10 The Same Soul, a New View.

"SILICIA!"

Silicia smirked with an amused glint in her eye. She stood in a readied position with her hand on her rapier, yet she didn't move into combat. The way the look in her eyes flickered showed she had no intention of helping.

"I CAN'T HOLD ON ANYMORE SILICIA!" Kenmer pleaded, yelling at her across the field. He was holding tightly onto the brown coat of a warthog who swung back a fourth. Kenmer's pressure magic was useless as he wasn't strong enough to pin the warthog down, only managing to make it slower.

The warthog furiously shook its body, running around violently in a circle wanting to eliminate its unwanted rider. Kenmer struggled to hold on.

"SILICIA!" Kenmer screamed, gritting his teeth. He now looked angry that she wasn't following his orders.

Although Kenmer was about to get flung into the sky by a warthog, Silicia could care less. She watched, giggling silently under her breath. "You look like you're having fun! I should just leave you to it!" she said grinning.

Silicia turns around, ready to walk away from Kenmer's death scene, when the warthog suddenly changes his pace and charges towards her.

She sighs. "Well, it can't be helped, can it?"

Unsheathing her rapier, Silicia bolts towards the warthog at an alarming speed. "Kenmer, try your best to pin the warthog for a few seconds!" she demands.

The warthog suddenly froze in its place, and a devilish smirk stretched across Silica's face.

"HURRY!" Kenmer yells, sweat dripping down his temples. "I CAN'T HOLD IT!"

"I got it," she snickers, a mischievous gleam glittering in her golden eyes. Lowering her hand to the side of her boots, she whispers in a chilling tone, "Activate."

A gust of wind propels her into the air, leaping far into the sky. Aiming at the frozen warthog, she holds her rapier with two hands, the blade facing down. She begins to fall at a dangerous speed, cutting through the sharp air with just the tip of her rapier.

"YOU'VE CHOSEN THE WRONG ENEMY!" she yells, with her sun-like eyes blazing. The strong piercing power of her blade, paired with the gravitational pull from her fall, pierces through the warthog's skull in an instant.

Silicia lands gracefully, her golden hair falling flawlessly on her shoulders. Grinning, she looks up at Kenmer, who lay above the warthog. He was breathing heavily, with his eyes looking in annoyance at Silicia.

"We need the tusks, right?" she asks. They were on a quest. Team Aislinn had let them two go out on their own since killing a warthog was easy enough. Kenmer had initially told her to stay put and kill it himself, but the warthog ended up stronger then he hoped.

Poor him, being thrown around by a warthog. Silicia snorts at the memory of him crying desperately for help as the warthog swung him around on it's back.

"Yeah," Kenmer hisses at her in response. "The quest said tusks."

"Damn. Are you really that upset that you couldn't kill the warthog by yourself?" Silicia scoffs, raising her brow. "That warthog really put you in your place!"

Kenmer glares at her with his eyes flaring. "You were really going to let me die like that!"

She shrugs. "What? I thought you were going to kill it. You clearly said to stay put because you don't need me."

Silicia smirks as she watches Kenmer's face flushed in embarrassment. How cute, too bad he's selfish.

"I guess you are helpful," Kenmer manages to mutter out. "I need you," he pauses, his azure eyes wandering. "Sometimes."

Silicia's face turns blank in response. Taken back, she stutters, "Wha- what?"

Did he just admit that she was helpful? Is this self-confident Kenmer finally realizing he needed her? Was he figuring out his faults?! HAS GOD ASCENDED AND BLESSED KENMER WITH AN ACTUALLY GOOD HEART?!!!!

"Silicia, just cut the tusks," he grumbles in annoyance, looking away. Jumping off from the back of the warthog, Kenmer stretches his arms into the air. "I'm beat!"

She pulls out a sharply curved dagger from the back of her black belt wrapped around her waist. Wiping off the old residue of the knife on her skirt, she proceeds to carve away at the head of the warthog. After a few minutes of carving, she cracks the bone connecting to the tusks and detaches them.

Silicia reaches for the tusks that have dropped onto the floor after she cut them. Holding them in her hand, she is surprised by their astounding weight. It's so heavy!

"Kenmer! Catch this!" Silica throws the tusk at Kenmer. Kenmer, who wasn't ready, turns in surprise. Lifting his hands swiftly into the air, Kenmer catches the tusk on instinct.

"Silicia, please don't throw valuable items like that," he says, smiling irritatedly.

Silicia shrugs. "They wouldn't break that easily anyways."

Unlike regular warthogs with mana channels, this warthog's tusks were the sole root of its power. This made the warthog less fierce than other mana beasts, having no mana anywhere else in its body. However, it was still dangerous having absurd power all resonating in the tusks. Meaning if it were to charge into someone, they could die from the impact. Nevertheless, the curved dagger she held was called a 'dismantling knife' specially made to dismantle mana beasts and monsters, so the tusks were quickly removed.

Taking back the tusk from Kenmer and picking up the last one on the ground, she walked towards her travel bag that she had placed under a tree. Putting them in her bag, she pulled the bag over her shoulders. With that, she and Kenmer prepared to head back to St. Marella, a small city in Woston.

It was quite a surprise for Silicia when she learned that the kingdom she had always called 'The West Kingdom' was actually the Kingdom of Woston. Whereas other Kingdoms like the East Kingdom, called the Kingdom of Acacia, also had names.

Before maps existed, the Nova Kingdom had always believed they were in the center of the world. This would be the reason why they called each kingdom by direction. However, ever since maps were introduced and it was found that Nova was clearly not the center of the world. Nova citizens had already gotten used to calling the kingdoms by their directions; they could not comprehend the drastic switch in names like west becoming Woston and east becoming Acacia.

Instead of practicing memorizing the new names, the Nova Kingdom completely dropped them and continued calling them by direction. This self-absorbed attitude by the upper echelons of the Nova Kingdom was part of the reason why Jacob and Lane had left the Magic Knights of Nova.

It's been 7 years already since Anura adopted her new name, Silicia. When it first began, it took a couple of months before Anura finally got used to it. And although she was still herself, being called a new name felt like she'd rid herself of her past. She felt as if she had a chance to restart and become someone the old Anura Soma was too afraid to be.

Of course, Anura Soma was still an important chapter— no more so like her book one. But becoming Silicia Channing will be the new story.

She was thirteen now, and for the past 7 years, she'd grown a lot. Silicia had been traveling around with Team Aislinn, and they've given her so much more than she could ever ask for. Because of them, she grew stronger and less afraid.

When Silicia had turned 10, Team Aislinn decided to leave her with an old lady in the Acacia Kingdom for a year.

The reason? The old lady was a retired adventurer, and her nickname during her adventurer years was "The Weaver." No, she didn't get that title because she was a great seamstress who made beautiful dresses. Instead, she received her name because of her unique ability to fly her way through battles, dodging every attack thrown at her. She didn't psychically 'fly,' but her quick and graceful movements were perceived as flying for its delicacy.

The Old Lady, named Chen Ouyang, had magic that enhanced her hearing, which wasn't really useful on the battlefield. Despite that, she was a prominent fighter in the Acacia Kingdom. She was never a powerful fighter with magic, but she had a talent for defying expectations. And with that, she became one of the most renowned fighters, known for her strategy and speed. That was all the reason Team Aislinn needed for them to drop Silicia off.

Ironically, the hobby Chen Ouyang picked up during her retirement years was weaving. In the year Silicia trained with her, the old weaver would sit in the courtyard weaving while tossing needles at Silicia.

"When you're in the range to strike, your opponent can also strike. The key is to avoid being in range, and when you are, remember to strike quickly," Chen Ouyang would tell her as they sparred.

Silicia especially remembered when she would forcefully charge in at full speed with her sword forward, but Chen Ouyang would easily knock her down and fling her sword out of her hands. While she lay crying that was too weak on the ground, Chen Ouyang would stare intensely down at Silicia and shout, "You are in no position to take their attacks since you have no mana channels, and your body is weak! Avoid attacks altogether and master speed!"

She remembered that she would cry because she couldn't do it. Now she knew she could. All she needed was confidence and a will for growth. Silicia knows that even now she's still weak, but she's already miles ahead of Anura. Anura, who was always afraid, would have been scared of Silicia; she always laughed at that thought.

Chen Ouyang was also the one that advised her to use a rapier. Silica was a bit weak; she didn't have Mana in her body. Because of that, Silicia was gifted a rapier, which was lighter than a traditional sword.

The rapier that Chen Ouyang gifted was made out of manasteel. It may sound impressive and cool, but manasteel is merely metal with Mana to increase its damage and power. It is a bit hard to hammer, so usually, only those who use their magic to blacksmith or make weapons could forge it. Although it was a priceless gift that Silicia couldn't bring herself to accept at the time, it finally allowed her to damage Mana monsters, and powerful Mana enhanced beasts.

Commonly a rapier would be used with a buckler, a short sword, or a dagger, but Silicia didn't. Simply because her style of fighting couldn't support one. Silicia's body doesn't have an ounce of Mana supporting it, and one wrong hit from a Mana enhanced monster could prove fatal. There was only one thing Silicia could rely on, dodging. Dodging and kiting, to slowly whittle down a monster. It was the most valuable thing that Chen Ouyang could have taught her.

Though her dodging skills were anything from refined, she still managed. It was hard for her to get the hang of it, and she struggled to fight. Eventually, though, Silicia learned how to increase her speed and the right moments to move. Soon she would learn to be the level of Chen Ouyang, and she would be unstoppable.

When Silicia was around 11 years old, Team Aislinn took her back, and she started officially adventuring with them. Silicia, along with Kenmer, who is sixteen now, got approved for early registration by the Adventurer's Guild, which allowed them to go with Team Aislinn on most quests.

The team also found a magical blacksmith who used Silicia's old family imprints to make a pair of boots.

Imprints were relatively rare, and powerful imprints were even rarer. Only extremely powerful magic users would make imprints as powerful as Silicia had. This made sense, though, as Silicia's father was the late leader of Soma.

After being coerced to keep a secret, the blacksmith finally agreed to merge Silicia's boots with the imprints.

In fact, unknown to Silicia. The House of Soma had talked about making imprints for Anura before they had perished.

Being careful not to damage the imprints, the blacksmith whittled down the metal discs to a smaller size and fashioned them to a pair of brown drake skin leather boots. With the boots, Silicia could finally experience a little magic herself.

Boots that allowed higher leaps existed, but they usually only allowed a bit of height. Silicia's imprints were used to power airships, so she had to push a limited amount of Mana into the boots when she used them.

The first time Silicia used the boots, she accidentally soared so high that Ramone had to use gravity magic to make her float safely down. Eventually, though, Silicia got adept with the boots, incorporating it into her fighting style. The boots took a bit of mental strain, though, so she couldn't use it permanently without resting. Even so, Silicia loved using the boots to leap high into the air, then pointing her rapier descending towards the opponent. It gave her immense piercing power; the ability to strike an opponent down in one hit.

Anura Soma's new life as Silicia Channing was great. Though sometimes her old family would come to mind, and she would get down once and awhile. She really wished her Mother could see where she was now; she hoped that she would be proud that Anura found herself.

As each day would pass by, it would get closer to the queen's tourney. She would have to enter as Silicia Channing through a laborious exam.

Anura, who was once prophesied to be a contestant, was dead. Silicia Channing would be taking her place. The same soul, a new view.