Master Irene

"What took you so long?"

A ravishing woman was waiting in the door with her arms crossed under her bountiful chest. Viridescent hair swaying from the blow of the wind, intoxicating my nose with the seductive aroma. Her verdant eyes are deeply staring at me. It was none other than Master Irene.

"I went to eat breakfast."

"I've been waiting for you for 30 minutes."

"Then can't you just pick me up? I'm just right next door."

"Erm, I forgot. Anyhow, what's with your lips?"

Master Irene suspiciously squinted her eyes, focusing on my lips.

"Lips?"

After I answered, a hand grabbed my face. It was Master Irene's right hand, grabbing my face, squeezing it. Then her scrutinizing eyes took a closer look at lips. While at it, her nose got closer, smelling my lips. Throughout that, I was bewildered by her sudden approach, which made me unconsciously tremble in fear.

"Smell of lavender and a hint of lipstick. Who kissed my lovely disciple, huh?"

"Eh—? Erm..."

I gulped.

"Stephanie?"

I uncontrollably nodded out of my fear. Waiting for her response...

"Heavens, I thought some stranger took advantage of my dear disciple, but if it's Stephanie, then I could let it pass. Be careful around, okay? You don't how scary the outside world is. Especially dangerous people." Master Irene put her darkened eyes on the same level as mine, deeply staring at the depths of my soul. Ending it with a smile on her face and releasing me.

I think you're the dangerous one.

"As long as you remember those reminders, you'll be okay. Plus, Master is here with you always~" Master Irene gave me a tight embrace. Because of the height difference, my face ended up once again in her bountiful chest.

Hmm... Got a feeling that I'll die in Master Irene's hand one day... And, I don't stand a chance... I need to do something about this, probably in the future...

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Doing all my workouts right now. After that, the lesson with Master Irene will start. Speaking of the devil, she's currently watching me right now in the corner of the room with a slight smile on her face. The workouts that I did right now are running for 30 km, some pushups, pullups, and situps then currently doing some weights.

Because of my disadvantageous situation, Master Irene told me to strengthen my physical body first and foremost, as some people don't train their bodies because they're reliant on mana. Well in my case, I don't have those and the only thing I have is this manaless body.

"Haah... Haa... Phew..."

Master Irene handed me a towel. I accepted it and wiped out the sweat on my face. Afterward, we went inside the living room to have my lesson.

"Shall we start with our lesson? Let's talk about how to world works before you start training. Our world revolves around mana. Everything you see right now is created by mana—Essentially, the thing we can't live without, like oxygen—It also lives within every creature or species around the globe. Now, I have a question for you, what's the use of mana for us?"

"It can multiply the strength of a person by 10 times, but at a cost of mana. It's like some sort of powerful energy inside that can be converted into something impossible that no normal person could achieve."

"That's correct. It can drastically boost someone's capabilities. However, mana is only limited by what we call Mana Capacity. Basically, like a glass of water where the mana represents the water, and the cup is the body, once the water started decreasing. Who's the one responsible for refilling it?"

"The world?"

"The world spirit."

"Not Gaia?"

"Gaia is part of the world spirit."

"Wait, so the world spirit is divided?"

"Indeed, the world spirit is divided into 3 parts, Gaia, Aether, and the Void—These three are what created the world spirit: Gaia represents land; Aether represents the sky; Void represents the depth of nothingness."

"Sky and nothingness? What are those for?"

"To put it simply, these world spirits are like realms. Gaia is where we're currently at. Aether would be the place where all the deities and the guardians are residing. As for the Void, there aren't any records about it, but there's a theory that it only contains never-ending darkness, not even light can reach."

"Aether is the place where other higher beings are currently at? Then as for the Void, none...?"

"Indeed."

"Oh, I get it now."

"Got any more questions so I can continue?"

"Nothing, please continue."

"Okay then, now lets about your condition. A person born without mana. What are your first thoughts when hearing this? Let me remind you, as I stated earlier, the world we live in revolves around mana. However, how can someone be born without it, if our world is mana itself? It doesn't make any sense at all, does it?"

"It kinda does, but isn't abnormalities part of the world?"

"By all means."

"Then why are you asking me impossible questions?"

"For an answer."

"Huh?"

"Claude, remember everyone seeks answers. We question everything. We want to unveil the mysteries hiding beneath the very thing we're currently standing on. That's how we live for countless years, by questioning everything."

"Okay...? But, I don't get where this is going."

"I'm telling you this because I want you to know that by questioning everything around, you will eventually find the answer."

"Huh?"

Master Irene giggled. "Fufufu~ I guess, you're too young to understand it. Let me put it in simple terms, how can you, a manaless person, overpower someone with mana? Physical abilities? Nope, that's not happening. If you can't win physically then how?"

I fell deep into my thoughts, contemplating an answer.

"By being creative?"

"And, that's for you find." Master Irene shrugged.

"Does the questioning, ever helped you?"

"Of course, many times already."

"Eh—?"

"It's better for you to think about that stuff when you finally start your own journey. Anyway, you still have a year before your spirit ceremony, so after that, we'll go on a journey. What do you say?"

Although all this time I'm just confused about all the trick questions that Master Irene said to me, yet she added one more to the table. Like, is she trying to kill me by making my brain explode? My mind is in disarray.

"Spirit ceremony? What for? How can I even have a contract with a spirit if I don't even have mana?"

"Hahaha—! Of course, you do."

"What? How?"

"A person with or without mana can get contracted by the spirit because they're born in the same world. For it to work, the person without mana needs to offer something to the spirit as a substitute for the lack of mana. Traditionally, mana should be the supplement to feed the spirit like taming an animal with food."

"Wait, if that works, then your friend who's like me, had a spirit?"

"Yeah, but it died. However even without, she still manages to live the harsh reality just by her own strength."

"Was it because she doesn't have mana? Died out in hunger?"

"No, someone killed it."

"Now, you're not making any sense. That's impos— sible..."

Then I saw the seriousness in her eyes. It must be something major because killing a spirit is impossible, that's what I gathered from Claude's memories.

"I'd rather not talk about that first. Let's talk about spirits first, call forth Melissa"

In the flooring of the living room, a magic circle manifested in thin air with runic and number inscribed around it. From the magic circle, a serpent head and tail with hind legs attached resembling a talon of an eagle, lion-like forelimbs, a jaded horn in the head, ascending from the magic circle.

"Hiss—"

The head of the serpent wrapped around Master Irene's shoulders while its body lay down on the ground. Its vertical, elliptical eyes glanced at me. I thought I will get scared by it, however; it shows tenderness and softness behind those frightening eyes.

"This is Melissa, my spirit. She's a Mushussu a hybrid animal, an S-Class Spirit. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. Are you familiar with the Spirit Class?"

"Yes, it's the class where the spirit belongs to. If I'm correct, Deity-Class is the strongest then below it, S-Class, A-Class, B-Class, and C-Class, which is the weakest."

"Correct, Deity-Class for example would be the White Dragon of the Bermont Family. Deity-Class beings are rare only approximately 24 beings exist in the world yet some people still believe there are more than than. Either way, you forgot the Divine-Class."

"Divine-Class? First time hearing it."

"Of course because only a few people know they existed, they treat them as absolute gods. Their existence is so great that if a person would acquire it. That person can kill a nation if it wanted to. Throughout the history of the world, only a few manage to get contracted by it, around the single digit."

"Oh, I see. But are there any written records of the people who got those spirits?"

"There are, but they're hidden within the Archives somewhere in the world."

"Is it kept hidden from the public? And, how come you knew about it?"

"That's a trade secret that I can't disclose with you, Claude." Master Irene made a shush gesture.

This is the first time I've ever heard of Divine-Class. Wait, that means Shin's spirit, the White Dragon, is not the strongest? Now, this is interesting—I can't wait to meet one in the future. Although even my brother told me about the spirit classes, I don't remember him mentioning the Divine-Class. At this point, I don't know if everything around is the same world as the game.