Chapter 3

Ultimias? What kind of name is that? I could've given Aurum and it would’ve been the same, the girl wasn’t going to hear it and the bandits were going to die either way.

I looked at the disintegrating man’s body and then looked back at the unconscious girl with brown-green hair. lying on the mattress. These past few days, I’ve been going to the hideout and cleaning them out of bandits. Most of the hideouts that I raided were the ones that I and Lidia found when we were trying to find our own hideout in my past life. I remember this girl still being here when we crashed into this place. That means this girl stayed kidnapped for at least 2 years. This hideout is difficult to locate since it was in the middle of the prairie, which is supposed to be prone to monsters and beast, but in this case, there are none for some reason. We only found this place because we were being chased by a noble that cared for the poor people and killing a noble will prompt other noble to hunt us down which Lidia didn’t want. My memory was a bit fuzzy but I remember the girl being in ragged clothes, this is still wearing her accessory and seem to be part of the noble family, so why didn’t the bandits try to ransom her in my past life? Well, for now, I’ll have to wait for her to wake up, then ask questions.

I sent a big cloud of mist containing several soul stars and storage stars to create a big dragon at the entrance of the cave to guard it. When the dragon was complete I changed it a bit so it would look like a white dragon standing on four limbs and have feather-like wings rather than a dragon that looks like the starry night.

//////////

I was practicing my quick forming, seeing how fast I can create a weapon with my dust. Then I heard a stirring to my side. I looked sideways and saw the girl waking up from her sleep. She had slept through the whole night, by then I had already searched the entire hideout, even found ten gold coins perfectly preserved by magic circles. In my past life, we only found three here and there was no preservation magic on the coins at all, they probably wore off. The waking girl saw me and immediately backed herself into the wall looking side by side. Probably looking for the original bandit that kidnapped her in the first place but now there are no signs of them.

“They got away, left the cave and I couldn’t give chase since I needed to take care of you. And what’s with your guards? They should’ve at least already found you right? You slept and entire night and they still aren’t here. You look like a nobleman’s daughter from your look but I apologize that I don’t know which household you’re from since you don’t have a visible crest on you. So I had no idea where to carry you.”[Ultimias]

She took a little moment to process, but in the end, she ignored most of my questions except one. She looked down and gripped her dress. A sign of guilt, but for what?

“So the guards didn’t come to try and save me… am I unwanted?...”[girl]

I looked down at her, unwanted? Why is that?

“So you call yourself an unwanted… why is that?”[Ultimias]

“I- I don’t have the magic talent like my sister…”[girl]

...uh? Wait wait wait, no way. I have a special way to upgrade my magic stars and it's by scraping other magic stars within me and feeding it to the magic stars I want to upgrade. I've held a magic star made from her in the past and whenever I feed it my scrapped magic stars, the star’s mana concentration increases much faster than my other usual stars. To add to that her magic is specialized in shaping other souls to different shapes creating superweapons. This ability matched well with me since I have so many soul stars that can be used and since an immortal’s soul are practically indestructible so were the weapons made from them. There was no way she doesn't have talent, even if we consider her sister to have a more powerful version of her ability, was there a sabotage in her proficiency test?

“You took a proficiency detection test right?”[Ultimias]

“Yes, it showed I didn’t have one.”[girl]

“And what did the detector look like?”[Ultimias]

“It has the shape of an orb, there’s what look like needles were pointed towards the center. the light gathered at the center.”[girl]

“Where was the test taken?”[Ultimias]

“Privately, because the one in charge of my test said it needed to be done without disturbance and asked everyone else to leave.”[girl]

I looked at her with my eyebrows raised. The girl gave a good enough description of a proficiency detector, except you don’t need privacy for it to function. Somehow there was false information given. I then started walking towards the exit of the cave gesturing her to come with me.

“By the way what’s your name? Mine’s Ultimias.”[Ultimias]

“My name is Lania and I’m from the Elanvital family”[Lania]

“Oh, from the Elanvital family, then we’re far away. No wonder the guards couldn’t find you in a single night, not like we’re somewhere in a deserted area.”[Ultimias]

After hearing my words she walked out of the cave entrance to find herself in a prairie, there wasn’t a single ounce of civilization anywhere. She looked around and yelped at the sight of the white dragon standing near the entrance.

“Oh don’t worry about him, he’s a good boy, now let’s see how far your house is.”[Ultimias]

I took a map tool that I borrowed from my mother’s castle from one of my storage stars and proceeded to check the locations as Lania just gazed at the dragon.

“Sir, you have a tamed dragon?”[Lania]

“Yeah, I”m an adventurer with a tamed dragon, what about it?”[Ultimias]

“You look more like a secret worker from a noble that works in the shadows.”[Lania]

“Is it because of my black getup? Ahahaha, I won’t be working for anyone anytime soon.”[Ultimias]

“But sir if you have a dragon then how did the bandits get away from you?”[Lania]

“The dragon wasn’t at the cave entrance when I entered the cave but rather flying in the sky, I wanted him to find any other enemy that might be coming since I thought there would be more than 3 people. When I confronted them, they used a short distance teleport on themselves and when they got out of the cave and used what I can only guess {slip away} since there was no hostile presence within 3-meters. That’s how they got here in the first place, the range is far and I guess they ran a bit in the forest near your city before using it. I was still in the cave and the dragon was up in the sky, no way for him to get to the bandits fast enough, does that answer your question?”[Ultimias]

She nodded her head in response. I can’t tell her that they’re already dead if I do, there’s a chance she’ll tell her family and if they want proof I don’t have anything to show. I don’t want to be caught of suspicion of kidnapping a noble daughter, except really my mom who’ll think it’s funny.

“Now let's go and bring you back home.”[Ultimias]

I made the dragon bend its head down and I grabbed the horn on its head. With one swift motion, the dragon tilted the head up while I pulled myself up straddling onto the neck and holding both horns like handles. I looked back at the girl and realize that she can’t do such maneuver, so I made the dragon open its wings so the girl can climb on to it like a ramp. She slowly walked on its wing until she reached me and sat behind my back. She then whispered,

“I never saw a dragon this obedient to its owner, he didn’t complain a single word to you when you allowed me to step on him. I thought dragons were supposed to have a lot of pride.”[Lania]

“Well, then this is a silent good boy. He doesn't talk that much in the first place. Now let’s depart for your home.”[Ultimias]

The dragon lifted its wings and with a big flap flew right into the air toward the city of Till.

//////////

“By chance does your city have some sort of signal to say that the dragon we’re riding is a tamed dragon and not a dragon coming to annihilate the city?”[Ultimias]

“There are no signals, usually when a person comes to this city on a dragon we were told beforehand to prepare.”[Lania]

“So what do you suggest we do? We’re starting to approach the city right now.”[Ultimias]

“Ummm, slow down and land near the city gate and talk to the guard?”[Lania]

“Sure.”[Ultimias]

I slowed the dragon and descend until I reached the front gate of the city. The guards were watching me with wide eyes as they were walking back slowly. Then they noticed Lania sitting behind me and one of the guards turned and enter the gate, probably to tell everyone else there’s a dragon and that the daughter of the Elanvitals is found. We simply dismounted the dragon and were bought inside while I made the dragon simply lay down beside the gate and wait while the guards at the gates were sweating a bit. It was only a few seconds until a man with a big belly walked in. The man has brown hair and is wearing a full armor apart from the helmet which he laid on the table in front of him as he sat down.

“Hello my name is Gaud and I’m the captain of the city’s guards. I was told you bought a dragon and miss Lania Elanvital to the gate.”[Gaud]

He looked at Lania studying her feature on her. It could’ve been passed as if he’s trying to find details on her to confirm it is Lania but I don’t like the sparks in his blue eyes. I noticed the guards practically radiated with unprofessionalism. This captain is essentially a sloth that feeds of other people and you can see it.

“Yes, I bought both a dragon and a noble’s daughter to the gate. I’m here to return the daughter to her family. The dragon doesn't have to step into the city.”[Ultimias]

“Alright, you can leave now, we can bring the daughter back to her hou-”[Gaud]

“No, I shall accompany her.”[Ultimias]

There was no way I’m leaving her to such a guy like you. I can see it with most of the guards, they gave looks of displeasure. I had already sent clones of myself throughout the city as the form of shadows and birds without being noticed and I can see bribery happening right now. I'm pretty sure that’s how they 'lost' Lania to the bandits, someone is pulling the strings behind the scene. His eye twitched a bit, then he leaned back into his chair with a questioning gaze.

“Since I bought a daughter of a noble back I would like something in return, perhaps a compensation?”[Ultimias]

Lania looked down a bit in a sad tone. I must've hurt her feelings a bit, she probably thought I just went to save her just for money.

“Very well we shall-”[Gaude]

“No, I don’t want money, I have enough of that. What I want is a proficiency perception tool, I need it for an apprentice.”[Ultimias]

Then a soldier came in with a piece in hand. He handed the paper to Gaud and whispered something to his ear. He then turned and walked out of the room. Gaude turned and read the piece of paper. After he was finished he turned back to me.

“It seems that the house of the Elanvital invites you to their lunch.”[Gaude]

“Very well, I shall accept the lunch invitation.”[Ultimias]

“Do you not want gold? We can also provide you more money than what the magic perception tool is worth.”[Gaude]

“No, what I need is a proper tool. I don’t want a lower class one but a high end one, a proper proficiency perception tool”[Ultimias]

I emphasized my words a bit, he nodded slowly with his face slightly white, and walked out of the room, I noticed him talking to soldiers before the door started closing, I’m sure that there’s trouble coming. I followed along with Lania who looked a bit better since she thought I’m not just doing it for just money now. When we got to her house I was partially amazed how rich in life it was. They allowed trees and plants to grow everywhere and they weren’t simply just weeds on the path. There were was exotic and beautiful plants, although most of them I recognize as dangerous plants. I’m pretty sure there someone that can use chlorokinesis somewhere in the house. They can control these plants to fight off unwanted visitors, as expected for a house that is known for controlling the force of nature and life if I remember well.

When we entered the house Lania’s parent greeted her with open arms, it seems she’s quite loved by her family despite her lack of self-confidence back at the cave. Although I can’t say the same for other people like the noble guards, probably the same situation as the city guards. I was given a room and was asked to change into clothing for lunch. After I was given privacy and made sure there was no hidden surveillance magic I absorbed my trench coat, metal boot, and helmet away. Then I shifted my looks a bit with the mirror in my room. I adopted a form of an adult in a black uniform with a white tie, hair, and silver eye to match the dragon color outside of the gate. I walked out and proceeded to roam the mansion a bit since there was quite some time until Lunch and I was kind of bored. I met Lania and a girl sitting outside hugging each other and perhaps were crying a bit. The girl Lania was hugging seemed to look familiar to me but for some reason, my memory seems to fuzz a bit. I decided to walk outside to meet them.

//////////

“Oh, Ultimias, this is my sister Nila and Nila, this is the person that saved me from the bandits.”[Lania]

When I heard the name it hit me. Nila, the green-haired girl I only saw in the picture that Llya once showed me. She was her friend and was one of the victims of the incident at her high school. I kept a straight face as best I could as I listened to her.

“She has a really good talent in chlorokinesis and she even has a special ability to grow plants out of nothing without needing to spread seed, though the plant is small. She will definitely grow stronger and has a lot of potentials.”[Lania]

Nila looked at the back of her sister. I could see the sense of guilt in her eye but Lania didn’t feel it. Lania also seems proud of her sister but I know there’s a sense of sadness for herself.

“Well, usually I would try to call my dragon to come to me and play but I don’t want to panic the people of the city, so we’ll play with these. And don’t worry my dragon is probably just sleeping like a sloth right now.”[Ultimias]

I released my storage star inside me, but instead of the black dust, I immediately compressed the dust around two of my soul stars along with a magic star that split in two. The two magic stars are going to be weaker than half the power of the original magic star but it doesn't matter. I then created what looks like a big orb made of glass with a shining light in the middle. I combined the soul star and the magic star so it’ll look like a single star. Then I made them appear in my hand as if I simply did a street magic trick.

“These are similar to my weapon, star orb, but these are made for people to practice or to safely play with. It is easier to create shapes with these. But this thing only really has a range of about 5-meter.”[Ultimias]

“So how are we going to play with this? And I don’t think Lania can’t use it, she doesn't have proficiency in magic. If she can’t play, I won’t.”[Nila]

“Despite the fact it might look like it uses magic from the user, it is powered by the light at the center of the orb.”[Ultimias]

I pointed at the light and both Nila and Lania looked at the light with wonder.

“It almost looks like a star.”[Nila]

“Yes it does, that’s why it’s called a star orb. Now let's see who can create the most unique shape.”[Ultimias]

The magic star within the orb is the same magic star I got from Lidia, which means her telepathy power is still intact within the two separated star. When the girl took the orb to play, the magic star within the orb connected their mind and the soul star. The connection allowed them to control dust that’s disguised as the glass orb. It was really fun because it was still difficult since it was their first time, but they eventually got used to it. Lania learned how to control it faster than her sister I made sure the orbs functioned just like her soul bending power would. It’s important because I’m sure there’s trouble coming.

“You don’t have to worry about injury, it’s just a practice tool for people to play with.”[Ultimias]

I let the girls play while I walked around studying the architecture of the house. There were potted plants everywhere, it’s the perfect home defense for people that can control plants while still maintaining the looks. There are also water ruins placed over the plants. From what I guess they’re for watering the plant and also putting out fires too. Each floor is stacked on each other with the stairs running on the sides making it so you can see the top ceiling from the bottom floor. On the side of the stairs of each floor, hanging on a hook over the chasm that falls directly to the first floor, are long vines hanging down. I walked up to the stairs until I was close enough to touch one of them. I observe the plant and the vines have what looks like dragon scales on them, some of them were extending out which made it look like a torn but behind them were pink flowers that bloomed behind them. Then suddenly the large vine moved and the tip of it tickled the back of my head. I jumped back in surprise.

“Looks like our adventure let his guard down.”[???]

I look around to find an elf maid standing a few meters away from me. I saw her next to Nila when I and Lamia arrived and she was also one of the first people to hug Lamia when she came back. She’s probably the assigned bodyguard for the two sisters. She then bowed down to me.

“Hello, my name is Ley. I wanted to thank you for saving Lania.”[Ley]

“No, it’s all right, after all, I’m still asking for a reward at the end.”[Ultimias]

“True, but simply asked an item to detect one's proficiency, we can provide some magic cores for your apprentice and you along with the item.”[Ley]

I can absorb the magic cores and create magic stars but I don’t need such things right now.

“I’m sorry, but I’ll have to decline, I'll feel like I’m in debt to you instead.”[Ultimias]

“Very well, but I want to ask, why do you have an apprentice if you don’t know what is his talent?”[Ley]

“You see when I look at someone I get this feeling about them in my guts and I usually tend to trust those gut feelings.”[Ultimias]

Another maid came and bowed at us.

“Mr. Ultimias, The Elanvital family now invite you to their lunch.”[maid]