Emi stared at the figure of Eluard as he descended to the ground.
[ Special Task 2: A Little Girl's Request Completed ]
[ Rewards: Temporary Power Scroll (Grandmaster Magus) x 2 ]
[ Temporary Power Scroll (Grandmaster Magus) ]
[ Temporarily increases your magical cultivation power into grandmaster magus level. Lasts for 60 minutes. Similar power scrolls can be stacked up to 3 times ]
[ Relinquishing all temporary powers from host ]
Eluard's mind lightened as the memories of magic spells and his magical cultivation were deleted by the system. Once it passed, he narrowed his eyes, thinking that the system had forgotten another reward.
[ The other recruit is located in the middle of the caravan ], the system prompted as if it knew what he was thinking.
'So it's not Emi's elder sister?', Eluard pondered, staring at Emi who stared back at him with fear.
"Are you afraid of me now, little girl?", he asked.
To his surprise, Emi shook her head, "N-n-no, senior. I-It's my first time seeing… dead people. I didn't know senior would kill people… like that."
She thought that Eluard would have a difficult time against these human poachers. The results showed her that her worries were unfounded.
"Hmm. Is that so?", Eluard glanced at the dead bodies that weren't reanimated, particularly Master Brandon's meat paste and the skeletal remains of the bald man.
"Their deaths were deserving. There are some people in this world whose existence shouldn't have happened.", he narrated like a philosopher, enlightening Emi at the same time.
The girl nodded in contemplation as her mind wandered around.
Eluard's eyes then fell upon a girl at the center of the caravan. Her breathing was unstable and he saw her weakened bluish-white eyes staring at him. He could hear her call for help as her pale red lips moved around.
'I remember the system saying something about her earlier. She is the one you want me to recruit, huh?', Eluard pondered and slowly approached her.
Emi shook her head and pulled out of her confused state. Seeing that Eluard went over the other way, she approached her big sister instead.
The other demi-humans grouped and hugged one another, thankful that someone came over and saved them from the human poachers.
"Big sis!"
"Emi!", a tall brunette girl with larger cat ears and longer tail walked over to her. Bruises could be seen on her arms and face. There were scratch marks that soiled her beautiful autumn dress.
"Emi, thank the deities that you are okay.", Akane, Emi's big sister, hugged the little girl tightly. She thought that she would no longer see her little sister after being captured by the humans.
"Emi, don't blame yourself for it, okay? It's all okay now.", Akane caressed Emi's head. The other demi-humans who overheard their conversation went over and thanked her as well.
"Emi, that person over there, you said that they're the senior that helped us. Do you know who that person is?", Akane asked. She was worried about Emi's naivety, and that the 'senior' himself had ulterior motives for helping Emi out.
"He's the senior from the Heavenly Magic Academy!", Emi excitedly replied.
"Senior?"
"From the Heavenly Magic Academy?"
The crowd discussed the authenticity of Emi's words while Akane's worries intensified, 'Was she duped by this robed man?'
She couldn't be blamed, after all. The fabled magic academy was thought to be a fairy tale that people passed down over time, used to encourage those who were easily manipulated by such stories.
The League of Wizardry didn't dare to confirm nor deny the existence of the said academy. Thus, whether the fabled academy was real or not remained a debate until present times.
"Emi, stop lying to your big sister. Who is that robed person and why did he help you?", Akane glared at Emi.
The little girl faltered, "Bu-but sister! It's really the truth. Senior said he wanted me to be his student!", as if realizing something important, "Look, this envelope! He gave it to me so that I could escape from the human poachers earlier!"
They scrutinized the envelope in Emi's hands and they saw a seal at the bottom left.
There was a dragon figure at the center with its wings wide open, about to breathe fire from its wide-open mouth. It was the emblem of the Heavenly Magic Academy. The resemblance from the books that illustrated it before was far too similar to each other.
It was nothing short of accurate and legitimate itself.
Before they could say anything else, Emi continued.
"Then I was teleported to a strange place! There was a huge school in the distance, bigger than the Imperial Palace in the Morning Star Empire, and more beautiful than the Sanctuary of the elven empire!"
"The senior greeted me warmly, then he proceeded to take me into the Pool of Revelations. Big sister, the water was crystal clear and I felt refreshed when I stepped upon the water! Then, I was transported to another dimension and I saw that I have a legendary magic root!"
Her incessant recollection of events stupefied the crowd. There was no way Emi could imagine them all over her head, especially when it was too vivid and contained a lot of information.
"Emi, did you say that you have a legendary magic root?", Akane stuttered.
"Yes!", Emi jumped out of excitement, "Even I couldn't believe it, big sister!"
The crowd was confused and looked at one another. It was known that people like them, humanoid felines, or cat-humans as commonly termed, weren't versed in the arts of magic.
They were similar to the inhabitants from the Northern Glacial continent whose history of people born with magic roots was as blank as a slate of paper. Only in recent times did some of their descendants manage to form a magic root after birth, though the accounts on how it happened were rather based on being 'adulterous'.
"Wait! Wait!", a male demi-human approached Emi with a book in his hands, "If it's true and she does have a magic root, then if you follow what is stated here, something should happen!", he frantically said while pointing at the bottom section of the page.
He had found the book while rummaging inside the luxurious carriage of Master Brandon.
It was titled "Wizardry: The Basics" and the contents of it were how to determine if one had a magic root or not. It was different from the process of determining the rarity of the magic root and their magic affinity.
Emi first looked at her big sister who nodded in approval. The little girl then closed her eyes and followed what was written on the page.
'I-I should gather my consciousness towards the edge of my mind, right?'
The edge of the mind was an abstract term that wizards alike coined in order to express in verbal terms how to reach a concentrated state when cultivating magic. Nobody knew what it exactly meant and the League of Wizardry never bothered to expand their knowledge upon this subject either.
Back on Emi, she drifted her mind and soon felt that she was hovering around like a soul that escaped its physical body. In that special state, Emi saw bluish-white orbs floating around like fireflies. They were the mana orbs present in the air.
The scenery was similar to the one in the Pool of Revelations back at the Heavenly Magic Academy.
"I-I can see it! I can see them!", she gleefully responded to the crowd eyes closed. They gasped in shock.
Akane covered her mouth to prevent expressing her emotions as this was a crucial moment for Emi.
"Then, Emi, try to gather them to your body!", the man added. A hint of excitement was mixed in his voice.
Emi focused and drew the mana orbs towards her. Everyone then witnessed a faint golden-white aura covering her entire body.
Akane couldn't help but cry her tears of joy after verifying that Emi had the potential to become a mage, and possibly, a wizard.
Reminiscing her past, she found Emi abandoned near a river during a stormy day. Luckily, for her, the raging waves didn't manage to grab Emi and drown the baby to death.
Akane used all of her time to take care of Emi and taught her many things. She had become both Emi's mother and big sister after all the years. That was why she was worried when Emi started talking about the robed senior who claimed to be someone from the Heavenly Magic Academy.
She didn't want Emi to meet an unfortunate accident, or be taken away from her from those of evil intentions.
Now that they verified that Emi does have a magic root, her heart was at peace.
"Emi, you can open your eyes now.", someone from the crowd reminded her.
Emi turned around, "Sister, why are you crying in front of me?", she rarely saw Akane expressing herself like this.
Akane went over and hugged her tighter than before, "Emi… I'm… I'm thankful… for all these years… that I was able to meet you and save you during that day."
"Now, the deities have answered my prayers and gifted to you that magic root.", Akane wiped off the tears on her face.
"Listen, Emi, no matter what happens, I will still be your big sister, okay? Don't ever forget that."
Her words startled Emi, thinking that something bad was about to happen.
"Big sister, what are you talking about? Stop making me nervous. Please tell me what is going on?"
Akane caressed Emi's head, "Nothing. It's just that your big sister is happy for you.", she kissed Emi's forehead then flashed a bright smile to her little sister.
Akane then stood up and grabbed Emi's hand, "Come, let's go over and meet that senior of yours over there."
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