Raven stared calmly at the two in front of him and pondered silently before he decided to retrieve a small item from his pocket.
"A flute? What is it for?" Oliver raised a brow, trying to figure out the usage of Raven's Artifact, which, in truth, was his Relic.
The others were also curious, wondering just how powerful Raven's "Artifact" was.
"I can summon a creature that can fight."
"How strong it is?" Mia asked quickly.
"It was able to kill a Mutated Nightshade with ease," Raven said, not hiding the truth.
"So you are a Summoner, huh?" Mia mumbled before adding, "I think you are more than welcome as you can fill that small gap our party lacks."
'Summoner?' a soft frown appeared on Raven's face before he happened to remember what his father told him about Roles.
'Depending on one's Artifact, Relics, Rune Marks, Avatar Traits, and other minor things, everyone is categorized into different Roles within the Realm Association while also getting a Character Rank that can vary from F to S!'
As Raven thought about this he quickly asked, "What are your Roles?"
"Lady Luna is an Assassin, Oliver is a Berserker, Alex is both a Healer and a Tank, John is a Lancer, and I am a Ranger." Mia explained before winking at Raven and saying, "You can say we only needed a Summoner."
Ignoring the wink from Mia and the cold stare from Lulu beside him, Raven frowned and asked, "And what about Caster or an Enhancer?"
"You can say I am sort of a Caster as my bullets are capable of creating traps. As for an Enhancer, while it is true that one would not be a hindrance for us at all, they are extremely rare and many of them were already recruited by the Realm Families."
"Hell, in truth none of the currently existing Guilds have an Enhancer! It sucks as hell! With one, our lives would be much easier!"
"I see." Raven nodded softly.
"Anyways, do you mind showing us your summon?" Mia suddenly asked, her pretty eyes flickering with both curiosity and excitement.
Raven however shook his head and said, "I apologize, I can't. Or at least not until we encounter a creature and are forced to fight. My summon consumes a massive amount of Mystique while it is summoned."
"Is that so?" Mia seemed disappointed a little, her shoulders dropping scarcely.
"Well, at least that means his summon is strong." Oliver started with a smile before showing a thumb up at Raven, "Welcome to the group, kid."
'Kid? I am definitely the oldest one here.' Raven raised a brow but decided not to say a thing. Instead, he started to follow Oliver and the rest from behind while Luna walked beside him so close that her shoulders touched his.
In fact, if she could have, she would have told the rest to leave the Realm Domain as she wished to know everything Raven went through, however as they were tasked by the Realm Association itself she couldn't do so.
After all, if the Realm Association asked a Guild to clear a Realm Domain that must be done as soon as possible.
While walking through the blue forest for more than 5 minutes without meeting any creature, Mia slowed down a little on purpose and once she was next to Raven, asked, "So, Raven, was it? Where have you been in these 3 years? Everyone thought you were dead."
Upon hearing the question Raven flinched slightly before he showed a wry smile and said, "Well, it is quite a long story, one that is also complicated a little, so I would not like to talk about it now. Perhaps in another time."
"Oh~? How mysterious." Mia narrowed her eyes as she chuckled softly.
However, the next second her face became grim, and quickly raised her Artifact in her hand, "Enemy."
The rest in the front halted their steps when they heard her voice and instantly stood into formation with Oliver and Alex in the front, John in the middle, and Raven, Luna, and Mia in the rear.
"Where?" Oliver asked quietly while looking around.
"There." pointing her rifle to the left, Mia said coldly.
Following her Artifact everyone shifted their head to the left, only to see a Mutated Nightshade approaching them slowly.
"Just a Mutated Nightshade? I will take care of i-" Oliver was about to dash forward and kill the creature when suddenly John stopped him.
"Wait. Why don't we let Raven show us what his summon can do? That way we can utilize it to our best need in this Domain."
"Yeah, that makes sense." Oliver nodded and turned toward Raven, "What do you think, kid? Wish to show off a little?"
Seeing everyone stare at him, especially John's, Raven sighed and nodded.
"Perfect! Then let's retreat a bit."
"Before that, I need to know if you guys wish to collect the remains of the creature after it does or not," Raven said as he watched that everyone retreated except for Luna; she stayed close to him as ever before.
"Huh? Why? Your summon will make it vanish into thin air or what?" John asked with confusion.
"Yeah, something like that." Raven nodded, earning a deeper frown from John.
"Well, if you can save some parts of it, that would be the best. If not, that is not a problem either as we have already collected many." Mia said calmly, patting a small orb attached to her waist.
"Sure. I will try my best then." Raven said and after he faced the Mutated Nightshade he brought the flute before his lips and blew it, quickly causing the fluffy little bird to appear.
"What the hell is that? A bird? How can that even fly?" just like Raven when he first saw his Guardian, everyone felt puzzled which quickly became stronger the moment they saw how the little thing struggled to stay in the air as it flew toward the Mutated Nightshade.
However, that only lasted for a few seconds, and what flowed next shocked them to their very core.
Once the little bird was close to the creature and safely avoided its seemingly poisonous attack just like how it this previously, it opened its beak wide and with one swift motion swallowed the entire Mutated Nightshade.
'Leave behind some of it.' Raven gave his summon a mental command to which the little bird trembled a little before it spat out several parts of the creature, each covered in massive amounts of saliva.
'...'
Unsummoning the little bird, Raven looked at Mia and the rest only to see they stared at him with utter disbelief.
"What?" Raven frowned, not understanding why they were so shocked.
"Raven, that creature was a Mutated Nightshade," Luna spoke calmly.
"Yeah, I know. And?"
Now it was Luna's turn to furrow her brows before explaining, "Mutated Nightshades are incredibly poisonous, so much that just by touching it one can die almost instantly if their Constitution is not at least above 500 points."
"As for their attacks, if you inhale their Poison Dust or get covered with their Acid Blood, not even good can save you."
When Raven heard this he seemed to realize why everyone was so shocked and quickly explained, "You don't have to worry, my summon has high poison tolerance. It will be fine."
Luna wished to say something at that, however, soon she just shook her head and turned toward Mia.
"Collect those and let's go."
Hearing Luna's voice Mia snapped out of her daze and quickly walked beside the Mutated Nightshade's carcass, or at least next to what remained of it. And once she was next to it, she grabbed the small orb hanging down her waist and shook it gently.
Whoosh!
'Oh? It is quite the useful Relic.' Raven thought as the remnants of the Mutated Nightshade vanished into the orb.
"Let's go." once everything was stored away, Luna looked at the rest and told them to start walking.
However, not even a minute after they began to walk, the group crossed paths with another Mutated Nightshade, three to be exact.
"I will take care of them," Oliver said with an excited smile, his fists already swallowed by blazing crimson fire.
"Just make sure to keep the valuable part intact." Mia started to which Oliver nodded and dashed forward.
"Die, you bastards!"
Appearing before the three Mutated Nightshades, Oliver planted both of his feet firmly into the ground and with one powerful move slapped his palms together.
BOOOOOM!
In an instant, massive blazing fireballs consumed each creature in their whole, quickly scorching their bodies and turning them into nothing but ash!
Or at least every part of them except for a few.
'He has great control over his flames.' Raven thought as he watched how some parts of the Mutated Nightshade didn't get turned into ash and dust but simply fell on the ground without getting damaged!
That was an incredibly hard thing to achive, that was for sure!
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