A New Beginning

After taking a quick shower that lasts at least 20 minutes, Eden got out of the bathroom with a simple towel on his bottom half and went toward Athis' bed.

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead. We're going to the academy soon." Eden gently said while sitting at the side of a sleepy Athis.

After some seconds had passed, Athis slowly begin to wake up and said, "Are you trying to seduce me, Eden? Why are you looking at me like that while being stripped?" while smiling.

'He really seems to change,' Eden thought for a moment with a smile. 'Well, it's not like it's a bad thing anyway'

Eden then slowly come towards Athis and said with a seductive tone, "And what will you do if I'm trying to do just that?"

"I would do things that you can't even imagine darling..." Athis replied, continuing the joke.

"Oh my, I'm looking forward to it then," Eden said while backing up. "Anyway, it's already 5h55 am, so go take a shower and dress up, we only have one hour left"

"*sigh* I'm so tired," Athis slowly began to stand up.

"You shouldn't have slept this late yesterday"

"And whose fault is that huh? And why are you not tired at all?"

Eden simply shrugged and said, "I'm vampire remember?"

"Argh, can't you bite me and transform me into a vampire?" Athis said, entering the bathroom and closing the door behind him.

'Why didn't I think about that earlier? The vampire turns other people by biting them' Eden was all excited before coming back to reality. 'It could work... but if it was that simple, Vampire wouldn't have disappeared. And I'm sure that one needs to be qualified enough by the system standard to be able to do that. But it's still a good beginning.'

Once dressed up, Eden waited for Athis to come out and do the same. While waiting, he began to remember the equivalent exchange spell and its description.

[Equivalent exchange: This allows the user to create or do anything he wants, as long as he pays the price for it. Due to the launcher's low level, there's a limitation of what he can do.

Type: Active

Cost: An equivalent price]

The equivalent exchange spell was one of the best spells one could dream of. It allows the user to create anything he wants, or do what he wants. The possibilities of this spell are countless, and only one person's imagination could restrain it. However, the price to pay was also problematic. Sure one could pay the price of anything he wants, but it counts only for small things.

For example, if Eden wanted to create a cat, he would probably need to kill 10 monsters or so, but if he wanted to turn back time, for example, he would need to kill an entire country to achieve it.

So yes, one of the limitations was indeed the imagination, but it was also the price.

He was also sure that he had spent a lot of his life span to obtain this spell. The only silver lining in this was that he would be able to create a medicine to restore his mana links if he didn't find a solution for it, or even create a way to turn someone into a vampire.

"Why are you thinking so deeply, is there something in your mind?" Athis got out of the bathroom with just a towel and snapped back Eden from his thought.

"It's nothing, don't worry." He waved his hand. "By the way, Athis, are you trying to seduce me too?" He said with a smirk.

Athis' body wasn't carved like Eden's, but he was by no mean inferior to him in this aspect. He was skinny but healthy, and it was a blessing in the eyes to see him, like Eden of course.

"Are we going to do those types of jokes every time we see each other?" Athis asked.

"Shall we? it's quite fun"

"Sure. Anyway, did you pack up everything you needed?"

"Yep, but it's not like I have a lot of things anyway," Eden stands up and walks toward Athis. "And here a little gift of mine. It" a not the best, but well, I would be glad if you accept it."

Eden gave Athis one of the sets he looted while he was still in the forest. He didn't give everything back then since he thought it could be handy to have a second set ready if needed.

"Since you decided to stay with me, I hope that you are ready to explore the world alongside me." He continued with a radiant smile.

"Eden I..." Athis stopped for a minute before saying, "I promise I would repay you one day." with determination.

'I was sure that he would have cried, but it really seems that he wants to change.' Eden thought, glad to see his friend's change.

"No need, anyway once you are ready, let's take a walk, you've stayed in your bed too long."

"Sure, give me a minute"

After putting some simple clothes on him, Athis was ready to go. He also prepared everything he might need since he doubted that they will return to their rooms to take their luggage later. However, Athis's inventory was limited, so he couldn't take that much either.

"Are you not taking those things?" Eden asked while pointing some clothes with his finger.

"I don't have any space left in my inventory, and I doubt that the academy will allow us to use our inventory anyways"

"Wait, what did you say?" Eden asked for confirmation in disbelief.

"The academy won't let us use our inventory?"

"No, the first part"

"That my inventory is limited? Is there a problem with that?" Athis asked back to Eden, not understanding what he wanted to know.

"No, there's no problem in that. But I thought inventory had unlimited space." Eden replied while glaring a little bit to the side, where his inventory page was open. There, he could see that he, unlike Athis, had an infinite symbol, meaning that he had infinite space in his inventory.

"Of course not! What did you think? That our level is high enough to have unlimited space?" Athis asked sarcastically.

"So one needs to level up to expand their inventory?" Eden asked in disbelief.

"Yes, although I don't know how, I'm sure we will learn it at the academy"

The two friends then got out of their room, and slowly but surely headed to the garden. There, Eden and Athis walk at a slow pace, while exchanging a few words. The morning breeze gently swept their hair to the side, while the sun was slowly beginning to rise.

'I wonder if we are still in the solar system' Eden thought, watching the sun.

"Hmm, Eden," Athis snapped back his friend from his thought. "I think the time has come for us to go. We need to be at the castle's gate in around 10 minutes."

"Sure, let's go"

They then began to head toward the castle's gate. While walking Eden had multiple thoughts in his head. He wanted to know if his life would be normal one day. If he would find a medicine. If he would manage to turn people into a vampire. But above all, if he would manage to defeats Cayron if he ever saw him again. He didn't know how much time had passed since his first death, but he was sure that Cayron must have improved by leaps and bounds, and that it would be really hard to beat him. Also, now that Cayron had water and air powers, he couldn't help but said to himself:

'What a cunning bastard. He has my power, and I'm sure he also knows about the imagination one requires to exploit the system. He also saw me create multiple skills back then, so I must have inspired him. A real bastard, indeed.'

The two friends then arrive at the gate rapidly, not wanting to be late. There, they saw a middle-aged man, with a long magician robe with a device in his hands. After the middle-aged man saw the two teenagers, he gently said:

"You must be Athis and... Eden right? Come here, we will teleport now to Politia"

"What is Politia sir?" Eden asked once he came in front of him. The middle-aged man's eyebrows twitched for a second, and Eden didn't fail to notice that.

"Politia is the city where the Academy is. It is a city exclusive to the students and the academy staff. There, everything will be monitored, but it's not my place to explain this to you, you will learn it soon enough" The middle-man said before placing the device in front of him. "The teleportation gate will auto-destruct in one minute, so please step forward."

The two boys looked at each other for a moment before nodding and stepping through the gate.

Once the gate was crossed, they saw a huge castle in the distance. This castle was even huger than the royal palace of Chronus.