Mrs. R has always been a nice teacher ever since we know her. She started becoming acquainted to Team Stardust since the beginning of last year. If we were ever decided to create a club, our adviser will probably her. Even though she didn’t teach our class, she has enough knowledge to provide the best environment for us to read.

“What do you mean, Mrs. R?” I asked her.

“I actually have a request for you two.”

“A request?” said Hosuke.

Request is basically a given task that will yield reward if we choose to finish it. We have the standard request which was usually below 4 stars. Usually it is recommended for C ranked wizards or below if it’s around that level. The highest a request can get was to 10 star. There’s also a special case when the stars turned into a platinum star. That is when the request starts to get super hard.

“What kind of request are we talking about, Mrs. R?”

“First of all, it is a 1 Platinum Star Request.”

“Wait. Platinum?!” Hosuke was surprised.

“Hold on Hosuke, She didn’t say 9 Star ‘and’ 1 Platinum Star. It’s just 1 Platinum Star.”

Mrs. R explained, “A platinum star will be rated to a request that could potentially yield rare rewards if done correctly. In this case, A 1 Star Platinum actually means it isn't a difficult task. The difference is that the rewards will be different depending the outcome of the request.”

“So why us then?”

Mrs. R continued, “Because this request requires a Wizard with a certain affinity to them. It is a request specifically for those who ate an Infinitum crystal.”

“Why is it like that?” I pressed for answer.

“I don’t really know but in order to truly get the item, someone who ate an Infinitum crystal will be able to increase the chance of getting the item. If I’m not mistaken, it increase by 50% and since you two happen to be perfect for this. It will be a 100% drop.”

“Is there any restrictions concerning the request? I asked because you seemed to only wanted the two of us to go do this request on our own without any help.”

“Yeah, there is a restriction, White. The more people who goes to the location, the chance to get the item will be decreased by 20% for each person.”

“Hold on.” Hosuke stopped, “If that’s the case then doesn’t it mean that the chance to get the item will be around 60% if you subtract it from just the two of us?”

Mrs. R explained to us, “Not really, Hosuke. It doesn’t apply to the leading member of a the Request. In this case, it will only be 80%. I don’t want White to go alone or else the chance will only be 50%.”

“Okay, I see it.”

“So what is this request, Mrs. R?” I stood up and began to prepare myself.

Mrs. R takes a deep breath and said, “I want you two to find a Rare Book.”

“A Rare Book?”

“It’s called The Snow Phoenix. Legend has it that this book was written by someone who saw a mythical beast called The Snow Phoenix. Hence, the title. The writer is famous for encountering a lot of mythical beast founded in this world. Nobody knows if its real or not but it was reported recently that one of his work actually happens to be the truth. Then what about the other? It may as well all be true.”

“So you wanted us to find a book that tells about a mythical beast that happens to exist in this world?”

“Yes.”

We both looked at each other and nodded. We decided to accept her request.

“So where are we heading then?”

“Not really far. Come to my office.”

Her office? Is the book really happened to be hidden or lost inside her office? What kind of anti-climatic request was this? When things just started to get exciting, she gave us this? Just her office? Oh well, better than nothing I guess. But that was when I finally remembered what was Mrs. R magic.

“This is the book I was talking about.” Mrs. R showed us a book titled Tale of The Winter Bird.

“Winter Bird? Isn’t that sounded similar to The Snow Phoenix?” said Hosuke.

“To tell you the truth, both of it are the same book.” replied Mrs. R.

“What? Then what are we suppose to do?”

“All of the books written by this one guy who calls himself, Myth are locked behind another book series he made which is a fairy tale book.”

“So you’re saying we have to do something with that fairy tale book in order to get the real book?”

“Yes. You know my magic, Written World?”

I answered, “If I’m not mistaken, it is a magic where you can make a portal to any written paper. You can go inside the written world or let something come out of it. A very interesting Utility type magic that provides a portal to another world and it also acts as a summoning spell.”

“Correct. You guys are going to get inside the book and solve the problems in the book.”

Hosuke then asked, “Wait a minute. Isn’t the book suppose to tell the ending already?”

“All of Myth’s Fairy Tale never had a real conclusion. It always ends with a mystery that needs to be solved.”

“I see.”

After knowing that, I requested something to her, “Then, can you tell us the whole story of The Tale of The Winter Bird up until its ‘ending’?”

Mrs. R begins her story, “It is a long story but I’ll try to make it short for you guys. Basically there is this one city way in the north end of the world. Once upon a time there was a little poor girl who lived with her little sister and her poor parents who was in debt. Her father works as a blacksmith along with her mother. They couldn’t get to pay the taxes in time. That’s why her family was in debt. One day, a blizzard was struck in the city.”

“And then?”

“As the little girl was helping out her mother at home, she saw a little bird being buried by the extreme blizzard. She went outside and saved the bird. She took care of the bird without letting her parents know about it. As the bird was healed, the weather was also getting better. One day, her parents know about the bird and scolded her. Saying things like having her and her little sisters were already hard. Now they had to take care of the bird? No way, they said. Her parents asked her to release the bird.”

“That’s sad.” said Hosuke.

“It is. Anyway, as the girl was leaving her home to release the bird. The tax collector arrived along with his men and demanded their money. As we all expected, they couldn’t afford to pay the taxes. Their house was destroyed and both her parents was sent to the prison. They will be hanged the following day according to what her little sister said.”

“This is going to be depressing isn’t it, Mrs. R?” Hosuke interrupted.

“Hosuke…” I sighed.

Mrs. R continued, “Anyway, the little girl freed the bird and went to save her parents. The guards prevented her to the point that the tax payer decided to throw the little girl out of the city. She ended up hitting a stone to her head when she was thrown out. She was slowly buried under the snow. All of these happened in front of the birds eyes that was flying nearby. The bird was probably sad that the girl who saved it died. The bird went away and the blizzard begins to get even worse than before. The execution was postponed thanks to the blizzard. The blizzard didn’t stop at all and no one was able to get out of their homes. In just a few months, the whole city was covered in snow and non of the people in the city make it out alive…The End.”

Mrs. R finished her story and grabbed the storybook. Such a sad story to be heard on a normal day like this. As Hosuke expected, it was depressing. But I guess, the whole city deserves it. It’s not like they don’t know that you can’t do a lot of work during the winter. Those guys are terrible. At least provide them with something. But no, the king of the city decided to take all of their people’s money.

“What a tragic story.” I said.

“It certainly is.”

After a moment of silence, Hosuke asked Mrs. R, “But what is the mystery then?”

I gave a little thought and said, “It’s probably related to that bird. When that bird was healed, the blizzard slowed down and when the bird leave the area, the blizzard started to become crazy.”

“Could the bird actually be The Snow Phoenix?” suggested Mrs. R.

“That could be it.” I figured.

What else can we think of other than the fact that the bird was obviously The Snow Phoenix. But for some reason, I feel like the story was not over yet. Something probably happened in between the several months during the wild blizzard. I mean, even the little girl’s parent was victimised by the blizzard. That includes her little sister. Most importantly her little sister. Her little sister was innocent in all of these.

“Did the story ever mentions what happened to her little sister after the ending?” I asked

“You know…” Mrs. R finally noticed, “The story never did mentioned what happened to her little sister. Her character just went away after she told to her sister where was her parents brought to.”

“I guess that’s another mystery we need to solve.” Hosuke crunches his finger bones.

“Anything else?” I asked.

“I guess we have all the questions. Now it’s time to answer it.” said Mrs. R

As we were about to brace for the next moment, I stopped and asked, “Hold on. Why cant the other join us again?”

“To tell you the truth, in this world we live in. Everyone has magic. Including both of you. It was just never unlocked yet. But by eating the Infinitum crystal, you acquired magic without having to wait until the time was right. These Infinitum crystals are a mysterious gems that is still being under research by world-renowned scientists. As far as they researched, they found out that those who eat these crystal will give them a special effect to their body. Not just unlocking your magic, but also…”

“Also?”

“A Dragon’s spirit dwells in their body…”

“A dragon? But we how is that possible?”

“When a dragon was about to die, they preserved their lives by turning themselves into these Infinitum crystal. Waiting for another body to be reincarnated as.”

“Wait…” Hosuke steps in.

I finished what Hosuke was trying to say, “Right now. A dragon lives inside us…”

“What you are saying is that…I’m more than just The Reincarnation of The Sea God?”

“The Sea God? You probably mean The Dragon Sea God” said Mrs. R. “I know of a story that can explain your situation, Hosuke.”

“You do?”

“Yes.”

TO BE CONTINUED