Kris decided to walk back home to mull about how he was going to break the news to his parents. As of the moment, he was still in the inner wards and he walked with a deliberately slow pace.

The scarcity of life in the streets accented the dimly lit moonlight and even the brightness of the gas lamps that shone sparsely at some edges of the road were blanketed with a moist haze. Kris’ footsteps were the only sound that echoed through the stone walls of the inner ward’s establishments.

Kris rummaged through his back pocket and picked out a badge. It was handed to him by Jack and it bore the insignia of the Einsworths: a mountain-range carved on the silver plated badge. This would allow him to access the inner wards without much inspection, but it also meant that he was now officially under the sponsorship of the Einsworths.

Apart from the fact that he’s still a bit disappointed from his previous slip-ups, the prospect of gaining the attention of the Royal Family intrigued him. He wondered what Jack had in store for him to actually get that attention, but he was nonetheless surprisingly glad at the turn of events.

Still, it was going to be a pain to explain this to his parents. He’s noted long ago that they expected him to attend the academy at his soonest, but he thought that the prospect of creating a personal relationship with the academy could help placate their disappointment.

He sighed as he placed the insignia back inside his pockets. He stopped walking and raised his chin. Kris expression then wore a face of thunder.

“You may come out now,” Kris beckoned.

Truthfully, Kris didn’t originally plan on walking home. However, just after exiting the gates of the Einsworth Mansion, he noticed a peculiar tap on his body. It wasn’t a physical tap, but it was a notification that somebody was watching him, and probably wanted to ‘meet’ him.

A distortion in space cackled a few meters away from him. The light of the gas lamps were being sucked into the distortion, and the eerie sound of sizzles snaked through Kris’ ears.

The heaviness of the mana that accompanied the void magic gave Kris a tinge of nostalgia and reminded him of the pure rage he wore during his time as Rizale.

As soon as the distortion stabilized, a black-slit in mid-air opened up a rift and revealed a black-robed man. The darkness of the surroundings masked whatever was not hidden by the robe that covered the man’s head, revealing only a curved, mocking mouth.

“Ahhh. I am truly glad, and a bit surprised that you were able to pick up on my…” The man paused and his smile turned grimmer. “Invitation.”

Kris stared at the man. He then snapped his fingers as an explosion rocked behind the robed-man. In the short time that the explosion’s force would’ve reached the man, a suction behind him siphoned the heat and force of the explosion. Even the debris were sucked in and disappeared.

Apart from the depressed ground at the site of the explosion, it was as if nothing happened.

Kris raised a brow.

“Oh. I didn’t think you were so quick to judge,” the man shook his head as he tried to stifle a chuckle. “I’ll assure you that whatever it is you think you can do…” The man then raised his head and locked his gaze with Kris. “It won’t amount to much.”

A familiar prodding crept towards Kris core. Kris snorted as he swelled his core.

The man winced as his smirking lips curved downwards. Kris then immediately prodded back as he investigated in turn. He then bugged out his eyes.

This… he’s a chaotic?

Kris then pulled back his mana as the man tried to raise his magical defenses. The man had a large capacity, but it wasn’t as large as Kris. However, the quality of his mana was just around two levels lower than Kris’. It wasn’t as much, but it was still impressive for this era.

But its chaotic nature is what surprised and made Kris take caution. Surprisingly, even if it felt chaotic, the wind attribute clung to it, which confused Kris. Like a whirlwind of power building up on the solar plexus, covered in a veil of darkness.

Does this mean that me being attributeless has nothing to do with my chaotic mana?

“You… What are you trying to pull?” Kris said, a breathy threat as he scowled.

The man, shaken out of his stupor, regained his smirk.

“Amazing for a young man. To not even allow me to investigate your core while you effortlessly looked at mine, ah,” the man turned his head up before glaring at Kris. “How truly amazing.”

The man ‘complimented’ as the air around the area became thicker. Kris jumped back. Just after, three slits punctured the ground where Kris jumped from.

Kris then willed a push of compressed wind from above him in the middle of his flight, forcing him to land as the sound of whipping air whizzed past his previous position.

Immediately, Kris swelled his mana and forced it to seep through the air, stabilizing it and granting him control. Kris dashed forward as he wrapped his legs in a gale of wind.

Kris closed in on the man. He straightened his fingers and slashed at the man’s neck with his right arm. The man stepped back casually. Kris then shifted his weight to his back foot, and did a faster slash with his left.

The man wasn’t able to dodge, but Kris’ arm passed through him harmlessly. Kris squinted his eyes as he kicked with his right leg. The man jumped back. Kris willed the wind to converge and rattle the man’s balance, stopping his trajectory.

As the man hovered in mid-air, Kris removed his active influence on the winds. He then summoned large balls of fire. The fireballs bolted towards the man who was now landing.

As the fireballs reached closer to the man, a spatial distortion swallowed the man’s body and he disappeared. The fireballs flew past the distortion, and Kris forcefully expelled the fuel of the flames before it hit any structures.

The man reappeared a few meters away in front of Kris.

“Interesting, it truly is. You fight like a mage of old would,” the man commented.

“Fine control over your range of influence, and the strength of it, oh my... - well, instead of influence it would be apt to describe it as forcing the elements to your whims,” the man nodded.

“You seem well-informed,” Kris retorted.

“Am I? Young man, where did you learn to fight like this?” the man asked, his suspicion obvious for Kris to hear.

“It’s just what feels natural to me,” Kris shrugged and all of a sudden, he smirked. The young man’s mouth reacted subtly to Kris’ changed expression.

“Void magic, huh?” Kris said.

“Oh, so you know about…” Suddenly, the gas lamp’s flames started visibly fizzling out, cutting the man off. The air became humid as Kris took a step forward.

“I was wondering how far you could push your void magic. To even use corporeal and instant-teleportation…” Kris then scowled. The young man, shocked to realize that he was the one being prodded.

Void magic is mainly a support type of magic - not in the modern sense. However, the applications of the void is what made void mages become feared in the olden times.

Normally, a mage can only use one element at a time.

Especially if he actively instills influence in that element, he temporarily gets restricted from accessing other elements until he removes that influence.

This is why Kris had to reel his mana and remove his influence of air and wind before he could reuse fire. At least, that’s normally how magic works, even for him.

Void magic is the only known type of magic that is usable in conjunction with another active element, whether you’re in the middle of a spell or actively creating a sphere of influence. This also means that as long as one has knowledge of the void, even without access to it, they can inhibit a void's formation.

Even then, simply by controlling time and space, an insurmountable gap is created between the void mage and his enemies. Void magic is the ultimate bane of any mage, at least, apart from Dragnir and Rizale.

“It’s impressive, but trivial. There’s surely someone behind this, and I regret that he might have sent you to his death,” Kris glared at the man.

“I’ll have you tell me where you learned this,” the ring on Kris’ left hand began to glow in a menacing purple shade. The humid air collected around Kris fingers and it caressed him.

‘Rizale,’ Kris commanded using telepathy through the ring. The ring in his left melted away as a plume of smoke and flames swirled in front of Kris. It shaped itself into a tall, humanoid figure.

The man took a step back, his legs shaking as he did. An overwhelming heat emanated from the surroundings, like you were inside the heart of a volcano.

‘My name, Rizale. My Master, summons,’ the being’s voice replied in Kris’ head. Kris then turned his attention to the man, the humanoid also turned its metaphorical head of smoke.

A spatial distortion was starting to form behind the man, but Kris willed his mana towards the distortion and forcefully stitched the forming rift, forcing it close before it could fully open. "What the hell did you do!?" it seems it was the first time that someone overwhelmed a tear with pure mana alone. "Standard operating procedure," Kris replied.

The man tried opening another portal, but Kris’ mana stayed around the man’s vicinity. It invaded any attempt of the man to open a void.

Kris then casually waved a finger, as a dry but otherwise gentle breeze pushed the cloak of the robed man and revealed his face.

The breeze played with the black, medium length hair of the man. His slits for an eye bugged out in fear and revealed his black irises. Streaks of sweat drizzled down to his prominent cheeks and edged his triangular face.

Kris then raised his right arm and slowly dropped it to his waist, as if pushing something down. A hand of wind pushed down on the man in return, forcing him to his knees as he shook, trying to fight the force.

It seems that by using his spirit as a medium, Kris is allowed to access wind and fire simultaneously by his spirit creating an active influence on these elements on Kris’ behalf. Interesting.

This could allow for Kris to create an influence through himself on either water or earth so he could use those elements’ magic, but he found that the materialization of Rizale prevented him to do so at the moment.

Of course, Kris could always summon Maya to compensate, but right now he felt like he didn’t have to.

His spirit also allowed Kris to create a passive influence of mana in his surroundings with more abandon, disrupting his any of his opponent’s mana and magic, this time the man’s void magic.

This possibility of passive influence confirmed Kris’ suspicion that there must be a way to utilize the other elements without having to rely on Maya. Still, whenever he tries to summon water or earth magic while only Rizale was materialized, simply nothing happens.

Kris smiled as he thought of the possibilities of a spirit’s utilization. He was a bit special in this regard in that his fine control over all elements and his attributeless mana allowed him to create dual-elemental spirits.

However, if he can discover a way to allow other people to create even a single-elemental spirit… It could push magic towards a whole new realm.

“Hold him down and sear his flesh,” Kris commanded the humanoid plume. The air that pushed down on the man sizzled as a small spark flashed behind him. Coils of flame began to form around him and seized the man by his shoulders.

The man’s body stiffened and he bent his torso back in pain. He clutched his hands as the veins in his wrists and neck bulged and the skin of his palms tore open, oozing blood.

The man shouted in agony but the wind didn’t vibrate, not allowing any sound to escape from his throat. There wasn’t even any smoke that rose from his burning flesh.

Kris then walked towards the man, his spirit hovering just beside him.

Before he could walk close enough to the man, Kris felt three combinations of mana forcefully trying to open a void around the man. Kris reeled his passive mana in and allowed the other mana access to the void.

Soon, a familiar distortion encompassed the man’s body and closed. The man disappeared with the void.

Three others, huh? Perfect. They shouldn't be able to teleport farther for now.

Kris didn’t let him escape, no. It was a lead.

“Maya,” the ring in Kris’ arms shook as the embossed portions of it sunk and evened out the ring. It then slowly disintegrated as its particles liquefied.

Soon, a water like being sprung from the earth like a spring. The humid air cooled as the previous depressions and slits on the ground evened up, erasing any evidence of battle.

“Master,” Maya greeted.

“Do you still have access to the void?” Kris asked.

“No, master. I remember how it is used, but it is like my body prevents me from using it,” Maya replied. Kris nodded in understanding. It was a similar feeling to his.

“But you still feel it, don’t you?”

“Yes, master.”

“Then, find the source of the most recent distortion. Incapacitate them, and find out what they’re up to. Then, remove them,” Kris commanded.

“By your will,” the earth shook again before Maya evaporated. A visible clump of mist formed above and headed towards the south.

Kris smiled as he thought of what Maya just did. It was vapor. Liquid that becomes gas through heat. Water that exists as wind by being subjected to a high enough temperature.

It seems that his spirits were ahead of the game, however, as beings of mana Kris knew that this came naturally to them. He doubted that even Maya could explain how it’s able to do this, but he at least could glean some clues from both Rizale and Maya.

“Rizale,” The humanoid smoke then began to solidify as the flames on its edges cooled. Soon it disintegrated, similar to how Maya’s ring form did, and coalesced and returned to Kris’ finger.

By then, Kris was convinced. Spirits can help bridge the limitations of a mage. Spirits can allow a mage to bypass the first step of magic which is to create an influence on an element, allowing access to it arbitrarily.

This also opens up the possibility of using another element in conjunction with even its opposing elements.

Kris didn’t exactly know how he created these spirits. It was a stroke of luck. But lucky he was, and he knew that this is a significant breakthrough in Ensfell. That is, if he could discover how to replicate it.

Dragnir. Aren’t you glad you chose me?

Kris chuckled.

As the activity in the surroundings died down and Kris was again by his lonesome, he thought that he needed to gain the Royal Family’s attention sooner rather than later.

He now had a thesis in mind: he’ll have to find out how mages of this time could create their own spirits. Though, because this is a potentially dangerous ability, he’ll keep this a secret from most for now.

Thankfully, Maya shouldn't take long to silence the others.