After Eli and Felicia came back from their talk, I finished the iron spears and we started moving again.

As before, I mounted the horse and the girls walked. When I got comfortable enough, I took the steel swords and started turning them into steel ingots. Imagining all process was rather hard to do but I managed and in the end, I had four steel ingots. I quickly tried to turn them into spears but my Crafting Skill didn’t accept my way of doing it. So I started thinking.

After a few minutes, Eli talked. “So about the spell you made.” I turned to her with a curious face. “How did you do it? I don’t mean you to tell me how spell works, just tell me how you know enough to make a spell that useful.”

“Science.”

Eli cocked her head. “What is that mean?” I shrugged. “Fine be that way. I will eventually learn about your secret.”

I looked at her, she seemed very motivated and serious. I chuckled. “You have so much motivation for uncovering my secret. You should be the Avatar of God of Detectives.”

Eli looked at me quizzically. “What is detective means?”

“It’s a job. They find out about things for money. Things like ‘What color Felicia’s underwear is?’”

“It seems like you should be the Avatar for God of Detectives. Because that would be the only way you would know.”

I turned to Felicia and raised an eyebrow. “Is that a challenge? I will dedicate my last Class slot to your underwear if I have to.” She just looked away and grumbled something like ‘pervert’. I chuckled and turned to Eli who seemed thoughtful. “Eli.” She looked at me. “Do you know how to shape steel? You don’t have to know everything, even a little is enough.”

She nodded. “I know. But if it proves useful you will tell me about that science you spoke of.”

I nodded. “Deal.”

Then she proceeded to tell me about steel. She knew quite a bit for some reason. From her explanation, I managed to find out what I did wrong. I even got an idea to improve my existing steel ingots, so I put them away for later.

Eli finished her explanation with a huff and looked at me expectantly. I coughed once and smiled. “Damn Eli. With that much information, let alone the meaning of science, I would give you unlimited hugs.”

Eli looked at me blankly for a few seconds then said “So, what does that mean?”

I smiled. “I don’t quite know the exact meaning but if I say its ‘act of uncovering the laws of the universe’ it should be good enough I guess.”

Eli nodded. “So your other Class has something to do with science.”

I nodded. “It’s a scientist actually. It means a person that does science.”

Eli smiled and turned to Felicia. “See, I got something without hugging him.”

I tilted my head. “Wait, what?!” I yelled and watched as Felicia made fun of me.

***

After the latest fiasco, we continued towards our destination. I was thinking of creating a new Spell on the road, but I couldn’t do it since the damn horse was periodically trying to throw me off. She was like Felicia but a horse. I shook my head and looked at Eli who seemed to be walking peacefully. I thought of not disturbing her, for a second, then said “Hey, Eli.”

She sighed and turned to me. “Yes, what is it?”

“Where are we going?”

Eli looked at me like I grew ahead. “You don’t know. Then why are you following us? We could have to lead you to a bad place you know.” I rolled my eyes at her. She looked away for a second then continued. “We are going to the City of Dead Lich.”

“Now that’s not ominous at all. I have one question. Is there something called a live lich?”

Felicia snorted. “What did you expect? Liches are immortal beings. Killing one is a big thing.”

I looked between Felicia and Eli. I turned to Felicia and asked. “What do you know about liches?”

She shrugged. “They are using powerful, dark thaumaturgy and are immortal. Other than that… they should be ugly.”

I shook my head. “Let me tell you this then. They are called undead. Like zombies and ghosts.”

Eli turned to me. “Why undead?”

I was about to answer but Felicia interjected. “Forget about him. He knows nothing about the world, but he knows what a lich is. He is clearly trying to impress us. Hmph!” I looked at her carefully and yes, she raised her nose.

“Wow, Felicia. I never knew you to be the sassy type. You are getting better and better every moment.”

Felicia turned to me with a shocked face and took a few fast steps to increase the distance between us.

“So, you were saying undead.” It was Eli. She seemed to be eager.

I nodded. “It’s undead because they are neither living nor dead. Can’t die or can’t live, probably.”

Eli nodded. “Do you know a way to deal with them?”

I frowned. “I don’t really know. Are there things called light magic, paladin, cleric, or acolyte?”

Eli just raised her hand and cast a light spell. “This is the only light magic I know. Can we do something with this?”

I smiled. “I can most certainly do something with it but I don’t think it would be extra effective against undead. Light thaumaturgy is probably what we are looking for. Is there a God of Light?”

Eli caught up fast. She killed the spell in her hand and said “There is a God of Light, but there isn’t a curse in their name.”

I shrugged. “Maybe it isn’t a curse for the living.” Eli seemed thoughtful at that. I continued. “That’s for later anyway unless there is undead close to the city we are going off course. There isn’t right?”

Eli shook her head. “No, don’t worry. You said you can do something with the light spell right?” I nodded. “Let me teach it to you, and see what you can come up with.” I nodded again. She came closer and put her hand on the horse. That made the horse calmer, which in turn made me calmer. She then said “Light spell is a relic from ancient times. No one knows how to make pure light in any other way.” I nodded and gestured her to go on. “Listen closely.”

Eli took a deep breath and started. “There was once a dragon made of light. In those times there wasn’t any light in this world, only darkness. But when the dragon ascended to godhood, its body changed and became the light. Since then, the best way to invoke the light spell for the first time is to think you are holding a part of that dragon.” She looked at me expectantly. I nodded and closed my eyes.

First, I imagined a Chinese dragon, then imagined it was made of light. Then I touched it. Nothing happened, so I pushed some mana to the dragon I am holding. Then something clicked in my head. After that moment I just knew the dragon was real, as I knew how to cast the light spell. But this wasn’t like science, it was instinctual.

“Look at your hand.”

I opened my eyes and looked at my hand. There was an orb of light there. I gawked at it then I felt my mana and how much the spell used. I cut the mana quickly. “Now this is a mana sink.” I looked at Eli. She was looking at me and smiling. “I thought this spell would be cheap.”

Eli shrugged. “It isn’t. So, you saw the spell, what do you think about it?”

I thought back to the spell and how it felt. Then said “I don’t know but it feels like if this world has holy light, then this is it. As for my other idea… let me try something.” I closed my eyes without waiting for Eli’s reply. I started light spell, then imagined a lens to focus the light. I opened my eyes and pointed to a tree close to us, then I pushed as much mana as I could to spell. At first, nothing happened, I was about to call it quits when a headache hit me. I looked at my hands, sure enough, they were glowing blue.

“Ha! So much for science. Your spell didn’t do anything and took all your mana.” I looked at Felicia, she was leaning to the tree I was targeting just now and smiling. “What is it? Did you lost your breath?”

I shook my head and jumped off the horse. “The spell worked but nothing seemed to happen.” I got in front of the tree and looked at the place I was targeting. The first thing I thought was that I made the focus too small. So I pushed the tree, hoping it would topple over, like they do in anime, but it didn’t. So I tried to understand what happened while looking at the tree. It was better if I didn’t since after a few seconds, from the point I hit the tree, came a blinding light. I quickly closed my eyes but it was too late, I was now blind… temporarily. I waited for dark spots to recede and opened my eyes.

Both Felicia and Eli were looking at me worriedly. When they saw me opening my eyes Eli asked “What happened?”

I shook my head and blinked a few times. “I am not sure but I know two things. First, my spell can’t be seen with the naked eye. And two it doesn’t do harm, at least against the living. I hope it can harm undead or such.”

Felicia chuckled and said “I thought you got blind. I was about to throw a party here. But still.” She slapped the tree. “This one became my favorite tree.”

I smirked. “You would feel bad if I were to become blind.”

Felicia snorted. “Why would I?”

“Because that would mean there wasn’t any man left to appreciate your beauty, at least a man as awesome as me.”

Felicia shook her head, half smiling. “Big words but I am sure…” She looked down.

I nodded eagerly. “Yes! Yes, you are sure?”

Felicia opened her mouth to say it but Eli stopped her. Eli said something to Felicia’s ear which made her face blush. She then looked up and said “I-It doesn’t matter. We should continue.”

“Yes, we should.” Eli turned to me and pointed to the horse with her chin. “Victor, if you would.”

I nodded, deflated. I mounted the horse. “Hmm. Horse.” I turned to Eli. “Hey Eli, what is the horse’s name?”

Eli looked at Felicia who shrugged. Felicia said, “You tell us, we stole it together.”

I looked at the horse. ‘Hmm. What to name her…’ I shook my head. “I have no idea how to name a horse.” I turned to Eli again. “You should be the one to pick her a name.”

Eli looked surprised for a second then slightly leaned down and looked. She nodded and said, “Her name shall be Rosy.”

Felicia and I looked at each other. I sighed and asked, “Why?”

Eli shrugged. “Because I said so.”

I shook my head. “Now that Rosy’s name is taken care of, how long until we reach our destination?”

Eli looked around seemingly at random and said “Five minutes.”

I frowned. “Isn’t there any farm around Lich City?”

Eli raised a brow. “Lich City?”

I nodded. “That’s better than your version.”

Eli chuckled. “You have already forgotten the full name right?”

“Pfft. Of course not. It was Lich something.” I tried to say but that just made the girls chuckle. “Hey! I remember it was stupid!”

Eli nodded. “Okay, okay. There is no farming in Lich City since this is a frontier city. Food comes from a village twelve hours from here.”

I cocked my head. “Frontier?”

Eli sighed. “That’s for later. We are close.” She turned to me. “I am guessing you don’t have any kind of identification.” I nodded. She sighed again. “I will deal with it.”

“Thanks.”

After a few minutes, we reached the city gates. The city looked more like a fort than a city, though I didn’t care. When it was my turn to show identification, Eli stepped up and gave the guard a bribe which I guessed to be a big one. After we passed the gate I looked at the girls. “Where do you stay here?”

Felicia gave me a smug grin. “We live in a mansion here together with Eli. It’s big. It even has a garden which is a sign of being rich.” She turned to me and grinned wider. “Where you are going to stay though…”

“With us.” Felicia looked crestfallen. I turned to Eli and saw her smiling at me. “You are one of us after all.”

I smiled back. “Thank you.”

We reached the house in a few minutes. There was a wall outside but even then, I could see it was big, like a mansion. “This place is really big,” I said while looking around. “Do you have a maid?” I added it as an afterthought.

I looked at Eli, who looked at me with a mock- hurt. She said “I can’t believe you are already over us. I fear for our beautiful maid.”

“Yeah. Before he was all like ‘I love you’ or such.”

I looked at Felicia with a raised eyebrow. “When did I told you that?”

“Hmph. It’s obvious even if you don’t. I must tell our beautiful maid to be careful about you.”

I nodded. “Say, if you kiss me once I will act like she doesn’t exist.”

Felicia looked at Eli who was smiling and back to me. “We don’t have a maid, you fool! You won’t be kissing me, ever!”

I sighed. “Cleaning this place should be a pain. I am guessing I would be joining you to clean.”

Eli shook her head. “No need. Mansion has a cleaning enchantment, God of Maids remember?”

I was surprised. “You mean God of Maids robbed maids out of their jobs?”

Eli chuckled. “Being maid isn’t all about cleaning.”

I shrugged. “Well if you say so.”

We stopped in front of the door and I jumped down from the horse. “So, what are we doing now?”

Eli gestured me to follow, so I did. We got inside and climbed the stairs to the second level. There she showed me a room. “This is my room.” She walked to the next room “This is Felicia’s and” She walked to the next room. “This is yours.”

I nodded and looked inside. There were a double bed and a dresser. I turned back to Eli and said “Room looks good. Thank you.”

She smiled. “It’s nothing. Mansion has eight rooms anyway.”

I nodded. “Still. Letting me get this close means you trust me.” I frowned. “Maybe you trust me too much.”

Eli nodded. “I won’t tell you exactly why but I will give you a tip. Having the Blessing of God of Purity means more than just its effects.” She said and started walking out so I followed her.

When we are out I asked. “What do you mean?”

Eli shrugged. “If you want to learn, you will need to give up kissing me.”

I snorted. “Who cares about a stupid blessing? Our deal is still on.”

Eli chuckled. “If you say so.”

When we reach the exit, Eli turned to me. “When we get back home, I generally go to drink with Felicia. Do you want to tag along?”

I shook my head. “No. There are things I want to try in order to get ready for our raid.”

Eli raised a brow. “Raid?”

I nodded. “You didn’t forget about the place they experiment on people right?”

Eli seemed conflicted. “I remember but I don’t think we can take them on.”

I smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry, I have a few ideas. I just need some time and materials to test them.”

Eli nodded. “We will decide on it after we see what you come up with then.”

“I am ready!” We turned to voice. It was Felicia with baggy civilian clothes. With them, she looked… normal. Felicia noticed my look and raised a brow. “What?” She turned around herself. “Didn’t you like it?”

“Well, you look normal. You looked awesome with armor though.”

Felicia nodded. “If you don’t like it, then I am good.” She then turned to Eli. “Won’t you change your clothes?”

Eli shook her head and turned to me. “If there isn’t anything else…”

I interrupted Eli, she groaned. “There are a few things actually.” She gestured to me to continue. “Can I get outside of the city? I intend to collect more branches for crafting.”

Before Eli could answer, Felicia did. “Of course you can silly. You are not a prisoner.”

Eli cleared her throat. “He meant if he can get back in.” She turned to me. “The answer is no. You won’t be able to get out until we get you an ID.”

I nodded. “Is there potions like healing potion or such?” She nodded. “Do you know any potions I can make?”

“Wait! You can craft potions too?!” I turned to Felicia and nodded. She started to think, she was probably thinking about what I couldn’t make with Crafting.

I turned back to Eli. She nodded and said “I know a few potions but I believe we can only sell and use healing potions. I believe you want me to get materials for them, right?”

I nodded. “Yes. I don’t need any tools but I still need vials to put the potion inside.”

“Okay. What else do you need?”

“I need wood. Thick, sturdy wood and it would be good if you get me some of those ores you told me about. The ones that can hold mana.”

Eli sighed. “I can do that but… did I told you that I am going to drink, like get drunk?”

I smiled. “Maybe, but we need to act fast if we are going to raid the place.”

Eli looked torn. Felicia saw that too and butted in. “Why don’t you buy them yourself?”

I chuckled depressingly. “I could but I don’t know what is where and I don’t know the worth of money, so…“ Felicia didn’t say anything to that.

Eli shook her head. “No, we will buy them. Anything else?” I shook my head. “Good. Let’s get drunk.” She winked at me.

I cocked my head, then remembered our deal. “Right,” I yelled at their backs. “Come back early to dinner, and don’t talk with strangers!” Felicia looked at me oddly. Eli just raised her hand and they were out.

***

We started walking towards our first step. Felicia came close to me and asked “Why did he say that at the end?”

I chuckled. “He was acting like a parent, a joke.”

“Oh.” Felicia came even closer. “So, we will forget to buy the things he wanted from us right?” She looked at me expectantly. “Right?” I shook my head. “Why?”

“The potions he will make will worth money.”

Felicia shrugged. “So what? We don’t need money. He needs it. I say we forget to get what he wanted and tomorrow teach him about money, whatever he wants to know about it, give some money, and call it a day.”

I shook my head again. “He will want to learn too but we first need to get him identification. He needs something to do and I am curious about what he can make with the materials.”

Felicia nodded thoughtfully. “There is his class, right? Do you think he can make the strongest weapons as he claimed he can?”

“I believe he can make things we never saw before.”

Felicia looked surprised. “Now I am curious too.”

“We are here.” We stopped in front of the apothecary and went inside. There was the smell of herbs and rows of ingredients and potions.

When she noticed us alchemist stood up and turned to us. “I am alchemist Fiona. How can I help you?”

I nodded to her and said, “We need ingredients for a healing potion and glass vials.”

Fiona nodded. “For how many batches?”

I frowned. ‘How many?’ I turned to Fiona and said, “Do you need any healing potions?”

Fiona caught up quickly. She put her hand on her chin to think. After a while, she said “I can buy about forty-five… no, fifty. Can you make it in three days?” I nodded. “I will buy the potions for 7 Silver which makes your profits 1 Silver and 5 Coppers for every potion. Is that acceptable?”

I nodded. “Yes. We will buy ingredients and vials for 60 batches then.” Fiona nodded and went to a room I guessed to be her storage room.

While we were waiting, Felicia came close to me. “Does Victor going to gain 7 Gold 5 Silvers just like that?” I raised an eyebrow. Felicia gulped and continued “You know how to do this right?” I nodded. “I say we brew the potions instead so he can leave with sh-“ I put my hand on her mouth. After a second she noticed she went overboard and smiled awkwardly.

I shook my head. “It’s hard to make potions. What would take us two whole days will probably take Victor a minute.”

“Damn him and his Class,” Felicia grumbled which made me smile. ‘So cute!’

While I was watching Felicia and smiling at her antics, Fiona came back. I turned to her and saw she held two crates in her hand. I took out my pouch and counted 27 Gold 5 Silvers and put it on the counter. Fiona took it and after counting them, nodded to me.

I gestured the crates to Felicia who took them reluctantly and we took off. After walking for a few minutes we came in front of a blacksmith.

We went in and what welcomed us was a long, burly man. He looked at us with a raised brow and said “Girls, did you lost your way?”

I shook my head. “We are here to buy samples of mana ores.”

He looked intrigued. “Are you sure you need them? Making enchanted items is a hard thing.” He thought a while. Before I can answer him he continued “Maybe you are looking to make shiny trinkets with them. Hmm… A burning necklace. No, that’s just stupid.”

He looked at me for a second then moved to continue talking but I interjected quickly. “No! My friend is a scholar. When he heard about them he wanted to see the ores. I intend to gift them to him.”

He nodded. “Okay! Follow me.” We followed him inside some kind of storage room. There were rows and rows of ores. He pointed to a crate and said “Now I don’t have all kinds of mana ores. You should go to a merchant for it. But I have lightning, fire, and water. One-piece each.”

I nodded. “How much?”

“5 Silvers a piece.”

I was shocked by the price. “I will buy all three if you sell them for 4 Silvers each.”

The man looked at me seriously, which made me a bit nervous. “Do I look like a merchant girl? No bargaining. Take it or leave it.”

I sighed. “Okay, I am buying them.” I heard Felicia giggle from behind but I didn’t give it any importance. I took out the money and gave it to the man. “Here. 1 Gold 5 Silver.” He looked at the money and nodded. Then motioned me to take the ores, so I did. Before leaving I remembered the last thing Victor wanted. So I turned back and asked. “Do you know anywhere we can get quality wood?”

Man nodded. “For a bow?” ‘I guess.’ I nodded. “Yes. When you are outside, walk on the right and turn right at the first intersection. There, ask for Jack.”

I nodded. “Thanks.”

We took off and followed the directions. At the end of the road was a wide building. We went inside and there was a man cutting wood. The man turned to us and dropped the axe. He stopped before us and said “Hey girls. Do you need wood?” in a way that said another thing.

“Victor?!”

“No, I am Jack.”

I chuckled at Felicia’s joke and said “No, nothing Jack. We are looking for quality wood for bow making.”

Jack nodded. “Do you have any requirements?”

“It should be thick and durable.”

Jack nodded and pointed to a row of woods. “How many do you need?”

I frowned. ‘He didn’t tell me. Did he forget or maybe he wanted as much as possible.’ I shook my head. “Two of them is enough.”

The man took out two of them and said “Is there anything else?”

I thought about what Victor might need and said “Do you have wood polish?”

Jack nodded and took a vial from his pouch. “I can sell you one, but you need to get it from an alchemist next time.”

I nodded. “How much for all of them?”

Jack looked at the woods and the vial and said “1 Silver each for wood. 5 Silver for polish.”

I nodded and took out 7 Silver. He took the money and I took the materials after I put the vial in my belt pouch.

We got out then. I asked the question in my head. “So. Should we go to the tavern or should we drop these at the mansion?”

I heard Felicia sigh. “There is no way I would go to tavern with these. We should drop these first. Or better, throw them at his head!” I can’t say it didn’t sound like a good idea.

I sighed and started walking towards the mansion. We walked for a while. Just when we were close to home we heard the voice of thunder. We quickened our pace, passed the gate and dropped the materials to the ground, and ran towards the backyard. There we saw Victor. He pulled his hand back and whipped it forward and lightning shot out of his fingers. I felt my jaw drop. Felicia too must have got caught in it since she didn’t make a sound. Victor repeated the feat two more times before he noticed us.

He came before me and said “Eli?” I didn’t answer. “You went out just now, when did you get so drunk?” I closed my eyes and looked at Victor’s back. “Did they drug you?”

I cleared my throat. Victor turned to me. “We aren’t drunk, yet. We were coming to drop the materials when we heard the thunder. So we came here.”

“Right,” Felicia said.

I continued “So, lightning. I am afraid to ask but what do you want to teach us?”

Victor chuckled. “Nothing much. I only want to hug you once every day, for as long as I want.”

Felicia gasped. “Every day? Like forever?! And as long as you want? Even lightning doesn’t worth it.” She turned to me.

Before I could say anything Victor interjected. “Don’t worry about as long as I want the clause. With enough time anything would get boring. So, what do you say?”

I was about to accept when Felicia talked. “Can I use it?” Victor nodded. “I will accept if you make it every other day.”

Victor sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “Okay, but only if Eli takes my deal too.”

Felicia turned to me, she looked disappointed. Finally, I got to talk. “Yes, I accept. I will hug you every day.”

Felicia whimpered and Victor pumped his fist. Then Victor said “Great!” He opened his arms. “Who is first?”

I chuckled and hugged him. After Felicia’s turn, he said he needed to test the spell more before he can teach them. Since there was no need for us to wait, we finally headed towards the tavern.