Old Friends

A couple of hours earlier:

Leus finished talking with Arno, then got up and left Arno alone in the room.

Arno was holding the Emblem Leus gave him in his hand and staring at it

'I guess it was a fun journey, wasn't it?'

'The best subject so far.'

He looked at the open door

'He's an odd kid...'

'His naivety is either a drawback or an asset, depending on where you stand in the relationship.'

'Regardless, the world will teach him.'

He looked down and opened one of the desk's drawers

'Anyway, I got things to do.'

He put the Emblem in the drawer and got up

'It's time to meet some old friends'

Arno came out of the room and walked to a corner of the Library, he put his hand on the floor and added Mana into it, then closed his fist and touched the floor with one of his invisible rings.

Immediately, the floor split open and stairs leading to an underground platform appeared.

Arno walked down, stood on the platform, and snapped his fingers.

The floor above him closed back and the room became completely dark.

He activated Advanced Mana Vision to be able to see and walked to the front edge of the wooden platform he was standing on.

There was a wheel-like device, but it was covered in dust.

'I can't really remember when was the last time I used this'

He washed the device with Water then pointed it in a specific direction and added mana to it.

WHOOM

The platform shot forward, and in just a few minutes, Arno reached his destination, a huge underground storage below the northern parts of the city.

He turned around and walked to a specific door and used a different ring.

An elevator came down to floor 0, and Arno entered and pressed button 10.

He came out of the elevator and walked to a double door then knocked on it.

When the door opened, Arno smiled and said

"Sebas, long time no see"

Sebas replied casually

"Then visit us more, won't you?"

"You know how it is, The Librarian is such a busy position"

"Pfft, The Librarian? More like the Lunatic Scientist or the Deranged Researcher."

They both chuckled and Arno walked inside.

"Come and sit, old man" Ignatius said from behind his desk

"I'm in the prime of my life!"

"Prime? You look like my great-grandfather a day before he died"

Arno pointed at Sebas

"No, that'd be the grey-eyed"

Ignatius looked deeply into Sebas' eyes

"Now that you mentioned it ... I can indeed see the resemblance"

Sebas shook his head

"You guys are projecting"

Arno walked and sat in front of Ignatius and Sebastian sat opposing him.

They both looked at Arno expectantly.

"What?"

"What do you mean what, You know" Ignatius said

"Spell the beans, is he really an S Tier?" Sebas said

Arno just smirked

"Now now, why do you guys wanna spoil the surprise? Wait and see for yourselves"

"Hurry"

"Just say it"

Arno's smirk turned into a grin

"YES, he's an S Tier"

Ignatius leaned back on his chair and murmured

"My god .. I can't believe it, an S Tier Mage ..."

Sebas said excitedly

"So we will soon have another Librarian Level guy huh"

Arno shook his head

"Aim higher"

Ignatius quickly came closer

"Do you think he can become a Royal?"

Arno took a deep breath

"I think he can become a Minister"

"YOU'RE JOKING"

Sebas jumped from his chair

"Are you serious? Minister? No way ... have you finally gone senile?"

Arno laughed

"Trust me, he has the potential for it"

Ignatius couldn't contain his excitement anymore, he caught Arno by his collar

"Do you really think we can have a Minister?"

Arno pushed Ignatius away

"Calm down. I believe he has the potential, but I don't know if he wants to do it"

Sebas asked

"What makes you think so?"

What Arno said next landed like a bomb

"He mastered silently casting all the common elements, while his Affinity is for none of them."

Silence

The lively atmosphere became heavy all of a sudden

"A- All the elements?? All the seven?"

Sebastian's shock was beyond comprehension

'I can't even cast one, and he can cast all the seven? Is that even possible?'

Arno simply nodded

"I don't think even a Crimson can do that"

"That's not even everything, he knows an Abstract for every Element, and has a Domain while still being in the Third Realm"

Ignatius and Sebastian's minds went blank, the shock was so strong that Ignatius himself asked

"Should we take him to the Capital?"

"No"

"Never"

Arno elaborated

"The Crimsons Are Monsters, they'll either experiment on him until he dies, brainwash him, force one of their bloody contracts on him, or just kill him for being too dangerous."

Ignatius said absentmindedly

"You're probably right"

He organized his thoughts and then asked Arno

"How much does he know?"

"Not much, he doesn't even think that he's strong, and he knows nothing about the tiers.

He also didn't use to value power that much, but I think he recently understood how valuable it is, I had to kill that man for that, along with a few other reasons."

Sebastian asked

"So that's why you killed Kasai? I thought he offended you"

"Well yes, he did, but I used that as an excuse.

I killed him to give Leus a push, to make him understand how important power is.

He already knows, but his desire for power is still not that strong, he puts family and happiness first."

Normally, Ignatius would never agree with that view, however, in this specific case, where the potential is immense, he couldn't help but agree.

Ignatius nodded in understanding

"You did good, if he still doesn't understand then we will have to push him even further. Putting that aside, what's his Affinity?"

"He has a half/half affinity for Fire and Water, however, I think that his main affinity is for Vapour and some dark element.

He has black hair strands, yet, he never mentioned anything about feeling an Affinity for darkness, so it is something different."

Ignatius scratched his chin in thought for a couple of seconds

'Vapour huh ...'