Four days had passed since we had gained our Soul Weapons. As of now, we were in our Eomancy class with Dekhine but she wasn’t the only instructor that was teaching us. Beside her was a timid and quiet-looking girl with a black hair of more or less the same age as Dekhine. She was quite reserved and only spoke when asked.

She was introduced the day after our Soul Weapons debut.

So what actually happen on that Sunday? Well, on that day, we had a quiet afternoon, evening and night but that morning...

That morning, I had literally levelled the entire field or rather, my Soul Weapon, [Pandora], had unleashed myriads of Eomancies of every colour without any organized casting. It was wild and chaotic as one moment the heat around was almost burning from the Deep Red Eomancy then suddenly everything around went silent which came about from the Light Black Eomancy. After that then another random spell effects happened, one after another.

That was what Vefal had told me because apparently, even though I could see, hear and feel the effect; nothing inside the chaos would harm me as I was the exception most probably being the source caster.

But for my group, it was nothing that severe but they weren’t keen on waiting around at the space where the unleashed chaos was happening as at any given moment, a fatal or powerful spell might occur.

And I was just thankful they did, as an advanced spell made from Black Eomancy of Death that resembled like miasmal spirits bursting out from the underworld in every direction was generated shortly after they moved.

Since I still couldn’t do my own Circles, I could only watch the beautiful chaos like a theatre play of free acting or rather, this maelstrom of continuous danger.

After ten minutes of [Pandora]’s abilities, it all ended and the box forcefully closed itself, but it had left the whole training field burned, crystalized, deformed and brutalized. We couldn’t use them again for a whole week.

So for the entire four days, we haven’t done any combat training but instead we did something like team-based training. We were brought, by Gavrau, into a new area that was like an obstacle course. I think at some point, Gavrau, evaluated that having three battle-trained summoned warranted enough credit to move to the next level.

“Sir Ruigne, are you alright?”

Asked the quiet little girl who had come near me as I was too indulged in my inner monologue. She never spoke directly to me so Dekhine must have ordered her to.

“Alright.”

I replied back to her.

Today, we were actually practicing our Eomancy earlier because yesterday, seeing that we had already learned the basics, Dekhine thought that perhaps we should move up the schedule earlier than later.

Everyone else had tried but failed after many attempts, including myself, but we kept on trying up to and until the end of the class’s allotted time.

From the inner voice that had been whispering to me ever since I manifested [Synikorvus], I had gained some enlightenment regarding Eomancy probably due to its nature of being closely tied and linked to Eomancy. Well, intense study of the books about Eomancy and secret practice also definitely helped too.

“[Eo,]”

I chanted…

A featureless circle appeared. After trying so many times, it finally manifested and I was the first in my group and probably the first of the summoned unless that silent treatment girl or Kristalisha beats me to it first.

My group congratulated me as they clapped their hands as well as giving me words of encouragement. Dekhine off to the side looked conflicted but she sighed.

“Congratulations Ruigne. Well it was to be expected. It was either you or Erganisu, since the two of you are the only people who showed aptitude with Eomancy.”

Dekhine said finally.

After an hour or so, Erganisu was the second to manifest his Eomantic abilities and was followed then by Akujin.

“Well, the three of you can try again the next Seluna. Tomorrow and the day after that is ‘rest’ days and I heard they already allowed you people the rights to freely roam outside for a period of time every weekend. If you all are free and have the time, I give you the honour of visiting my household.”

Said Dekhine smugly with such what came with all her little-girl pride.

--

Later, after the Eomancy training had ended, which was followed by supper, we started our new training.

We were currently standing in front of one of the Portal doorways to the facility that we will generally use on a day to day basis.

“Okay, Egazov, you may start now.”

Said Gavrau, on our right and gave us the signal to enter and so we entered the Portal.

It was a facility of ever-changing obstacles and mazes with five rooms. The first time we had entered, we struggle a bit as we barely had any cohesion and surprisingly teamwork, even though we all went along fine.

After we finished the first room on that day, we had an impromptu meeting deciding on the chain of command. Kiefy was to be our vanguard, while August and Vefal was our Rear-guard. Akujin would alternate roles between being a rear-guard and vanguard, while Erganisu would also play vanguard and support depending on the situation that arised. I was given a position of support permanently, because even though I felt like my anaemia had cured, I had the lowest physical capability in the group.

But that’s okay for me, because I understand my own capabilities. Aside from that, they assigned me as strategist and team leader.

“Ruigne, the next room is too quiet, any thoughts?”

Asked Vefal, who is also our scout as by using her [Shadow] which had reported to me about the fourth room. We had already cleared three rooms with little difficultly, because even though the arrangement rooms change every day, most of the scenario hadn’t changed and we become more familiarized with each scenario, so every room, so far, was something we had already experienced. The fourth room was something entirely new though.

“Did you spot anything out of the ordinary?”

I asked.

“I couldn’t, it was too dark. The floor was normal however, but I couldn’t see how wide the room was as it was pitch-black, even for my eyes.”

She reported to me as we walked towards the next room. We all stopped in front of the entrance.

After some moment of thought, I turned towards the group. I took my clothes off and handed them to Akujin. Everyone was looking at me like I had reached my mental limit and had gone nuts, but I have something special in mind.

“Akujin, can you [Replicate] my clothes, only four sets will be sufficient. Erganisu, you have a piece of wood right? Let Akujin [Replicate] an extra four of them. Kiefy and Vefal, you guys take out the tinder and we’ll make some torches. Stay in a tight formation. We, being the support and Akujin [Fouthic] will hold the torches.”

I explained.

After going into further details on how to use their Special Abilities in the up-coming various situations, we went inside.

It was quite a non-descriptive sort of room. With the torches we had, it was a narrow room but the ceiling was quite high as the light from the torches didn’t quite reach. As we walked, we noticed by sight, that there were bug-like creatures scurrying along the walls and the ceilings. They slithered along without any discernible sounds and there was no particular smells about them either.

It seems that the only way to notice them was by sight only.

Thought we were attacked from all sides, we all did our job thoroughly so none managed to penetrate our defences. In this training, our performance is rated by how long it takes to pass through a room and how much damage we sustained.

On our first and second day, we did quite badly, but we improved on our previous successive attempts and on the fourth day, we managed to clear all five rooms.

The training usually lasted up to three hours as the General Education class had only two hours of time now and the Eomancy class still took up the remaining hours.

It usually took us only half an hour to finish one room but since this was new, it might take at least up nearly an hour to navigate and complete, due to the only danger in the room was the bugs.

We passed the way out into the waiting room. In front of us was the fifth room entrance.

We rested a bit while waiting for Vefal’s [Shadow] to scout the next room. We only use our special abilities when it was necessary as Vefal’s [Shadow] was used intermittently to scout the rooms as it can only last for an hour and a half or else we have to wait for a period of time for her to summon it again. Akujin’s [Fouthic], at the very least, can last about an hour so it was spent entirely on the fourth room alone.

It was then I heard a popping sound; the sound of when Akujin’s [Replicate], replicated, items would disappear after an hour. Well that was norm as the torches had disappeared but the thing was, it was close... Way…too…close.

As I was looking staunchly at the fifth room’s entrance with a dignified bearing, from the corner of my eye, I can see that everyone was looking at me with bewilderment.

Still, these moments of denial are something that I needed before I face the reality of the situation.

Vefal came to my side with an amused expression that was on the border of laughing.

“Ruign-“

She started to say.

“Shush, say no more, let me enjoy this blissful ignorance.”

I replied quickly halting her question at the first word. I felt a little chilly as the soothing wind had suddenly blown, but this was an enclosed space so that was impossible.

“… Akujin, you owe me another shirt...”

I stated.

“A piece of shit?”

Asked Akukin incredulously and then he laughed at his own joke and then sighed and said:

“Fine, I’ll get you another one next time. Sorry that I handed you the wrong shirt though.”

Backed down by more evidence; it was clear as day that what I had worn was only a [Replicate], while the real one was had been burned up being used as a source of light. Everyone was trying to stifle their laughs, but most of it was reduced to soft quiet chuckles.

“Well, at least you developed a firm and muscled body even though you have anaemia.”

Commented August, while he was scrutinized my physique while, trying to hold down the occasional chuckle or three.

“Yup, you look a bit better than the first time you came.”

An amused Vefal stated who was still besides me, in that she was fully amused while also scrutinizing my upper body.

I should have started charging magician’s fees every time the misfortune of me being naked out of nowhere occurred.