Velor and Lysa

'What do you mean?' I asked Senna, having a feeling I was not going to like her next words.

[*All the souls of the people who die on this battlefield don't go back to the spirit well but are instead trapped underground. I don't know exactly what they are planning, but the demons are probably delaying this war to gather as much spirit as possible.*]

'Are you saying they are farming spirit from the souls of the dead?'

[*Indeed. The humans keep fighting to survive but they don't know that they're helping the demons instead. The amount of spirit I can feel underground, if used right, is enough to destroy the entire world.*]

Her words brought a shiver down my spine. My mind immediately going to the reason I came into this world in the first place.

'Do you think this is what lead to the fate system abandoning this world?'

[*I don't know, but it must be part of it. I can feel that the spirit is also slowly being absorbed by something, someone, but I can't feel it's presence here. There must be some spirit transfer spell circle under the ground.*]

As we were talking, a series of quests popped up in my vision, blocking in completely.

\\End of conflict - side-quest\\

\\Form a complete party to assist you in the fight against the demon army\\

\\Add a healer to your party\\

\\Add two warriors to your party\\

\\Reward: Party function unlocked\\

\\ End of conflict - side-quest \\

\\ Destroy the spirit gathering spell circle under the battlefield\\

\\ Reward 1000 points\\

\\ End of conflict - side-quest \\

\\ Destroy the spirit transfer spell circle under the battlefield\\

\\ Reward 1000 points\\

\\End of conflict - side-quest\\

\\Find a way to remove the gathered spirit under the battlefield\\

\\Reward 1000 points\\

\\End of conflict -side-quest\\

\\Find and remove all the undead creating circles around the battlefield\\

\\Reward: 100 points per circle\\

\\End of conflict - side-quest\\

\\Kill demons and demon-puppets. Quest ends the moment you leave the city of Bastion and it's surrounding are\\

\\Reward: 10 points per demon

1 points per demon-puppet\\

I was stunned by the amount of new quests, but at the same time, I finally felt I was making progress. After looking through them for a bit, I asked Ai:

'What's the party function?'

[You will gain the ability to add allies to your party. It will allow you to increase their level using the system. It also allows you to check their position, mana and get alerted as soon as they are in danger.]

'But, wouldn't the world's will take note of that?'

[Probably, but we'll have to take a gamble that it will not immediately remove us. You don't understand the amount of spirit that is underground. The situation is a lot worse than my predictions and we have to deal with it as soon as possible, or the end of the world will come before we even notice.]

'I see. I'll do what I can.' A serious expression immediately appeared on my face. Seeing my expression, Anise asked:

"Is there anything wrong? You don't look so good."

I nodded and said: "Yeah, the situation is bad. There is a circle underground that keeps absorbing the souls of the people who die on the battlefield. I don't know it's purpose exactly, but it can't be anything good."

"That's impossible. We have wizards that specialize in the study souls at the academy. There's no way they wouldn't notice a circle gathering the souls of the dead on this battlefield."

[*I don't know what shitty ass wizards she's talking about, but I'm definitely not wrong.*]

[I agree with Senna on this one, but Anise is also not wrong. It's impossible for those wizards to not notice anything.]

'Do you think the wizards know about it, but for some reason decided to keep quiet?'

[*Most probably, yes. Those old fools are always scheming something.*]

Hearing both Ai's and Senna's answers, I said to Anise: "You have to trust me on this one. I don't know what's wrong with those wizards, but there is definitely a magic circle underground absorbing all the souls of the people who die. They might have a reason to keep silent about it, I don't know."

Seeing my somber expression, Anise nodded and turned to look back over the battlefield. She took a moment to think before saying: "Okay, I trust you. What should we do then?"

I nodded and said: "We must find the circle and destroy it. It should be somewhere under the battlefield. Let's first regroup with the K14 squad and go to complete the quest. Once I'm closer to the circle, I'll try to see if I can find it's location.]

Anise agreed and we both sat down and started her lessons. There was nothing we could do since we couldn't pass on the other side of the wall without joining the K14 squad.

As we were waiting, two more people climbed up the stairs and started walking towards us, a boy and a girl. They both looked young, no more than 20 years old and there was a small resemblance between them.

They first thing that you noticed about them was their long golden hair. Hers spread out, flowing freely down her back, dancing to the tune of the wild wind. His bound in a single thick braid down his back. If not for the worn out adventurer garbs they were both wearing and their plain faces, one would easily mistake them for a princess and her knight.

They both walked up to us as the boy said: "Are you two the ones the quartermaster said will also be joining the K14 squad?."

My eyes darted for a moment between them, feeling that something was not quite right, but I couldn't really figure out what it was.

Pushing away those thoughts, I nodded and replied: "Yes, you got the quest to join squad K14 as well?"

"Yea. My name is Velor and this is my little sister Lysa. We're adventurers that just arrived here in Bastion from the Capital city. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Ethan and this is Anise. We just arrived as well, but from Cloven City. Nice to meet you Velor, Lysa."

The guy looked at me in an excited way and said: "That means we're going to be fighting together. I hope that spear on your back isn't just for show. Wanna spar a bit? It will help us get to know each other better."

Lysa seemed a bit embarrassed and commented before I could reply: "I'm sorry about my brother. He's a bit of a battle junkie. Please don't feel offended.". She bowed towards me before turning towards her brother and saying: "How many times do I have to tell you to stop challenging any person you see to a fight."

Velor scratched his head and ignored his sisters words, not moving his expectant gaze from me: "So? Are you in?"

"Sure. I haven't fought using a spear for a while, but a bit of practice wouldn't hurt."

Lysa seemed to want to say something else but she just sighed and sat down near Anise. I grabbed my spear from my back and moved a bit further away from the girls together with Velor.

Once we opened some distance between us, Velor withdrew his sword from it's sheath and started chanting an incantation. I raised an eyebrow and waited patiently, curious about what he was planning. Once his incantation was done, a bright light covered the sword in his right hand and a shield made completely out of light materialized in his left one.

Seeing me sitting there, with my spear in a fighting position, he said full of vigor: "Let's start. It'll attack first."

I got ready to block his attack as a ray of light came from the side, forced Velor to block and pushed him back a couple of meters. Lysa's voice followed right after: "You idiot. Can't you see he's not using any magic? What did you summon your divine armament for?"

An awkward expression appeared in Velor's face as he turned completely red. Seeing his comical expression, I let out a chuckle and said: "No problem, I can also use magic if need be, but wanted to check my skill with a spear first. Come at me."

Hearing my words, he turned towards his sister and said "See? I knew he could use magic and that's why I used my divine armament." in a tone full of justice. After that, he ignored his sister's exasperated face and turned back towards me: "Go ahead and chant your armament. I'll wait."

"No need. I told you I'll use magic if I need to and want to fight with just my spear until then." I replied as my expression turned serious.

Velor nodded and charged towards me. Seeing him swing his sword from my left. I stepped back slightly to dodge before I used the range advantage of a spear to trust it towards his abdomen. He used his shield to block my thrust and deflect it to the side as he closed the gap by sliding along the length of my spear. Seeing his swing approaching from the right, I ducked under the attack before recalling my spear and trying to sweep his feet of the ground. Velor immediately jumped over my sweep and slammed his shield towards my face.

I blocked his shield slam with one of my arms as I got pushed back a couple of meters. My arm felt a bit numb after that, but he didn't give me any breathing room as he charged at me again, forcing me to dodge. We traded blows a couple more times, but I always ended up on the losing end. As I opened my distance from him, I said:

"It looks like my technique is a little too brute to beat you. You're quite good with a sword and shield."

"Thanks, you're not that bad yourself. A bit more practice and you'll be able to beat me." He replied with a proud look on his face.

I smiled at his words as wind started forming a small cyclone at the tip of my spear: "Time for me to use magic as well. Get ready or you'll lose before you even know what happened."

His proud expression froze on his face as he lifted his shield and got ready. I used wind magic to increase my charging speed as I thrust my spear directly at his head, but I have to give him credit. He managed to block the thrust even if he was pushed back more than three meters.

I teleported behind him while his sight was still blocked by his shield and rested the tip of my spear against the back of his neck before saying:

"Not bad. A bit more practice and you'll be able to beat me."

Velor turned around, looking like he was about to cry and said: "Why didn't you say you were a wizard? I would have never challenged you if I knew that."

I put my spear on my back and replied: "You never asked and not officially one yet. We're one for one anyway. Want to go again?"

He sighed and canceled his armament before saying: "I give up. I can't win against space magic."

We both returned to the girls. As we sit down, I asked Velor:

"What level are you? My arm still hurts from that shield slam."

Velor replied in a dispirited voice: "I'm 19. You must be over 20. No? What about Anise?"

Me and Anise both said our levels as we turned towards Lysa, obviously waiting for her to say her level as well. She lowered her head and said softly : "36".

A incredulous expression appeared on our faces as we turned towards Velor, with me blurting out: "Wasn't she your younger sister? How is her level almost twice yours?"

Velor turned red again as he answered: "Whenever we hunt, I protect her as she attacks with light spells from behind. This way, she gets more world energy than I do."

"So, are you a light magician, Lysa?"

"Wizard. I can silent cast two spells. One is the attack you saw before and the other is a healing spell." As her words ended, light flowed out of her hand and covered my arm. The pain went away almost immediately. Moving my hand around a little and feeling no more pain, I asked in my mind:

'I wanted to ask you before, but I forgot. How the hell is light magic used for healing in this world?'

[They might call it light magic because of it's color, but what she is using is world energy to mend your body. It's a kind of creation or divine magic. To use this kind of magic, you either need to offer a prayer in the form of a chant or have a connection with the world will onto itself. Divine magic without a chant is generally used by priests.]

'Is the attack from before divine magic as well?'

[Yes. As is his armament.]

'That's amazing. So are you telling me she's a priestess and he's a priest?'

[I don't know about him, since using a chant to cast it seems quite normal, but she is definitely a priestess or is blessed by the world will in some sort of way. That's the only explanation for her silent casting divine magic.]

'But, didn't she call herself a wizard and not a priestess?'

[𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘸𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭 30. 𝘐𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘸𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦.]

Ignoring Senna's remark and thinking this was a great opportunity to learn how divine magic worked, my desire to befriend them grew. As I was thinking and speaking with Ai, Lysa looked towards me with a curious look and asked: "What magic can you use without a chant? I saw you use a wind spell and spatial spell."

"Pretty much all of the elements, but I can't use healing magic like yours."

Lysa's eyes started brightening as she grabbed my hand with excitement: "Can you show me please?"

My face became a little awkward as I directed my gaze towards her hand. She immediately blushed and let go, but the look in her eyes didn't change and she still looked like she wanted to see me cast a few more spells.

Sighing, I figured it wasn't really a problem since we're going to be fighting together anyway and started conjuring balls of fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, darkness and light one after another atop my hand. Her expression became more and more exaggerated after each element I used. By the end of it her mouth was wide open, her blue eyes as wide as saucers and I could swear she was even shaking slightly.

[*There goes your plan of not attracting too much attention to yourself. You just had to show off.*]

'She was going to find out once we fought on the battlefield anyway..'

"Father will…" she started saying before her brother elbowed her and she shut her mouth instantly. Blushing slightly she said: "I'm sorry for my earlier display. You are the most amazing wizard I've ever seen. I don't even know how it's possible for someone not that much older than me to master so many elements."

I wanted to correct her that I was not a wizard yet, but Anise inserted herself into the conversation as she said with a proud look: "He's not from this world and his understanding into magic is more advanced that you can imagine. His knowledge of the world around us is more profound that any other person I've ever met. "

[*And she just went and made it worse…Sigh, you two are a match made in heaven.*]

I agreed with Senna since I didn't want them to know that I was not from this world as well, but there was nothing else we could do about it now. Sighing, I said: "Yes. I'm not from this world, but was summoned here by Anise. Can you please keep this a secret? I don't want everyone to know I come from another world."

Anise had an apologetic expression as soon as my words ended, but the brother-sister duo nodded as Velor exclaimed: "No wonder you beat me up. You're not from this world. Don't worry, we understand and won't say it to another soul without your permission."

I wanted to ask how did that have anything to do with me kicking his ass, but I abstained and caressed Anise's hand to show her I didn't mind. She gave me one more apologetic look as Lysa said: "You two, don't you want to form a party with us after we finish the quest? I think we'll make a great team."

I didn't have any problem with it and turned towards Anise to ask for her opinion, she looked like she had something to say, but couldn't in front of the two of them. Lysa read her expression as she said: "Brother, how about we go and grab something to eat as they think about it? I'm a bit hungry."

"But you said you didn't want to eat when I asked you about it before we came here.."

Lysa put on an exasperated expression again as she literally dragged her brother away while saying: "We're going to eat into the city. You can think about and give us an answer when we return."

As they started climbing down the stairs, the last thing I saw was Lysa hitting Velor on the back of his head. I let out a chuckle and remarked: "They are quite the funny pair."

Anise tho, remarked with a face of worry: "It's a bit strange. I don't think they are as simple as they appear to be…"

"What do you mean?"

"A wizard girl, not even 20 years old from the capital and I've never heard anything about her. It's strange to say the least, considering that Cloven Academy would have definitely did everything in it's power to recruit someone with such potential. Also, you didn't see it, but the moment you appeared behind Velor and pointed the spear at the back of his neck, his eyes turned completely golden for a moment. That fight was probably far from over but he held back in the end."

"Hmmm" I frowned as I asked in my mind: 'What do you two think?'

[*They are indeed strange, but I see no problem with you all forming a party. You just have to pay a bit more attention to them. Also, someone blessed by the world should not be a bad person fundamentally.*]

[I also agree. You need more allies anyway.]

"I say we agree to their offer and form a party. The situation is quite bad and we could use the help of two strong people."

Anise nodded with a serious expression as she said: "If you want to, sure, but we should be careful so we don't get stabbed in the back."

"All right. We'll pay extra attention to them. Want to continue our lessons?"

"Sure." Replied Anise and we started out lessons again.

Around two hours later, the duo returned and Lysa asked: "So, did you think about our offer?"

"Yes. We agree to form a party with you two."

Lysa nodded at my words and said: "Great. We should start setting up out formation and roles in the party. This way we can cover for each other's weaknesses."

We proceeded to talk about out formation. I was a bit surprised about how serious and organized Lysa was, having a plan for almost everything and taking the lead during the discussion. After everything was set up, we spoke more about the abilities and spells we could each use. In the end, we didn't learn any more useful information about the two, but since I also had a few secrets of my own I didn't really mind. Anise was the one that kept trying to fish for more information and was a bit disgruntled in the end for not being able to find anything else.

Once we were done, the two retreated to a quiet corner to sleep as I stayed with Anise. As she was resting her back on my chest and I was hugging her from behind, I said: "They don't feel like bad people even if it's obvious they're hiding something."

She nodded quietly before turning and giving me a small peck on the lips: "We should go to sleep as well. Tomorrow we're joining squad k14 on the battlefield and we don't know when we'll get the chance to rest again."

I agreed and we immediately went to sleep as well.