Chapter 12 : magic (2)

Allen and Horikita had agreed that from now on, Leo would be Tia's magic teacher. Allen, who held the title of General, could easily move Leo as his subordinate as he pleased.

After completing the procedures as a "student" in the guild, Allen brought Tia back to the Duke's residence.

"The emperor has heard about it. The incident in the capital. They said it's no problem for you to come to the imperial palace whenever you are ready."

Meaning: No need to rush, take your time.

"I see..."

Tia then recalled the snake that had almost died in her hands. Or had he already died?

"What about the snake?"

Allen remembered the figure of the man lying miserably in the cell. The snake refused to speak to anyone; no information could be obtained from him, so he was still locked in an underground cell.

"He's fine," Allen replied indifferently.

"Do you want to meet him?"

Amertia thought for a moment. "I'll visit after I meet the emperor."

"Alright."

While Allen and Tia were silent, the system in Amertia's mind began to carefully explain the magic elements and the background of the gods and goddesses in this world.

[Initially, chaos created destruction in the world. Then there was a void. In that void, a world consciousness was born.]

[It called itself the path of heaven; it was not female, not male, it was formless, and it created the essence called a god.]

[Then from the god, the world was born.]

[The god created various worlds and blessed each world with their blessings; this world is the path of heaven's favorite world.]

[Where it blessed it with magic and miracles.]

[But an accident happened. The accident weakened the path of heaven, so no one could maintain the balance of this world. Even so, the god of life tried to support this world that was on the verge of destruction.]

[But in return, the god's soul fragment was shattered.]

[His soul traveled across different worlds.]

A faint light flashed in Amertia's eyes, but she didn't show much expression, so the system didn't notice her emotional waves.

[In the end, the god summoned people from other worlds to collect their soul fragments.]

Is that really the question?

[Yes, Host.]

Then why does death want to take all the transmigrators?

The system carefully said, [Because the path of heaven and the Goddess of Death have a bad relationship; the Goddess of Death always wants to destroy the path of heaven.]

Tia finally stopped speaking. So the Goddess wanted to weaken the path of heaven, to destroy its favorite world?

It sounded like a child wanting to destroy their enemy's favorite toy.

Even so...

The story behind it was surely not that simple.

Upon returning to the Duke's estate, Allen dropped Aloni off and then headed to the palace to go back to work.

Tia stepped into her room and rested while listening to the system's explanation.

The system ended its conversation about the god and returned to explaining about magic and the elements.

[In this world, there are the elements of water, earth, fire, air, and lightning. There are two special elements, light and darkness, each attribute blessed. The power of a magician, or mage, is determined by their mana capacity; the greater it is, the better.]

[For knights, or holy warriors, they have one magic attribute, which is light. Those with the darkness attribute are usually the protectors of the Goddess of Darkness's church.]

[Since the Goddess disappeared, the darkness attribute has become weaker. However, the influence of death has not changed. Because magic is essentially sourced from the god or goddess itself.]

[However, the knights of darkness have largely disbanded, so you will rarely find them now.]

[Therefore, side attributes are quite rare and holy knights have weakened. Even so, they still have a permanent blessing, which is a steel physique that they can obtain after taking an oath as a knight.]

Amertia thought of Allen. So that's it, he was strong because of the knight's oath blessing. Tia returned to thinking about her mission. She looked at her room's ceiling and asked.

"What do the god's soul fragments look like?"

[A glowing sphere is its physical form. However, the god's soul fragments cannot be seen with the naked eye.]

[You have to find it by triggering it, either by touching or attacking it.]

[The fragment can be anything, an object, a liquid, or even a person.]

Tia sighed. Did she really have to do this?

Hahaha, just kidding.

She HAD to, for the sake of returning home, for Leila.

"Based on the mission, the soul fragment is in the guild. But where?"

The system didn't answer her. The meaning was clear; she had to find it alone.

The next day, Leo was already waiting for her in the classroom prepared by the guild. Amertia, with her sword on her hip, looked at the man.

This time he was dressed casually, black long pants and a white t-shirt, his silver hair tied up. For a moment, Tia suddenly remembered the god's face.

'Thump!'

'Thump!'

Tia pushed her thoughts away and greeted him kindly. After all, this was her teacher; she shouldn't make a bad first impression in her learning.

"Good morning, teacher."

Leo smiled gently, his purple eyes sparkling with light, making Tia feel a familiar delicate feeling every time she received a love letter.

This was just her imagination, wasn't it? It must just be a feeling; don't overthink it. Tia discarded all her rationality and pretended not to notice the man's feelings.

"No need to be so formal... You can just call me Leo, Miss Amertia."

Tia smiled politely, "Then just call me Tia."

The two shook hands. After a brief pleasantry, Leo spoke.

"To be honest, this is my first time teaching. I will do my best to help," Leo said.

Amertia just nodded silently. Her quiet and "normal" appearance made Leo recall the incident where the girl carried him. He coughed, hiding the blush on his cheeks, and diverted his attention.

For now, he had to focus on teaching.

So he began.

"Magic comes from the mana core. Not everyone has one, fundamentally. To find out if you have a mana core, first, you have to test it and touch this mana detector."

Leo took a sphere out of his bag and gestured for Amertia to place her hand on the sphere.

Colors began to appear, but darkness and the color red dominated.

Leo looked at it with focus, making Tia wonder if there was anything strange about her magic elements and blessing attributes.

[Of course! You are the first person to be blessed by the Goddess of War and the Goddess of Death!]

Amertia glanced at the serious-looking Leo. Was that really the case?

Just as the system had guessed, Leo was truly stunned. Technically, Amertia had all the elements; she could truly learn everything, but the god's blessings dominated her magic!

Meaning?

It meant her magical power could be equivalent to the god's itself!

But... Leo looked at the darkness attribute in the stone. The Goddess of Death had clearly disappeared, but why was her blessing so strong with Amertia? What god was the red color a blessing from?

All of this was too confusing. So Leo just said, "You're talented. Let's start the class."

Leo began to teach Amertia from the basics. Such as the origin of the mana core, how to feel the mana core, and how to flow it, channeling it into real magic.

"Each person has their own way of imagining how they channel magic."

"Me? It's hard to explain, but I use my own feelings. I feel it, bring it through my nerves, and release it."

Leo released a small flame from his fingertip.

Tia closed her eyes, trying to find her mana core, her heart. Darkness was all around her; she kept trying to explore, searching for its end. But all she saw was darkness.

"I can't find it."

Leo gently comforted her, "Don't worry, the mana core can be seen when you know exactly what your image of it is."

Her view of the magic core?

Isn't it a heart? This time she imagined the organ heart. She went back into the darkness. This time, Amertia looked around carefully.

But...

'Thump!'

'Thump!'

'Thump!'

'Thump!'

Her heartbeat spontaneously changed. Something around her seemed unknown.

"It's you..."

The whisper was strangely familiar. Without her realizing it, Tia tried to reach for that darkness. A strong impulse made her lose control of her own body.

"You... I..." The whisper became clearer.

The fingertip met the void. The black smoke around her disappeared. Replaced by a person.

It was the figure of a young man kneeling before her.

"I hope me and my family will no longer go hungry."

"Dear my god... May we not be hungry. For years you have blessed the rich, when will you pay attention to the poor? Where are you, god!"

"Please..."

Amertia stared at the young man. Strangely, she couldn't move, she couldn't open her mouth, her brain was blank. She just watched the young man.

On a side note, why did he look like the guild master?

Amertia tried to move her fingertip, until warmth enveloped her. The man hugged her from behind.

A faint whisper was heard, "Do you want him as your servant? You don't need to waste your energy to help him..." The man lifted Amertia's finger and channeled his energy.

Aloni's eyes reflected with a mark on the young man's neck.

The mark of a red crow.

"From now on, he will be your 'servant.' He will become rich, after you return to me. Until that time comes...."

"I curse him..."

"So, my dear... Come back to me... "

Amertia couldn't understand. Why couldn't she move? Where was she? Why could she only stand there without moving at all?

"Are you angry?"

"You should be angry... I'm sorry, my dear."

"Isn't it time for you to scold me? Why are you just silent?"

"My dear... Come back to me... I apologize..."

Amertia began to feel annoyed with the man. She didn't even know how he found her. He just suddenly came, channeled his energy, and used his power to curse a person, using the crow mark as if making Amertia the one who cursed him.

"Am—tia!" A faint voice echoed.

The man's face came closer to hers. This time Amertia saw him clearly...

Wait a minute...

"Amer—Tia!"

The god?

"Amertia, wake up!" Amertia's body jolted. This time the darkness around her disappeared, and she was lying on the classroom floor.

Leo looked at her with concern.

The system in her mind rang.

[Congratulations, Host! You have found a god's soul fragment!]

What the hell...?