62. OutMission (1)

62. OutMission (1)

It was about one or two hours before the sunrise, one middle-aged man with a big fat belly walking alone in the dark forest, even inside that darkness the old man didn't lose his way, it was because he'd already used to walking on this road, soon enough the old man reached on a single tree that was a bit different than its surrounding trees, that single tree was surrounded by a stack of stone that looks like a shrine

The old man kneeled in front of the tree and closed his eyes

Shortly, a strange sound can be heard by the old man

*clank *clack *clank

It was an eerie sound, but the old man doesn't seem to be afraid of that sound, he kneeled there like there was nothing strange about it

*clack *clank *clack

The eerie sound slowly fades away that the old man finally opened his eyes, on top of the stone in front of that single tree, there was a small sack of raw gold, the old man began to smile eerily as he pocketed the small sack of raw gold before he left the place back to his home, like nothing unusual happened

***

One week has passed since the mock battle between Lex and Livia

"Phew…" Lex sighed in relief looking at Livia Lacrimosa the Silent Witch sat in her usual seat reading a book, 180 degrees flipped from yesterday she's back to normal.

(it seems she had a mental breakdown that caused yesterday clingy personality)

(Nothing changes after the mock battle, everything back to normal except)

Livia closed the book and put it on the table

"Come here" she said as she stood from her chair and slowly sat on the floor

There are two changes in their relationship, the first one is Livia would put away the Silent World whenever there are only the two of them inside her house and the second one was Livia started to teach Lex about Mana and Magic. Lex got zero knowledge about Magic caused he can't use it even if he knew it, but Livia suggested it's better to know more about it if you want to counter another person Magic

(The Silent Witch name was not for show) Lex thought

Livia who sat on the floor started to pat his lap giving Lex a hint

"Um, I'm glad that you finally started to teach me, but it's necessary for me lay down on your lap every time?" Lex asked

One week since Livia taught Lex, what she's know about Mana and Magic, and every time Lex was told to lay down on her lap, after a week of enjoying her lap, finally Lex's conscience won his mind, that he urged himself to ask about it

(Uwah! I'm so stupid! It was so comfortable!! but still, I was nearly pressed down by guilty conscience if I didn't ask anything about it, so I need to ask it!)

"hmm?" Livia smiled teasingly "you don't want to?"

(wait! Is her personality like this before? Where's the cold beauty gone to!? I was about to lose my sanity there, The Gap was too big! She's dangerous!!)

"It's me who offered it, of course, I'm okay with it, but if you didn't want it then…"

*fwuuu~

Before Livia finished her sentence, Lex had already lied down on her lap

(Yes! Guilty-free lap-pillow is the best!!)

"hehe" Livia giggled while playing with Lex's bang

(Guh! This woman is dangerous! Calm yourself Lex you can do it, you're still twelve years old you need a few more years before you do that healthily)

(Damn it! I wish I was an adult now!)

"Well, Let's start with the usual" Livia said then Lex started to circulate his mana

It was in their first class, that Livia said to him

"you're not using your mana properly," Livia said

"As you can see, I can't use Mana outside of my body, there's something that blocked it" Lex gave her a reason

"Still, you're not using it properly, there is a big difference between you can only control 10% of your Mana, and you can fully control it but you only used 10% of it"

"Ugh" Lex was unable to refute caused he know it's true, but he just can't do that, his Mana Capacity was big means there's so much mana in his soul that moving that mana was like swimming inside of lead that is in a half-solidified state, it was like pushing a wall with a bare-hand hoping you can make a dent on it. "I know, but I can't do that with my Mana blocked"

"it's ok, I'll help you with it," she said confidently

"Huh?" Lex got dumbfounded by Livia, (she want to help me with my mana isn't that impossible? I've never heard of that kind of technique before)

"Hurry, circulate your mana"

Urged by Livia, Lex started to circulate his Mana and he feels something warmth as Livia placed her hand on Lex's chest

"!!?" This time Lex was shocked to his bone, his Mana just flow out of his body like usual, he got surprised that he almost forgot to circulate his Mana

"Don't stop!" Lex snapped out from confusion once Livia called out to him, and continue to circulate his Mana

"How??" with a face full of confusion he asked,

"You know Mana everywhere on the air no?"

Lex nodded answering that

"And if your Mana was really blocked it should be impossible for your soul replenish its Mana from the air"

"!? Now that you say it! Why I didn't realize it before now, then I can use my Mana like everyone else too?"

"um…" Livia hesitated for a while before answering Lex "if you can control it as I did, you can, you need to control it like the natural state of Mana in the air that's changing at every second, you can release it now because it was me who fine-tuning your Mana"

(Natural state of mana? Changing every second?)

*shuuun

"Then, it's impossible" Lex got depressed while Livia giggled once again looking at him she cheered him up while caressing his head

That's was how their class started separated by two, half was controlling Mana, and another half was knowledge about Mana.

***

"Ah! There you are!" after Lex usual hunts with Mio, the both of them had lunch together in the cafeteria, when they enjoyed their lunch, suddenly someone called to them

Lex turned to the one who called him "Max and Cleos?"

"Hello" Cleos greeted then Mio and Lex greeted back

"Can we sit here?" Max asked

"Of course" it was a table for four, there's no reason to deny that, with that Lex stood up and sat beside Mio, then Max and Cleos sat in front of them. Lex did this as he was considerate with Mio caused she only knew them as Lex's friends.

(Maa~ Mio wasn't someone who would mind something like that)

"Bukusukuku, you didn't need to mind that," Mio said that with a giggle, still, her mood improved with that small action

"Can you guys not flirt every time we saw you" Cleos criticized

Both Lex and Mio were stunned by the sudden critic by Cleos, they both turned toward each other and "kuskuskusu" "hahaha" they laughed towards each other

"Damn it!!"

"Here~ order something to calm yourself" it was Max who fused the situation "anyway Lex, what happened to that?"

What Max asked was the last time when Livia heard their conversation

"Yes, luckily it ended well" Lex gave a bit tired expression when he remembered Livia's conduct lately

"What is it?" Mio intruded in their conversation

"N, Nothing!" Lex replied quickly

(Wait, why was I panicking like this!? Both of them weren't even my woman… yet!)

"A, Anyway Max you seem to be looking for us before, what do you want?" Lex immediately changed the topic with a cold sweat under Mio suspicion gazes "well, fine" Mio muttered softly at Lex's antics

Max exchanged gazes with Cleos before he replied to Lex "we want to invite you two to take OutMission together"

"OutMission?" Mio and Lex never heard of that words before they didn't know what it means

"Yes, Outside Mission, OutMission, it was our first time taking one too, It was recommended by the one who helped us since we began to take Mission long ago, a simple OutMission, it was simple but it's still reckless to take it with only two of us" Max explained

"Lex a scout, Max a vanguard and with Me and Mio as rear guards I can take support small attack, while Mio can prepare to use big attack" Cleos followed while explaining their position to propose they would become a good party together

"Mmm~" Mio nodded accepted their explanation "what do you think? I think it was a bit too fast for us to take OutMission though"

"…" at first Lex have the same thought as Mio (but, I won against Livia, That Silent Witch, then I still had my trump card, the Magic Weapon) "First, what kind of Mission is that?"

"It is an investigation near a village, it's said an undead sighted near that village, and the OutMission was only an investigation so we can run away too if we think it is too dangerous" Max replied

"Hmm… that seems easy"

"Right! We thought the same too, but we didn't want to be reckless that's why we invited both of you" Max said and Cleos nodded agreed with him

After being silent for a while, Lex then turned toward Mio "Dear I want to take it, it was only time before we took OutMission and this OutMission seems easy too, we can escape if it gets dangerous, but if you strongly refused it we won't take the Mission" they both stared at each other for a few seconds

"Ok, let's take it," Mio said