got sympathy from my sister, just to be brutally shot down right at the end. It felt like she knew she got my hopes up and did it on purpose.

 4: A Frog Living at the Bottom of a Well

    After Kiaethia recovered from the shock of Justin catching her trying to read his mind, she reigned the conversation back in. ¡°Now now. Let¡¯s head towards the castle. There are people waiting for us after all.¡±


    Saying so, they all moved towards the entrance gate. I stood up and caught up to them, falling in stride at the back. The walk to the castle looked like it was going to take a bit of time, so I decided to ask Kiaethia some questions about The Kingdom to pass the time. ¡°By the way, Ms. Kiaethia.¡±


    ¡°Just Kiaethia is fine.¡±


    ¡°Thanks. Ummm, so Kiaethia, I thought my sister was a super genius who was the first magister able to cast spells without circles, but you used psychic magic without a circle. Have I been a frog living at the bottom of a well?¡± Kiaethia being able to use magic with the use of a circle was too startling.


    ¡°No, not at all. By all standards, your sister is a god gifted prodigy that has innovated magic. I¡¯m not sure if she¡¯s told you, but she¡¯s also the seventeenth member of the Imperial Guard. After she was instated, His Majesty made a decree for her to teach the Imperial Guard how to cast magic without a circle. All of us have been attempting to master the technique to varying degrees of success, but for me personally, all I can manage to do is intermediate spells with each of my natures without circles. I¡¯m nowhere near your sister¡¯s level. She single handedly raised the standards of the Imperial Guard, which are supposed to be the top magisters of the noble families within The Kingdom.¡±


    -So she¡¯s an Imperial Guard, huh?- If it was anybody else, it would be shocking. I mean, a commoner entering the Imperial Guard was like a wolf joining a pride of lions! That is, if it was anybody else. I already knew what type of monster my sister was, so I was more curious to see how the Imperial Guard compared to her. ¡°That¡¯s still pretty amazing. I¡¯m not sure how to even approach circle-less casting.¡± I complimented Kiaethia on being able to achieve any level of spell casting without a circle. Even after hearing my sister¡¯s advice for a several days, I still was no closer to comprehending how to manipulate magic without circles. Huh? I was only complimenting her because I was smitten and wanted to get closer to her? Don¡¯t be ridiculous. I wasn¡¯t so emotionally deprived that I would fall in love with someone just for showing me some basic kindness. That¡¯s my story and I¡¯m sticking with it!


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll figure it out. You¡¯re Zinaethia¡¯s brother after all.¡± I smiled but didn¡¯t reply. She probably didn¡¯t realize it, since I was pretty sure she wasn¡¯t reading my mind anymore, but it hurt my pride a little to be compared to my sister. I was my own person too, you know? I also worked hard to get strong, but I guess I didn¡¯t really matter as an individual.


    -In the end, I guess I¡¯m just the one who found The Destined or Zinaethia¡¯s brother.- We walked through the streets, pointing out buildings that looked interesting and hearing stories about what it¡¯s like working for the Imperial Guard. Kiaethia explained that aside from managing military affairs, each noble family also ran or contributed greatly to some economic stimulus within The Kingdom. Her family, which commonly produced psychic magisters, was deeply connected to the educational system and basically held responsibility over raising the future generations of nobles. After all, without proper guidance, all the strength in the world would be wasted!


    Other families were manarock miners and distributors, magical weapon and armor makers, gem studiers, mana researchers, and even more! The nobility was the true back bone of The Kingdom, keeping funds flowing in and out of circulation and providing commoners and other nobles alike with necessities and extravagant products as they were required. That being said, there were only so many nobles, so if they were the backbone, the commoners were the blood. Plenty of commoners resided within noble territories, and there were even a few sections within The Kingdom that were governed by commoners and half-nobles. They were the primary consumer base of the products sold by the nobles and were also the working class that handled work that didn¡¯t require high magic precision.


    ¡°Right over here.¡± Eventually we reached a certain area where a massive amount of people were gathered. Kiaethia pointed to a huge pavilion where it looked like they were all concentrating. It was blocked off by low fences so only a few lines could enter through the fence gates, and each one extended as far as the eye could see. Kiaethia guided us past the line at the dismay of those waiting and led us straight to a spot where there were manarocks embedded into the ground in a particular looking arrangement. ¡°Go ahead and step into the Warp Formation.¡±


    -A Warp Formation!- I reassessed the manarocks embedded in the ground and took note of their positions. Pitch black manarocks that emitted a dark blue luster where light hit them were intermingled with dark blue manarocks that a had dim white radiance and countless crystals with pure white energy swirling within them in a strange pattern. Staring at it made my mind itch, as if I was looking at something I should know, but was forgetting for some reason. It was an odd feeling because this was my first time using, or even seeing a Warp Formation, so I shouldn¡¯t recognize it at all. I kept looking at the structure of the formation and it felt like I was being pulled into an abyss as I became more and more focused on the details of it.


    ¡°Hurry it up! We don¡¯t have all day to stand here.¡± My sister¡¯s harsh words shocked me out of the strange state of mind I was in.


    ¡°Huh? Oh, right. Sorry¡­¡± I mumbled out my reply as I stepped into the formation with the other three. Once the staff that was operating everything in this pavilion saw we were all prepared, a group of magisters came and stood just outside of formation. Each held out more crystals with pure white energy swirling within them that were giving off noticeable mana fluctuations before smashing them on the ground within the formation! The white energy within the crystals was released and our feet were enveloped by an ethereal, liquid cloud like substance. It was only for an instant though, as the manarocks in the ground seemed to come alive and greedily absorbed the pure mana shrouding our ankles.


    -So they use mana crystals to activate the Warp Formations.- Formations required mana to activate like any other magic based technique, so there were two common ways to activate formations after setting them up. One was to cast Transfer into key points of the formation. If the mana being transferred wasn¡¯t the same type as the manarock absorbing the mana, it would cost more mana and more time. The other way was to smash enough mana crystals, which were similar yet different to manarocks, within the bounds of the formation. The formation would trap the pure mana released by the shattered crystals and absorb it until the formation had enough power to activate. Transferring was usually a lot more convenient and a lot less expensive than using mana crystals, but depending on how much mana the formation required, it could drain a magister of a lot of mana. Mana crystals saved the magister time and kept them from using their own mana, but the crystals were also the main currency between Humans, so it would quite literally feel like throwing money away.


    Soon enough, the manarocks began to glow and my vision was filled with white for a moment. When my sight returned, we were inside of an actual building with walls and crowds of people moving about. The room we were in was expansive. People appeared and disappeared in flashes of white light and there were many magisters wearing jackets sporting matching logos to the gate.


    ¡°No dawdling. We have people waiting to come after yo¡ª!¡± One of the staff of the building came to urge us along, but it sounded like he choked on his spit mid sentence once he saw my sister and Kiaethia. He began to cough and quickly knelt down, wiping tears from his eyes as he began to speak again in a much lower and more respectful tone. ¡°Lady Kiaethia, Lady Zinaethia, I¡¯m glad to see you both in good health.¡±


    Zinaethia didn¡¯t say anything and responded by simply nodding while Kiaethia revealed a refreshing smile that felt like it made my heart melt. Huh? It wasn¡¯t even directed at me? I knew that!


    ¡°Thank you. No dawdling, correct? We¡¯ll be on our way then.¡± The man¡¯s face showed a complicated expression as Kiaethia led the way away. Zinaethia didn¡¯t even spare him a second glance and walked alongside Kiaethia while they chatted away merrily, Justin only took a glance at him when he first spoke up before he followed behind the two women, and I watched his descent into regret from the back of the group as we walked away.


    We eventually arrived outside of the building and entered the flow of traffic. Compared to the gate city we were just in, the castle city was much more bustling. The buildings were all taller, there was much more magic technology in use like vehicles on the roads and manarock powered equipment, and the quality of construction was obviously higher. Some people were even riding Beasts instead of walking! I saw a man on top of a rhinoceros Beast with three horns and spikes on its limbs and a family riding a giant two headed lizard Beast with a two colored body split right down the middle. The right half was purple and the left was orange. There were even a few adolescents racing down the road on some Burning Sky Pegasus, complete with flaming hooves and wings reflecting myriads of colors to name a few.


    As we wove through the droves of people, things gradually became less crowded and I could actually appreciate the surroundings. Most of the buildings were made with a mixture of materials. All of them had metal framework, but the walls were made of stone and wood, and even metal for some buildings. They were all at least two stories, rectangular in shape, and had small lawns in exchange for more building space. There were, however, rows of small trees, strips of grass, and flower beds lining the sidewalk to give a nice natural feeling to the building-filled street.


    We were walking down a service street, so the buildings were typically for weapon and armor repair and upgrade, magical item crafting, and facilities ranging from restaurants to shopping buildings to wait in while your services were being done. Every so often there would be open spaces for people to park their vehicles and places to drop off their mounts.


    We eventually arrived at an area where there was practically no foot traffic and only vehicles that seemed to be picking up and shipping out items came. As we did, Kiaethia¡¯s elegant voice entered my ears. ¡°Justin, Zinaether, welcome to the heart of The Kingdom, His Majesty¡¯s castle.¡±


    I looked up and nearly fell backwards. I was so distracted by everything else around us that I didn¡¯t even notice we reached the castle! I was staring at a huge silver wall that was releasing crazy mana fluctuations!


    ¡°Is this made out of manarocks?¡± I didn¡¯t ask anybody in particular, it was more like a question to myself.


    ¡°Metal manarocks to be specific.¡± Kiaethia kindly answered my question. She was so sweet.


    ¡°High grade.¡± My sister tacked on that detail like it was nothing, but that was crazy! Manarocks were split into low, mid, and high grades depending on how much mana was contained within them, and once they passed a certain threshold they could be considered a higher grade. The lowest amount of mana required to create a mid grade manarock was about ten times the amount contained in a freshly formed low grade, and the same was true to go from mid to high.


    Manarocks couldn¡¯t be formed at the snap of a finger, however, and the higher the grade, the more time it would take to develop. Not to mention, areas that could even produce high grade manarocks were few and far between due to the required concentration of ambient mana.


    ¡°The attribute of extreme solidity makes it perfect for defense, which is why the outer wall and the castle wall are both constructed pretty much entirely out of it. Ah, but the outer wall is made of a mixture of low and mid grade. High grade manarock isn¡¯t very common, you know?¡±


    -More like extremely rare. What magister doesn¡¯t covet high grade resources? Is this what not understanding the value of money looks like?- I looked at Kiaethia incredulously due to her downplaying the value of The Kingdom¡¯s walls. She guided us around the expensive defense until we reached a giant archway with a flag waving The Kingdom¡¯s symbol on top of it. After we passed through it, we walked through a small (for the scale of the castle) garden and arrived at the actual castle entrance.


    Once we were inside, Kiaethia guided us through grandiose hallways filled with portraits of people I didn¡¯t know and banners of our region¡¯s symbol. The floor was covered with golden carpet lined with white trimming. The hallways were wide and there were countless rooms and multiple different paths, but Kiaethia guided us through them effortlessly.


    Eventually, we arrived in a courtyard that seemed to separate the outer castle from the inner castle. Between the huge trees, expansive flower gardens, and majestic water fountains, this place was way too extravagant for someone like me to even comprehend. I never truly understood how low my standard of living was until today. There was a stone path that led to the inner castle, but it also had various branching paths that lead to different parts of the courtyard or outer castle. My inner passion to explore, which I was suppressing since we made it to The Kingdom, was beginning to well up, but I withheld the urge and continued to follow the others.


    -If I have downtime here before we leave, I¡¯ll do a bit of wandering.- Telling myself that, I was about to refocus forward when something caught my eye.


    ¡°Kiaethia, are these magical plants?¡±


    ¡°Sharp eyes. That¡¯s correct. There¡¯s a reason the castle was built in this specific location. The mana concentration here is exponentially higher than in most habitable areas, meaning that most natural resources here end up absorbing mana and taking on magical properties. This isn¡¯t limited to just the plants either. The water in the fountain, the stone path, and even the castle walls have all absorbed enough mana to obtain magical properties. In addition, while I won¡¯t call our method perfect, we¡¯ve managed to guide certain areas to have certain mana types, meaning we can artificially influence what nature of magical resources these areas produce.¡±


    Justin, who seemed extremely interested in the topic, couldn¡¯t resist commenting on what Kiaethia explained. ¡°Isn¡¯t The Kingdom super powerful then? You can control and harvest magical resources and keep regrowing them, meaning you have basically infinite resources right?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not that simple. While it¡¯s true that we grow and harvest our flowers and use our mana rich water to make healing potions, we can only reproduce the same products. Of course we¡¯ve tried introducing more species of herbs into our gardens, but some things only grow in extreme conditions or require a certain type of soil. Basically, we¡¯ve maximized the utility we can get from this, but it¡¯s overall prospects are too limited. We can¡¯t really expand our variety.¡± Kiaethia finished her explanation with a sigh. The limitations of their garden was clearly visible, and there wasn¡¯t much they could do about it.


    ¡°I see. So how do you guys get more resources then? I can¡¯t imagine super powerful nobles to be content with being errand runners to gather plants from specific places.¡±


    ¡°Have you heard of the MMG?¡±


    ¡°MMG?¡± Justin raised his eyebrows in confusion. Before Kiaethia could explain, however, Zinaethia cut in. I hadn¡¯t really noticed it before, but she was really stingy when it came to Justin.


    ¡°The Magister Mercenary Guild. Basically, powerful magisters who sought to use their talents to get paid formed a club, accepting requests from anyone as long as they were reimbursed for their service. Although it started off small, it grew until every region had their own branch of the MMG located in the capital as well as other cities. The exact origin of the MMG is unclear, but the fact is that the MMG is probably the best way for non-nobles to interact and gain clout in other regions.¡±


    Justin¡¯s brow furrowed and his lips curled down. ¡°Why would they wanna do that? Who cares if other regions know who you are, right?¡±


    ¡°That may be the case for you, since your only goal is to kill the Demon God and go home, but for other people it¡¯s a very enticing idea. If another region offered you high status or more money, then you¡¯d naturally be inclined to go there. Throughout history, there have even been cases where some commoners from one region were offered positions of nobility in others. This meant that it was likely they¡¯d end up having a powerful spouse and would produce a child stronger than themselves. If they were to train the child with their vast experience as a mercenary, it was likely that the child could raise the family¡¯s clout even more. Thinking about it from a forward thinking perspective, you¡¯re basically setting up your descendants for success if you make it big as a mercenary. On top of that, more strong magisters means more powerful fighters to claim territory for Humanity.¡±


    ¡°I see. Being a mercenary sounds pretty fun. We should do that sometime.¡± Saying that, Justin began laughing as we reached the inner castle. We walked through another giant archway into a spacious chamber. There were three people waiting ahead of us in front of an extravagant looking chair and fourteen magisters in white and gold half robes similar to Kiaethia¡¯s lined the walls, forming a path leading to those three.


    The one on the left was a short female with sky blue hair and neon orange eyes. She wore a white cloak with golden edges that revealed her shoulders over a dark green shirt and tight fitting pants that accentuated her hips. Her eyes were almost similar to Kiaethia¡¯s, but her eyes seemed naturally brighter, almost to the point where they were glowing. Despite her bright eyes, however, her expression was flat and emotionless. I couldn¡¯t even call it ridicule. She just stared at us as we approached her with eyes that seemed almost dead. It was almost similar to Zinaethia¡¯s attendants¡¯ emotionless expressions, but there was a different, more solemn sort of feel I got from her.


    The guy on the right wasn¡¯t much better. He had neon green hair that was long enough to cover one of his eyes, but one side was cut higher so that his other eye, which was yellow, was clearly visible. He had on a matte black jacket that was lined with Beast fur on the inside and baggy pants that tightened up right around his ankles. He at least seemed wary of us, in comparison to the complete uninterest I sensed from the girl on the left, but aside from that, his stare was just as blank as hers. It was like they were looking at us, but didn¡¯t actually see us.


    On the way here, Zinaethia explained that nobles tended to have an arrogant disposition, but between Kiaethia, who was probably the best person I knew, and these two, who didn¡¯t seem to care about anything, I couldn¡¯t say her words were accurate. The man in the middle, at least, seemed to have some energy in him. He had a jawline to be envious of, prominent cheekbones, and a muscular neck. His hair was snow white and he had a goatee to match, making him seem older than his other features would reveal. Both were trimmed short and well maintained and he was wearing a white cape lined with Beast fur that was long enough to drag a few feet behind him. His sharp golden eyes had a pleasant shine to them as he reached both of his large arms forward and held his equally large hands open in a welcoming manner as he spoke. ¡°Welcome back Kiaethia. Thanks for receiving our guests. It¡¯s good to see you in good health as well Zinaethia. I¡¯m sure once we¡¯re done here, the Imperial Guard will want to consult with you.¡± As he spoke to them, both of the girls saluted him. Realizing he was important based off of their actions, Justin and I also saluted.


    Before he began speaking again, Zinaethia responded to his comments towards her. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you¡¯re doing well yourself, Your Majesty, however I don¡¯t plan on hosting a conference with the rest of the Imperial Guard when it¡¯ll be closer to me managing a bunch of eager children. I¡¯m sure since they¡¯re all talented in their own regard, they¡¯ll be able to learn without much guidance from me.¡±


    At her words, the people that lined the walls visibly all had their own reactions. -So these are the Imperial Guard? They¡¯re all keeping their auras contained, so I can¡¯t tell how strong they are. Maybe I should memorize their faces¡­ but more important than that, did she refer to that man as ¡°Your Majesty¡±? So he¡¯s the King? He¡¯s freakin¡¯ jacked! I wonder what his magic natures are?-


    As I was connecting the dots in my head, His Majesty laughed at Zinaethia¡¯s response. ¡°Hahaha, it¡¯s as you say. However, I hope you could at least entertain them a bit for the sake of Humanity. But that¡¯s neither here, nor there. Based on his silver hair, that one must be Zinaether, meaning that you must be The Destined.¡±


    His Majesty gave me a passing glance as his eyes focused on Justin. -And once more, I fade into obscurity.-


    While I was becoming more and more of a background character, Justin straightened up his posture and addressed the King. ¡°Your Majesty, if you would, please call me Justin.¡±


    ¡°Of course, whatever you¡¯re comfortable with.¡± Justin nodded his head in thanks before His Majesty continued. ¡°Speaking of comfort, I¡¯m sure by now, you¡¯re comfortable traveling with Zinaethia and her brother. Is that accurate to say?¡± After receiving a nod, he continued. ¡°I see. Does that mean you¡¯re opposed to having additions to your squad?¡±


    At that, Justin showed a contemplative look. After taking a bit more than a moment to think, he began speaking. ¡°If I may speak freely, Your Majesty.¡±


    ¡°Do as you please.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not especially opposed to having additional members, however I¡¯ve seen both Zinaether and Zinaethia¡¯s skills first hand. I have no doubt that even if I weren¡¯t around, they¡¯d have no problems handling one or two Demons by themselves. That being said, if we were to indeed receive new squad members, I¡¯d have to verify they can defend themselves without my presence. In the absolute end, my goal in this world is to kill Demon God. This means that we¡¯re going to fight Demons possibly stronger than anyone has seen and lived to tell about. Just as we have His Majesty and the Imperial Guard, who remain in Human territory indefinitely despite being the strongest amongst magisters, the Demons probably have reserve forces they consider their trump cards within their territory as well. I say all of that to say, I¡¯m worried that the new additions will end up being weak links.¡± After his explanation, I scanned the room with my eyes. The first thing I noticed was at the very end of his speech, the two beside the King showed a reaction. I couldn¡¯t exactly place it, but something about Justin¡¯s final words must have struck a chord with them. They both looked more unsettled than before.


    Aside from that, a lot of the Imperial Guard either nodded, seemingly agreeing with Justin¡¯s logic, or were surprised by his words. Given the fact that they were the Imperial Guard, I found it hard to believe it was the content of Justin¡¯s words that surprised them, but rather the fact that he thought so deeply about the issue. Even I was a little surprised, however Justin has known his goal since he got to this world, so of course he thought about any potential obstacles he may face in the future.


    ¡°Indeed, your concern is not without foundation, however the solution is simple, is it not? We simply need the candidates to display their skills to you, and you¡¯ll be able to determine whether you want them to join your squad or not.¡± As he said that, His Majesty patted the backs of the two beside him, urging them forward. ¡°These are the two candidates I had in mind to join your squad. Allow them to introduce themselves.¡±


    As he said that, the two seemed to gain enough life to speak, however both their tones were flat and monotonous.


    ¡°I¡¯m Nanskynn Yuzutian.¡±


    ¡°Kyozin Rigumund.¡± So the girl was named Nanskynn, and the boy was Kyozin. Their introductions were half-assed, but I guess they served their purpose.


    -But wait, Yuzutian?- As if in tune with my thoughts, Kiaethia glared at Nanskynn. A pink magic circle formed in front of the hand she held behind her back when saluting. I could only imagine the thought she was transmitting, but based on the glare she was giving Nanskynn, it must have been something that I wouldn¡¯t want to hear in my head. I silently sympathized with Nanskynn, knowing the terror of having an older sister, while thanking Human God for not giving my sister psychic magic. Out of nowhere, a chill shot down my spine as a feeling of terror welled up in my chest. Suddenly breaking out in a cold sweat, I stole a glance at what I assumed was the source. Sure enough, Zinaethia was sending me a side eyed glare. I could practically hear her saying, ¡°you just thought something rude about me didn¡¯t you?¡± Due to her being in His Majesty¡¯s presence she couldn¡¯t outright assault me, but even with just a glare she could intimidate me to such a degree. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    -Maybe she has psychic magic as a secret fourth nature?- While I was questioning whether my sister¡¯s sense could really just be defined as a woman¡¯s intuition, Nanskynn seemed to have finished being psychically scolded by her sister.


    ¡°Umm, excuse me for being so rude just now. As I said, I¡¯m Nanskynn Yuzutian. My natures are psychic, freeze, and metal. I hope¡­ that you¡¯re willing to accept us.¡±


    Kyozin raised his eyebrow at her sudden change in attitude, but that only lasted for a breath as he reintroduced himself.


    ¡°Like I said, I¡¯m Kyozin Rigumund. I have lightning, acoustic, and transformation magic.¡±All Kyozin really did was add on his magic natures, but the energy in his words had increased somewhat. It appeared he was simply a man of few words.


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯m Justin. Just by looking at how you guys have been acting, I can tell you¡¯ve been through something, but I¡¯ll have to apologize for being rude. Can you guys demonstrate your ability to me?¡± At Justin¡¯s words, they both nodded, seemingly resolving themselves for a fight. Seeing that, Justin turned to look at me then motioned for me to come over. As I approached the other two, Justin began explaining what was happening. ¡°I think it¡¯d be a bit unfair to ask you guys to compete with the innately strongest member of the Imperial Guard, so this is your challenge. This is my teacher, so if you guys can manage to land a clean hit on him with any of your attacks without getting hit¡­ let¡¯s say three times, I¡¯ll acknowledge you as our squad members.¡±


    Hearing the conditions proposed by Justin, everyone in the room was shocked. Did I include myself in everyone? Of course! I mean, the King himself chose these people as candidates to join our squad, so they had to be talented. On top of that, I couldn¡¯t get hit once? -Doesn¡¯t he have a bit too much faith in me?-


    ¡°H-Hey¡­¡± I tried to get my friend¡¯s attention before things got out of hand, but¡­


    ¡°That¡¯s outrageous!¡±


    ¡°Does he think the boy is his sister? These are noble prodigies!¡±


    ¡°Won¡¯t this be too easy? Maybe all that talk earlier was false bravado and he really did want them to join his squad?¡± The Imperial Guard seemed to think Justin was just messing around, but I knew better than anyone here that he really meant it. He loved to put me in difficult positions. I didn¡¯t even have time to tell him he was being unreasonable before they broke out in disbelief. Sensing the timing to speak was missed, I looked over at the other two. Hopefully they¡¯d be offended and demand different rules.


    ¡°..!¡± They were staring at me with fire in their eyes. Clearly, they didn¡¯t seem to think this was unreasonable like I did. Left with no other choice, I could only sigh and look towards His Majesty.


    ¡°Your Majesty, is there a fitting place for our fight? I wouldn¡¯t want to damage the castle while testing their abilities.¡±


    A certain expression flashed across His Majesty¡¯s face. The corner of his mouth rose slightly, but I couldn¡¯t tell if he was impressed with me or looking down on me. It was only for a moment, though, as his face returned to normal.  ¡°Jahseen, if you would.¡±


    ¡°Yes, your majesty.¡± A chaos magic circle formed above the hand of a hooded magister in a few seconds. I was slightly surprised, but immediately regained my composure. After all, not only was he a noble, he was a member of the Imperial Guard, so it wasn¡¯t surprising to see a Hidden Class magic. Eventually, a giant gate formed. Just based on the casting speed, I was superior, but that was primarily because I had to prioritize casting speed when fighting against Justin to keep up.


    I wondered how many spells he knew as I secretly cast a chaos spell of my own. I felt a drastic change occur within myself. With my chaos mana running rampant in my body, my vision, hearing, smell, and precision of movement increased drastically. The spell I cast was called Multiplier, an advanced spell which enhanced my senses depending on how much mana I put into it. At the moment, my limit was about three times better than my base sensitivity.


    I figured double would be enough to handle my opponents. Heck, it might even be too much. In addition to that, the chaos mana leaking from my body increased dramatically as well, making my aura seem more wild and unrestrained. As if they sensed this, some members of the Imperial Guard, including my sister, turned to look at me. I didn¡¯t want to reveal the fact that I was already using magic, so I put on an act of firing myself up for the fight. Seeing this, they all turned back to walk through the gate. I was the last one to enter, and it closed behind me.


    Looking around me, the area we had arrived at seemed like an arena. It was a large circular area free of obstacles and around us were walls about twice my height. Rising from those walls were rows and rows of benches, clearly meant for spectators. I walked around the outer perimeter of the fighting area, sliding my hands across the wall. At certain intervals, there were quite large manarocks that were black in color and had a metallic sheen to them. -They must have set up a Formation that can be activated at a moments notice in case of attacks that are too strong.-


    Reaching that conclusion, I looked back and noticed that everyone aside from the fighters had moved into the stands. Realizing I couldn¡¯t really stall for time in this situation, I made my way towards the center of the arena, stopping about a dozen steps away from my two opponents. When I stopped, a middle aged guard with his hood on and a long golden beard with silver streaks yelled down at us from the stands. ¡°You brats should consider yourselves lucky. This is the personal battleground of the Imperial Guard. Now you shouldn¡¯t have anything to worry about when it comes to causing damage. I hope that wasn¡¯t your attempt to try and get out of the fight.¡±


    -It kind of was, but I already figured it was hopeless.- I glanced up at the guy and frowned. It seemed like he was going to continue ranting, but His Majesty raised a hand to stop him, then looked at us with an expectant expression. I didn¡¯t know what he was expecting, but before I had time to try and figure it out, Nanskynn began speaking to me.


    ¡°I hope you¡¯re as good as The Destined proclaimed. It¡¯d be a shame if this was too easy. That being said, I hope you don¡¯t actually expect to win against the two of us. We¡¯ve been a team for years, so our synergy is gonna make mincemeat out of you.¡±


    -The King was expecting trash talk?-  Unless this was the noble arrogance Zinaethia mentioned, I couldn¡¯t imagine based on her attitude earlier that she was serious with that comment, so I decided to play along. ¡°Right, right. I¡¯ll have you guys know that I¡¯m not as kind as Justin, okay? Since I¡¯m here, I plan to win using whatever means I have to. That means I¡¯m not gonna give you the courtesy of telling you my natures, and I¡¯m not gonna apologize if I hit too hard, so don¡¯t go crying about it.¡±


    ¡°Why you..!¡± That seemed to really get on Nanskynn¡¯s nerves, but Kyozin put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. She stopped whatever she was gonna say, but she was glaring daggers at me now. Well, for better or worse, she seemed genuinely upset with me now, so she definitely wouldn¡¯t be holding back.


    His Majesty must have seen enough, because he raised his hand in the sky and called out to us. ¡°I will now declare the start of the test. On your mark¡­ Begin!¡±


    As soon as he yelled for us to start, I raised my hand towards both of them. I didn¡¯t actually plan on using a spell, but I wanted to see if they would react offensively or defensively. In the same instant I raised mine, both of them raised their hands as well. Nanskynn was casting an intermediate psychic spell based off the pink magic circle, and Kyozin was casting an intermediate electric spell. They took about two seconds to form for both of them, meaning if I was actually casting a spell, it would¡¯ve come out first, but two seconds was actually faster than I expected their circles to complete. That being said, they were intermediate spells probably meant to probe my abilities rather than actually hit me.


    Once their circles finished, a flash of lighting jumped out towards me as a feminine scream echoed through my head. With my enhanced senses from the Multiplier spell I used before we began, the lighting bolt seemed to be moving exceptionally slow, so I had no trouble dodging it with a simple side step.


    -So their plan was to break my concentration so I couldn¡¯t form a circle and get a cheeky hit on me while I was distracted. Not a bad tactic. I¡¯m sure they didn¡¯t talk to each other before the match, so they were perf¡ª wait, psychic magic.- After analyzing their decision, I realized I couldn¡¯t rely on audio clues to respond to their actions, so it would all come down to how acute my awareness was to avoid getting caught in a trap. Well, that wouldn¡¯t be a problem thanks to my secret pre-match Multiplier magic.


    Seemingly surprised by my minimal movement to dodge his lightning bolt, Kyozin began casting another spell. This one was gray and was simpler than the electric spell he used earlier. As a result, it actually formed faster than the one before, barely taking longer than a second. A high pitched sound, like metal screeching rang out for a couple seconds, causing me to cover an ear with my hand. Meanwhile, a shining silver magic circle that took about three seconds to complete spun in front of Nanskynn. A long blade shot out from the circle, headed directly for me at an impressive speed. It was simple enough for me to predict the trajectory and dodge, but it would go on forever if I kept dodging. Instead, I pulled my arm back and channeled chaos mana into my fist. As the harpoon neared my chest, I swung my fist down and knocked it to the floor.


    I was prepared for a dust cloud to form and use the cover as a means to attack, but her spell was so sharp that it just slid into the ground like a sword going into its sheath, causing no excessive damage. Kyozin was casting another electric spell, but it seemed that he was so dumbfounded by what just happened that he lost concentration, because his magic circle fell apart before it was done. Nanskynn also seemed baffled by what just happened, because she just kept staring at the blade in the ground. I could hear Justin laughing from the stands, but I ignored it as I fought the urge to cover my face in embarrassment. What I did probably looked pretty cool, but it wasn¡¯t my plan at all, so I just felt stupid.


    ¡°Y-You..! How did you do that?¡± Nanskynn was unable to believe her eyes, so she couldn¡¯t help but question me. I understood, I really did, but I didn¡¯t expect this to happen either, alright!?


    ¡°Hmph! This is the difference between clouds and mud! You should quit while you¡¯re ahead.¡± I tried to get them to give up, but that was mostly because I just wanted to forget this epic fail.


    Nanskynn gnashed her teeth and growled at me before she started yelling at me. ¡°You say that, but you haven¡¯t used a single spell yet! Aren¡¯t you the one feeling overwhelmed?¡± I could tell she was trying to rile me up, and if she were right then it might have worked. Unfortunately for her, I was taking it pretty easy. Thanks to Multiplier doubling my stats, I couldn¡¯t imagine it being too hard to get three hits on both of them, but I was meant to test their abilities here.


    -With that in mind, I should keep firing them up.- ¡°Who knows? Maybe I¡¯m just so bored that I haven¡¯t felt like using a spell. In case you haven¡¯t noticed, you haven¡¯t hit me.¡±


    ¡°Then maybe this will help!¡± I was so focused on Nanskynn that I hadn¡¯t noticed Kyozin was casting the spell he dropped earlier, and he was finishing the circle now! This time, instead of a single bolt of lightning, there were five of them jumping at me from different angles to seal off my escape. The strategy wasn¡¯t terrible considering they only needed a single hit. If he used this at the beginning of the fight, I would¡¯ve had to do something to avoid it, but now¡­


    -At least Kiaethia¡¯s sister inadvertently confirmed that they¡¯re advanced magisters. Creating this physical blade will end up helping me.- I grabbed the blade with my fingers to avoid cutting myself and yanked it from the ground, throwing it into the air above me. All the lightning bolts were drawn to it, allowing me to escape harm without too much effort.


    Suddenly, there was an almost imperceptible drop in temperature around me. If it weren¡¯t for my increased perception plus the fact that I was deathly afraid of my sister, I might not have noticed until it was too late. After sensing the almost negligible drop in heat around me, I kicked off of the ground by instinct. Because this was more of a subconscious dodge rather than a decision, I kicked off with a bit more force than necessary, so the ground where I was standing cracked under the force I put into my leg. As I slid towards the wall, a giant ice spike appeared where I just was. After realizing how extremely I reacted, I wanted to slap myself, but it was too late.


    ¡°His instincts are extraordinary enough. He was clearly focused on the lighting the boy launched, yet he still sensed the girl''s magic before it formed and evaded. In that situation, even I might not have been able to react that quickly after such a well executed diversion.¡±


    I could hear one of the Imperial Guards compliment me from the stands. -No no no, I totally fell for the diversion. If she would¡¯ve used her metal magic there, I would¡¯ve been toast.-


    I shook my head and focused my gaze on the two opponents I was facing. Nanskynn seemed even more shocked by what I just did than punching the blade into the ground earlier. Kyozin also seemed like he was irritated just by the sight of me. -Well, it looks like both of them are taking this seriously, at least. I should amp it up.-


    ¡°I suppose it¡¯s time I go on the offensive, huh?¡± As I said that, a bright magic circle spun to completion in front of me after one second. Both of them tried to cast psychic and acoustic spells to interrupt me, but in addition to the head start I had, I already formed my spells faster than they did.


    The spell I used was an advanced tier bright spell that caused an initial flash by converting all of the ambient mana within my aura into bright mana and increasing its purity to convert the metaphysical mana into physical matter, then gathered that converted mana into a huge sphere of light a few meters above the ground. The spell name was ¡°Artificial Sun¡± in the spell book I learned it from, which was pretty fitting, but no reasonable person would call out the name of their attack as they used it.


    Normally, it was considered praiseworthy if a magister could complete an advanced tier circle in under three seconds, but when fighting against Justin, three seconds was no different from three years. After being burned and shocked countless times, I eventually got the hang of casting even high tier spells in a single second.


    ¡°Advanced magic in a mere second? Isn¡¯t he even faster than some of the Imperial Guard?¡± Another off-handed comment was made in the stands, but if they were shocked by this, they were gonna have a heart attack after seeing what was to come. The flash caused my opponents to lose focus, as their magic circles crumbled before completion. Immediately after I used my bright magic, I cast a chaos spell and warped behind Nanskynn.


    The reason I was messing around so much in the beginning partly was to gauge their abilities, but also so I could let my chaos mana properly spread throughout the arena. Now I could warp anywhere I pleased within the combat area, and since the distance was so close, I could warp without needing to open a whole portal. Instant Teleportation was inherently a basic spell, but the prerequisite was a bit tedious to achieve. Now that I had achieved it, I seized the opportunity and swept Kyozin¡¯s legs from under him before I flicked Nanskynn on the cheek. As I did that, I taunted them. ¡°That¡¯s one on each.¡±


    While I was attacking, I cast an advanced shadow spell called Creeping Shadow, so when I flicked Nanskynn on her cheek, I activated its effect. I shrouded myself in shadow mana as I jumped into Nanskynn¡¯s shadow. Normally if I were to do this, her shadow would darken considerably since I was inside of it. Thanks to the stark contrast caused by Artificial Sun, however, their shadows were already pitch black. On top of that, they had no idea I was also a shadow magister. As far as they knew, I only used my bright magic in this match, but in reality I¡¯ve used all three of my natures already.


    As their vision recovered from the initial flash of Artificial Sun, they began to look around for me. Kyozin cast an intermediate transformation spell, and his nose and mouth elongated and morphed into a canine¡¯s. His new nose twitched as he spun his head around, trying to find a trace of my scent. Unfortunately for him, I was currently within a shadow, so he wouldn¡¯t be able to lock on to me. -Transformation magic is pretty cool. Getting an animal¡¯s senses can be even better than my Multiply.-


    ¡°Where¡¯d he go? Is this bright magic invisibility? Isn¡¯t he using too many high end spells at once?!¡± Nanskynn seemed frustrated, and I had to stifle a laugh to not give away my position. In a way, she was right. I have used one high tier spell after another, but that was just my fighting style. I mean, since I learned how to cast complicated magic at the same speeds as simple magic, why would I use low tier spells? It was mostly about practicality.


    Inside of Nanskynn¡¯s shadow, I smirked with conceit. -She really does think I¡¯m only using bright magic, just as I planned.- I marveled at how you could use people¡¯s lack of information and imagination to completely guide their thinking. -Now then, what should I do next?-


    I sat in Nanskynn¡¯s shadow as they called for me to show myself, contemplating my next move. In truth, I could¡¯ve ended this already. Cheating before the battle was a big help, but the means aside, the end result was completely within my control at this point. I knew I was supposed to be testing them or whatever, but I was actually really upset.


    Ever since I showed up at The Kingdom, aside from Kiaethia (who I may or may not have fallen for), everybody had been treating me as a background character! The guard at the entrance, the Imperial Guard, and even the King! Because of that, I got really frustrated, so I was toying with their ¡°noble prodigies¡± or whatever that one Imperial Guard called them to prove a point.


    -I¡¯m more than just Zinaethia¡¯s brother dammit!- With that thought in mind, I jumped out from Nanskynn¡¯s shadow and chopped her in the back of the neck, knocking her out.


    ¡°Sorry, I know it¡¯s supposed to be three hits, but the result is the same in the end, right?¡± I might¡¯ve let my anger get a hold of me for a second there, but I was feeling a bit better now that I landed a satisfying hit.


    Having heard me, Kyozin turned his head just in time to see me stopping her from hitting the ground face first. ¡°Wha¡­ y-you..!¡±


    He didn¡¯t seem to know how to react, but I didn¡¯t really care and turned Nanskynn over so she could lay on her back. I didn¡¯t really notice earlier since her eyes seemed lifeless, but she was definitely cute. I could certainly see the similarities between her and Kiaethia. Also¡­ I really didn¡¯t notice earlier, but her chest was¡­ I guess prominent would be the most polite word to use. It went without saying that she put someone like my sister to shame in that regard. There wasn¡¯t even a comparison, only a jarring juxtaposition.


    Anyways, after I finished laying her down, I looked up to see a giant white magic circle with a red glow being completed in front of Kyozin. Upon completion, his appearance began to morph. He put his hands on the ground and had neon green fur growing at a wild pace across his body.


    -Judging by the size of the magic circle and the effect, he must have used complex transformation magic.- I was interested to see his transformation, as this was my first time seeing a transformation magister. It wasn¡¯t too surprising this was my first time though, since transformation magic was Hidden Class like chaos.


    As all these thoughts passed through my mind, his transformation was nearing completion. The form he took was a canine Beast race, but there were many unique features, such as the neon green fur that now had yellow streaks in it, his slender legs, the two fluffy tails, and the wings on his back.


    In the stands, an Imperial Guard appreciated Kyozin¡¯s magic. ¡°The Twin-Tailed Flying Fox, huh? He certainly has a good transformation.¡±


    ¡°Is it powerful?¡± Justin¡¯s voice responded to him.


    ¡°Extraordinarily so. A regular Flying Fox¡¯s tail contains a certain magic nature depending on the environment they were raised in. You can infer what two tails means, can¡¯t you?¡±


    Justin could easily deduce the Imperial Guard¡¯s implication. ¡°Two magic natures?¡±


    ¡°Precisely. To be specific, I¡¯m sure his two tails allow him to use his two natures aside from transformation.¡±


    ¡°Is that really shocking?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Usually, when a transformation magister assumes their new form, they¡¯re limited to the characteristics of the Beast race they transform into, meaning they can¡¯t use their own magic.¡±


    ¡°So why doesn¡¯t everybody learn the spell for the fox?¡±


    ¡°It all depends on aptitude. Transformation magic is unique in the sense that each magister has an affinity for a certain type of Beast. That boy¡¯s affinity is apparently for fox type species. As such, he can only transform into fox Beasts, but all types of fox Beasts are open for him to transform into as long as his comprehension of the Beast¡¯s abilities are deep enough.¡±


    ¡°I see. Transformation magisters are pretty cool.¡±


    An Imperial Guard explained the details of transformation magic. Justin¡¯s one focus since coming to this world has been killing the Demon God, so he had next to no knowledge about the Beast and Spirit races. If he were to fight a transformation magister, he¡¯d be at a severe informational disadvantage. I suppose I should teach him about stuff like that in the future, but to be honest, I didn¡¯t know much about the Beast race either. The Imperial Guard¡¯s explanation actually helped me as well, so I was thankful to him for explaining it to Justin.


    Kyozin¡¯s transformation seemed to finally be completed. One thing I noticed about transformation magic was that it took way too long to be practical. Basically, if you were to use it, you should enter the battle transformed. Fortunately for Kyozin, I was curious and didn¡¯t interrupt him. In fact, I was feeling excited to compare our Hidden Class magic.


    ¡°..!¡± I turned to my left and swung my right fist to match a paw that swung at me from seemingly out of nowhere. I didn¡¯t hold back at all with that punch, yet we were still evenly matched!


    The force of our collision caused a loud boom and shockwaves. Kyozin noticed he couldn¡¯t force me back easily and retreated after that swing. Nanskynn would¡¯ve been blown away if I hadn¡¯t placed my foot on her clothes, so I picked her up and carried her over to the wall before I tossed her to Kiaethia in the stands. During this brief reprieve, all types of thoughts ran through my head.


    -He matched my 2x Multiplier? I guess it makes sense since he¡¯s a Beast now. On top of that, he can still use his magic, which are acoustic and electric. I guess I¡¯ll have to use my bright and shadow magic to contest. This¡­ I may end up losing since I can¡¯t even let one hit successfully land on me.-


    As I finished that thought, Kiaethia caught her sister, so I turned to face Kyozin once more.


    ¡°You¡¯re better than me. I would¡¯ve done a sneak attack on me just to end this.¡± As I said that, I dashed forward, planning to take the initiative. As I approached him, I began forming a shadow magic circle, but one of his tails pointed towards me and launched lightning at me. Being forced to dodge, I lost focus on my circle and it collapsed.


    ¡°Circle-less casting? Is it because he¡¯s in Beast form?¡± Beasts didn¡¯t learn magic via circles like Humans. In exchange for not always having three natures, Beasts could use the mana within their control with no restriction, i.e circle-less casting.


    Without even giving me a chance to breathe, he was right next to me again. Thanks to my cheati¡ªerr, chaos magic, I could still keep up with his movements, but since I was off balance from the surprise lightning, I could only block and ended up getting forced back. Trying to push his advantage, he pursued me and swung again. This time, however, I was more on balance and able to meet his attack. I used the force from our collision to widen the space between us. As soon as the distance opened up I began to form a shadow magic circle again. I thought I¡¯d be successful, but a blaring sound made me feel like my ears were about to bleed, breaking my concentration once more. If there was anything positive for me about what just happened, it¡¯s that using his acoustic magic slowed his movements down, so I had enough time to gather myself.


    When he rushed me again, I was able to meet him full force and cause a tie. Thanks to his natural abilities as a Beast race and my Multiplier spell, our attacks were too fast to track with normal vision. We entered a fierce melee where dodging wasn¡¯t an option and all we could do were meet attacks with attacks. Fists, feet, and paws swung through the air in a flurry and sweat and loose fur was getting blown away.


    Things continued like this for a solid amount of time. You may be wondering why he didn¡¯t use his magic to corner me, but the answer was that I wouldn¡¯t give him enough time to do so. If he tried to split his attention to use his magic, he would slow down a bit, like he did earlier. If he were to give me such an opening in close quarters combat, I would definitely land a hit, which would put us both on the precipice of defeat. Things seemed like they would continue on for a while, but suddenly his transformation broke. I couldn¡¯t slow down my punch in time and ended up hitting him full force in the chest, sending him flying into the wall.


    ¡°Uhhh, I don¡¯t think he¡¯s getting up from that. I hope one of you Imperial Guards is a healer, and you should take action quickly.¡±


    Everybody seemed like they were engrossed in the fight, and my words snapped them out of a daze. As if they had practiced their timing, multiple Imperial Guards jumped down from the stands and rushed towards Kyozin. As they dashed past me, I looked at my quaking arms and legs. During our close combat, I had to use my whole body as a weapon to match his strikes, or else I would¡¯ve been hit and lost. As a result, my arms and legs were numb to the point that it was a wonder I was still standing. I felt like the instant I deactivated my chaos magic, all the strength in my body would vanish and I would collapse.


    As I walked over to the wall, Justin and Zinaethia jumped down from the stands and waited for me. Once I got there, I sat down with my back against the wall and undid my Multiplier spell. As I suspected, it felt like I had no strength left as soon as I did that. I probably couldn¡¯t get back up, even if I wanted to.


    ¡°Magical Beasts¡­ sure pack a punch. Not gonna lie to you guys¡­ I¡¯m gonna¡­ have to sit here¡­ for a while. I can¡¯t feel my anything.¡±


    I was out of breath thanks to fighting so intensely at the end. Even with my enhancements, our physical abilities were about even. No, if things would have kept going on, I probably would¡¯ve started losing ground. I was already turning numb, but from what I could tell, Kyozin still had energy to spare while we were fighting. If his transformation didn¡¯t break in the middle of it, I would¡¯ve taken a clean hit during our fight. The only reason I lasted so long was because of the adrenaline.


    ¡°Hmph! If you never let him transform you¡¯d be fine.¡± Aside from the rude tone, I could almost convince myself that she was concerned about me. Since I wasn¡¯t really in the shape to reply, Justin defended me instead.


    ¡°Now now. His goal with this was to test them. I think it¡¯s good that he let him transform. Plus, the fight was fun to watch wasn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°It was just two guys punching and swinging at each other. I don¡¯t see why everyone was so caught up in it.¡± Her words stung a bit. In the back of my mind, I was hoping my sister would compliment me for keeping up with such a strong Beast, but as usual, my hope was in vain.


    ¡°Anyways,¡± Justin brought my attention back from my hurt feelings. ¡°You used chaos magic to keep up with him, right? How much of a boost were you using?¡±


    ¡°Double.¡± I forced the word out after I tried and failed to raise my hand and show him.


    ¡°Twice your usual strength and you were still at a disadvantage. Kyozin¡¯s transformation is certainly powerful. Now we just have to help him increase the duration he can use it and he¡¯ll be a powerful ally we can rely on.¡±


    Understanding the meaning of Justin¡¯s words, I decided not to reply and closed my eyes. Feeling my body, I realized my mana reserves were around thirty-ish percent of its maximum. While it would recover soon enough, I used a lot more mana than I realized. To be fair, the Multiplier spell I used was advanced tier magic, and I had it activated since before the battle, but I also wasted a lot of mana during that fight. The Multiplier spell was a continuous spell that constantly used mana to stay activated, meaning my mana reserve was constantly being drained. Despite the fact that I was essentially placing myself on a time limit, I still wasted a lot of time, wasting mana. Not only that, but two of my magic circles got interrupted, so I wasted the mana equivalent of two spells.


    If they were basic or intermediate tier spells, it would have been more or less inconsequential, but I only used advanced and complex tier magic circles, so the cost of using those spells was exponentially higher. If I used one more spell, I probably would¡¯ve started getting a headache.


    -I should start increasing my mana reserves again. I thought I was in a good spot, but it seems like I was just naive.-


    Aside from being numb and having a low amount of mana left, my body felt like it was throbbing. Every time my heart beat, I felt an indescribable feeling pulse through my body. It was like it was trying to tell me I overworked it. My ears were ringing, and every time my heart beat, it became louder.