Chapter 28

The next day the four friends got up quite early even after their small party and were eagerly talking among each other about their prizes.

The one who was boasting at the table the most about her reward was unexpectedly Erna. She was overjoyed with her new rapier and from her expression anyone could clearly see how she loved swordsmanship and actual combat, even with her lady like appearance and temperament.

What made her so happy was that the rapier was extremely well made and most importantly had wind and light enchantments on it, the same elements she herself could use. If some passerby knew about her and the rapier they would definitely think that it was custom made, that’s just how much it fit her.

The second most excited one was Sarah, who was speaking even now. “I checked the spell yesterday and found out that it has a 10 diameter width and can be used from 20 metres away. This spell would be devastating when used in large scale battles and would undoubtedly cause a lot of damage.” It was obvious how satisfied she was with getting an AOE spell since the one she got, which could be used by early rank mages, was very rare. Usually one would only get such a spell when they have already reached at least Master rank.

However, hearing her words Brendon sitting at the side let out a smug smile as he spoke. “Yeah it might be enough for second rate enemies, but your spell’s actual power is quite weak, if I put my new cloak on I wouldn’t feel anything from it being used on me.”

Brendon’s words made Sarah’s beautiful lips twitch a little and stop saying her previously thought sentence. Turning her face towards him she responded with something dangerous glowing in her eyes. “Is that so? Maybe you want to test it out, right now?” Sarah slowly started gathering Mana to cast her spell as she gave Brendon a threatening look.

Seeing that she didn’t take kindly to him spoiling her excitement, fear emerged in his eyes and he started defending himself. “Please don’t, there isn’t any reason to do it now, what’s more it would ruin the cafeteria and we don’t want that, do we!? How about we test it later on someone like Vern?” Brendon had broke out in cold sweat as he tried to cone his sister into stopping, since magic equipment weren't allowed to be used in The Academy he wasn’t wearing the cloak and would definitely get injured by her spell.

The reason for this was that their teachers said the over-reliance on equipment so early in training would stall their progress and they should use them only after graduating. Unfortunately because of this Brendon was currently in a dangerous situation. Although its mostly his own fault so the teacher can’t be blamed.

At this time however, Ariel finally decided to open his mouth and help out his friend. “Sarah, you shouldn’t get worked up like that. Your new spell is a truly powerful and useful AOE attack. If we battle in a group someday, you might be the most important person of the team and unlike his cloak your spell will always stay useful, so don’t take to heart what Brendon says.”

Hearing Ariel’s praise Sarah’s attitude instantly changed as she turned to look at him, her rosy lips turned into a smile, and the slight rosiness on her white cheeks became clearly visible. “If you say so I’ll listen.” Her quick change of attitude made Brendon snicker, but as soon as Sarah started glaring at him again he quickly stopped.

Looking at this whole ruckus Erna spoke with a bright smile on her face. “I think we should get going or teacher Albert will punish us for being late.” After Brendon heard Erna’s words, suddenly even more fear appeared on his face.

Teacher Albert was in charge of the familiar class and is also an extremely strict teacher. When Brendon once got late to class, teacher Albert made him run laps after the lesson and when he’d slow down he would whip him, it continued until he finally fell unconscious. Since then he had a slight trauma about it and was deadly afraid of being late to teacher Albert’s class.

Not paying attention to Brendon’s fear, Erna continued her assault. “Today is the day teacher Albert will be telling us when we will be going to get our familiars and where, so he will be even stricter than usual if we're late.” Her words were like the hymn of hell for Brendon as he turned pale, got up and started running to the class without saying another word.

Watching him with amusement in their eyes while snickering, the other three also started moving towards the practice ground where, usually the demonstrations of the familiar classes, take place.

Reaching the field the three youths saw Brendon spread on the ground, completely out of breath and strength. The girls had mischievous smiles playing on their lips, while Ariel just let out a sigh. Although there was still some time until class starts, the girls wanted to torture him a bit and even though Ariel did not say anything at all, being silent also made him an accomplice in this.

Taking his eyes away from the pathetic display of Brendon, Ariel looked around the field. There were already a bunch of students excitedly waiting and conversing between each other. They all wanted a familiar and each desired to have a more powerful one than the others so they were already boasting about what they will get even without knowing anything.

Soon however they noticed Ariel with his friends, and instantly reverence and awe appeared in their eyes. Since this morning, the people around them were always extremely respectful. Before they attracted attention because all of them, minus Brendon, were out worldly beautiful, but now they were also shown to be astonishingly talented, especially Ariel who was a variant mage. So of course they would make others of the same grade look at them like gods.

However Ariel and the rest didn’t pay mind to this because they already knew that in this word powerful people would always be revered and the weak ones will be scorned.

While dragging Brendon behind him, the four of them went to a distant corner to wait for the lesson to start without any interruptions. Thankfully they didn’t need to wait long and after about ten minutes they heard the rough voice of teacher Albert.

Turning to look Ariel saw a familiar man in his forties with giant, bulging muscles. His face could be described with having a strong jaw and fierce green eyes similar to those of a beast, coupled with always thick eyebrows. His hair was short and black as the night, yet fit well with his eyes.

From the several scars on his manly face you would instantly associate him with a warrior, but even if you don’t have Mana sight like Ariel you could guess that he was a battle mage, since only mages could contract magic beasts.

Looking around, Teacher Albert spoke in a loud voice so everyone could hear. “Listen up, I will make it short. Exactly after a month you will be going to get you familiars at a place called the purple wilds plane.”

When he saw that he instantly lost most of the students, he decided to explain. “You probably haven’t learned this yet so I will tell you about it. This world has many different planes, ours is on the big side, but its also not the biggest there is, naturally, plenty of them are much smaller like the one you will be going to. These worlds are usually connected with each other at different places and this purple wilds plane is conveniently connected right here at out Academy.”

Teacher Albert looked around to see if everyone understood his explanation before continuing. “Some of the worlds are more dangerous than the others, the one you’ll be going to isn’t too threatening, but I will warn you that there are magical beasts at the Elite rank so you have to be careful and well prepared for it, while not underestimating anything there.” His last words were told extremely seriously, to make a point, and most students gulped down their saliva when they heard them.

Seeing that most of the students understood the danger he slightly spoke more softly. “Making a contract will also be difficult so study everything you can on magical beasts until then. I will also tell you that you will be teleported there individually and you will only be able to meet up with others when you're already there. Since all of you probably have a lot to think about right now, today’s lesson is made into a free period so you can discuss and think everything through.” Finishing his speech about the future, teacher Albert turned around and left. Only the students were left, which already started buzzing about.

Erna was the first to let out a sigh and speak. “What can we even do to prepare? We literally don’t know anything about this.” Her gaze was downcast and she seemed to be sulking, Brendon on the other hand seemed to be excited and spoke in a happy tone. “Who cares about that? Won’t the sense of adventure be fun and interesting?”

Sarah felt annoyed at her brother’s carefree attitude and just gave him a death glare to shut him up before also letting out a sigh of helplessness and muttering. “I didn’t expect that contracting a magical beast will be so much trouble. I hope nothing bad will happen.”

Listening to their words Ariel looked up at the sky and let out a sigh, because annoyingly enough, his intuition was telling him that this trip definitely won’t end simply, but he also knew that when time comes, he will try anything he can to overcome it.

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