A Deal With A Vondel

Ludwig thought for a moment and said, "Tell me what do you want then?"

"Right… see, I have multiple siblings. Though I'm the only true heir of the Vondel house… well former heir…"

"And what does that have to do with your request?" Ludwig asked.

"Among all my brothers, Ravi though he's step-sibling, has been the kindest to me. But my mother is adamant about going against him, he made a lot of progress in his studies and did clear a couple of dungeons before he even graduated. He's smart and strong but his mother isn't a noble," Thomas said.

"Let me guess, your dad had a thing for the maid?" Ludwig asked.

"More like the red-light district madam, but yeah,"

"And how am I going to help you help him?" Ludwig asked.

"For us Vondels, origin is important, that's for all the nobles in fact. Brother is doing his best to become a knight of Lufondal. And that should give him a noble status though it is the lowest. Once he achieves that he can challenge my brothers to be the heir. If I were alive, none of this would have happened and as soon as I got my hand on the house I would invite my brother back. Sadly that's no longer possible," Thomas said.

"You want me to help your brother become a knight? You know that you're asking something a bit too insane."

"No, not that, he's more than capable of doing that by himself. But the thing is, he's missing a key part in getting the right of succession. When us Vondels are born, we're given a Ring that helps identify us, and that ring is needed to proceed with the succession battle. My mother destroyed Ravi's ring when he was young, so he cannot be part of the succession anymore. But now that I'm dead, he can use mine."

"Don't tell me it was on your body?" Ludwig asked. Because he clearly remembered Thomas turning up in flames.

"No, no, I don't keep it on me, that's the best way for me to lose my right as a successor. So I hid it, and it's now kept by a person of interest to say the least…"

"You're being shady on purpose, aren't you?" Ludwig groaned.

"I'm just messing with you, but yeah, the person of interest is an organization, they're called White Raven. They are a big organization that organizes sells and buys information. And if you tell them these exact words, they'll give you the ring. The Phoenix lived, but the flames died out," he said.

"I see," Ludwig thought. "Where can I find them?" Ludwig asked.

"The closest branch is in Mira, a city that's at the border between the Dark Academy's territory and the Titania Kingdom. All you need to look for is the symbol of a white crow on one of the inns there. They'll contact you later with the item once you give them the password," Thomas said.

"I see," Ludwig said, "That's doable, but I cannot do it right now, I cannot leave the academy for three years," Ludwig said.

"No worries, the succession battle was supposed to happen after I graduate, so you still have three years to do this."

"Right, now that I agreed to your request, tell me, how do I use emotions form souls?"

"That's simple, first things first, can you make a fire ball?" Thomas asked.

"No, I have no idea how to do that, all I read were things that were related to class specific subject, the act of creating a fire ball or water ball or any sort of basic magic is something I have yet to learn."

Thomas thought for a second and said, "I saw your status screen, it shows that you have a Blessed Body, that's something extremely rare in this world." Thomas said "Not to mention you have Wisdom? Do I don't understand it fully and how those 'stats' work, but it seems that it further improves your power potency. So not only will it further enhance your magical aptitude, but using emotions will double if not triple the output. As for learning a spell, try and mimic me using [Trace]."

"How do you know all that?" Ludwig asked.

"I see what you see, also you don't really have to worry about me spilling the beans. After all, I'm dead, and once my purpose is served I'll just go to Deus Necros' side."

Thomas raised his hand up, and mana began coiling around his arm, clear to Ludwig's eyes as it moved and roiled until it gathered at his palm.

"This is [Fireball], can you replicate it?" Thomas said.

"I don't know, I don't fully understand the process," Ludwig said as he put his hand forward. He closed his eyes, and soon mana began moving alongside his arm.

He could feel his entire body heating up a bit, every carved vein of Nephilium was exuding mana and helping Ludwig use it to create a flaming ball that swirled on the palm of his hand.

For Thomas, the ball was at least twice his size, but for Ludwig it felt incredibly lacking and smaller than the one that Thomas used.

"I'm pretty surprised that you managed to do it on your first try," Thomas said.

"Yeah I'm not that surprised about that part…" Ludwig said as he was looking at a notification that appeared in front of him.

{You have cast the spell [Fireball]. Your current understanding of the skill is too lacking to use it as a Spell.}

"Seems like I'm not proficient enough, also I don't know if I should learn this. After all, I can only learn two spells for now." Ludwig said.

"Two?" Thomas frowned.

"Yeah, just two, I'm limited…"

"Oh, that's the first time I heard of someone being limited in learning spells. But from what I think, you're probably limited due to your mana. It's too low, I guess if you improve your Wisdom stat it would help you get more spells slots. Because usually, most mages have a lot more mana than you have. Even with Van Dijk's operation and that mana stone on your forehead, I doubt you can use fireball more than three times."

"I see, that's going to be a problem. Though it's strange, you were casting fireballs left and right."

"Yeah, and a couple more fire spells in the mix too, but that's because I come from a noble family and was practicing and learning magic since young. That's why my mana channels are wider than a normal person, for you, well first you're dead. And second, you don't have the benefit of being born in a noble house. So just work on your mana for a bit now, if things don't change, just ask Van Dijk he's pretty smart."

"Then what about the emotion using part?" Ludwig asked.

"Right, it had to come to that..." Thomas said, "Now, imagine yourself obliterating me..."