After walking for nearly thirty minutes, the village chief, no, he called himself Regan, led us past the village's outskirts and near a cave hidden south of the village. Since it was still early morning, many people had just begun preparing for the day, meaning there were few people capable of witnessing our departure. Moreover, the blue moon Verja still hung limply in the sky, casting a pale blue glow to our shadows, barely illuminating our figures in the dark.

“This is it,” said Regan. Being an overly talkative old man, he barely shut up during the entire journey. Not that I particularly disliked it. I gladly welcomed the change. Urila, however, looked like he desired nothing more than to kill the old man with his gaze alone.

Before us was an opening to an underground cave hidden behind thick bushes and weeds. A heavy, manufactured, metallic gate seemed to obstruct any entrance, a metal padlock mounted on it.

Whipping out a key from his pocket, Regan began opening the padlock.

“Undines are unable to be used until bonded with a matching user. As you know, Undines form a soul bond with those they deem worthy. Becoming one with the wielder. Giving their masters all the skills at their disposal.”

“Sounds useful. Why outlaw such a benefit?” I asked inquisitively.

“Because soul pacts with other organisms are deemed too harmful. They can corrode the soul and affect your status. Those religious zealots hate anything that could temper with the soul. To think an invention as useful as this would be wasted because of idiots. Annoys me to no end, a shame for the businesses that could have been.” Regan replied harshly. He seemed to harbor an intense animosity for the Alderan faith. I wouldn't be surprised if he were talking about himself. Maybe he purchased the Udines before they were outlawed?

“Here, a soul crystal for each of you. Don't worry; it's on the house. I wouldn't be much of a businessman if I gave you only half the product, right–HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.” Laughing merrily, he gave each of us a small crystal shard, glowing a soft blue under the moon's light.

Analysis.

Item Name: Soul Crystal

Rank: Unknown

Mana: 0

A Soul Crystal Yet to be imbued with Sentient Mana.

“Pour your mana into the crystal. It helps with choosing the correct Undine. You can also use it again later if you ever register with the Adventurers Guild. The Crystals are like an imprint of your soul, useful for all sorts of things.” Regan said.

Following his request, the first to pour in their mana was Lita. The crystal shone with a bright green light for a moment before dimming. In her hand was a transparent green gem that seemed to glow a shimmering icy blue and a hot fiery red. It was dazzling.

“Oh, quite the unique mana signature you got there. Most soul crystals barely change color. You'll have no trouble finding a matching Udine. They love unique mana signatures—Just like my sons HAHAHAHAHA” Regain complimented Lita, before once again, for the hundredth time today, praising his son.

The next to pour his mana into their crystal was Urila. A subsequent chill ran up my—no, everybody's spines. A suction force seemed to take hold of the crystal, compressing and pulling it together like a black hole. The surrounding snow seemed to lift off the floor eerily as a black miasma spread out from the crystal, then—-nothing. As if it was all a dream, everything returned to normal except the crystal.

Within Urila's grasp was a small black pearl. It seemed to radiate a strange sense of dark energy as if all that miasma from earlier had been packed up neatly within it.

Looking towards Urila and Lita, Regan had his mouth wide open. Urilas's earlier display clearly shocked him.

“....Another weird one? Dont, tell me yo–” As Regan spoke, he then shifted his gaze toward me. Before he Could finish, I had already poured my mana into the crystal.

Zzzzzzzzz. An almost static, dissipating sound seemed to emerge from the crystal, then, suddenly, the snow under my feet began to melt. The ground beneath the snow turned to ash, and the air itself around me seemed to combust into flames, dissipating. It began at a radius of just one meter, then seemed to expand further to two. Everything within its, no, my radius dissipating to—Nothing.

“Agh!!” Not watching his step, Regan seemed to trip over something as he attempted to move away from me. Landing flat on his butt. Being the closest to me, the expanding circle began to close in on him.

Just as I was beginning to worry that I would be seeing how it worked on a person, the sphere seemed to stop, and similar to Urilas, the crystal began to fold in on itself. Zing.

Within my hand was a fist-sized deep purple orb.

Analysis.

Item Name: Annihilation Soul Crystal

Rank: ???

Mana: 100/100

A Soul Crystal imbued with ??? Mana.

Interesting. The fact that I couldn't gouge its rank meant that it was far above what my current level of Analysis could get from it, above the Grand tier. Looking around, both Urila and Lita were giving me strange looks.

Oh, cmon, as if you guys were any different.

It seemed like the old man was the type to get up from harrowing situations quickly, or perhaps it was his old age talking. Quickly standing up, he began to brush the snow off his body—smiling.

“....Gods, I thought that would be my end—HAHAHA. It shouldn't be possible for a crystal to cause harm or destruction to its surroundings. Your mana types are probably a mixture or an anomaly of the six classes.”

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Six classes? It was the first time I heard of this. It's probably something Lizette had chosen not to teach me about yet.

“What are the Six classes?” I asked curiously.

“The Six principals or foundations from which all things, mana alike, are built. Dark, Light, Fire, Water, nature, and Air. Lita, there has possession of multiple such elements. Unfortunately, most people will only ever have one. Anomalies are those entirely outside of the six.”

I see. Perhaps Regan wasn't so surprised because that rude k— his son had shown him something similar. I couldn't help but feel my curiosity piqued.

Without using analysis, if the crystal took shape to represent the elements, then that would mean Litas elements were water and fire. No, if derivatives were possible, they could also be Ice and magma. Then what about the green element from earlier? Perhaps nature? Shaking my head, I quickly threw away my assumptions. It would be too hard to tell without using analysis on the item.

“Common knowledge you should've been taught in school. Your future class options will also be some derivative of one of your mana classes,” Urila added disparagingly. He was being surprisingly chatty for somebody that supposedly had no companions. Jerk.

“Hey now, let's not fight. I need to get back to my son soon. We can't waste any more time. Follow me.” Regan said, cutting off my remark that would have ended our journey in its tracks.

…

…

…

“I can't follow you past this point. Just know the udines ‘voice’ that matches you best will guide you towards the correct location. It will attach to you in some form after the pact. I'll be waiting for you outside afterward.” Regan said.

He had led us relatively deep into the cavern. Lanterns vaguely lit up the narrow passageways as the soft sound of dripping water echoed like a drumbeat within the cave.

Together with Urila and Lita, we entered deeper into the cavern, leaving Regan to return outside. Like a switch being flipped, it wasn't long before I began hearing a multitude of sounds from every direction, pointing to different parts of the passageway.

Looking to my right—Urila had already disappeared. Haaa, he could have at least said something first.

Nodding softly towards Lita, who was still at my side, I split ways with her. Following the voice that seemed to permeate within my soul the brightest.

JIIIIIIIIII

JIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

JIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

The further I went, the louder it seemed to become as I stepped over puddles, rough terrain, and hard-to-spot passageways while ignoring and trying to find its voice amongst the many others.

Then— in front of me was a creature made from pure darkness. I could see why religious zealots would ban such a thing. It had no ‘shape.’ It simply existed, almost wholly melting into the cave's darkness if not for the soft lamplight beside it.

MASTER? It asked. I could feel its thought rushing into my head. Similar to the goddess from ten years ago. Its voice was deep and harrowing, almost demonic even.

“Yes, pledge your allegiance to me. I will be your new master,” I responded. It was natural. Even though I had never had anything swear its loyalty to me, it felt right.

“Yes.Master.” It responded, a bright light filling the cavern floor. The being before me disappeared, and I felt a strong stinging sensation on my neck. Ripping open my shirt, an almost circular tattoo appeared engraved on my skin, still blistering hot.

Analysis.

Race: Human

Class: —

Stats:

Strength - 16

Mana - 200

Agility - 30

Intelligence - 90

Charisma - 40

Endurance - 8

Special Skills:

Void Aura [S] - Lv (8/40)

Matter Manipulation [S] - Lv (1/50)

Yafels Blessing [Goddess of ???]

Wings of Supremacy[EX] - Lv(11/40)

Summon Undine[A] - Lv(1/20)

Combat Skills:

Intermediate Sword Mastery - Lv (49/50)

Intermediate Bow Mastery - Lv(10/50)

Intermediate Melee combat techniques - Lv(41/50)

Basic Magic Control - Lv(45/50)

General Skills:

Pain Tolerance - Lv(3/10)

Analysis - Lv(3/10)

Illusion Discernment - Lv(4/10)

Focusing deeper on the Summon Undine skill, I expanded its status.

Summon Raatrox[A] - Lv(1/20) -> (An undine freely capable of manipulating the void.)

Soul Link - Lv (1/10) -> (Creat a weak soul link, summoning Aatrox for a much longer duration in a fragile form.)

True Soul Link - Lv (1/10) -> (Maximise your Soul link to completely summon Raatrox.)

Interesting. So I could summon the Undine at what I would assume is a much lower mana cost for a larger duration of time. But, wait, how was Urila so sure it would be mountable? There was nothing noted here about treating the Undine like a typical horse.

Not.Like.Horse—-Raatrox.Help.Travel. Hmm, looks like we could still communicate fine without establishing the soul link.

Soul Link. Before me, a blurry projection began to take shape.

Horse hooves? I thought to myself.

This—was clearly a…horse? Except it seemed to have three heads. A black three headed stallion, covered in shimmering deep purple armor, appeared before me.

I.Take.Shape.You.Picture.

I see. Is its form linked to me in some way?

Looking closer at Raatrox, I couldn't help but smile. It was definitely linked to me in some way, that's for sure.

Raatox, you look—Awesome.

“Jiiiiiiiiiii,” Raatrox responds through its physical form. It looked happy.

Jumping on Raatrox's back, naturally, like he was an extension of myself. I willed him to move forward outside the cavern.

I could feel the space around me begin to weave and distort. Was Raatrox using Void skills? Then, like a gust of wind, Raatrox began galloping through the cavern. He didn't appear to be moving any faster than a regular racehorse, yet as the air began to distort around us, nearly fifty metres was travelled in the blink of an eye.

What took us nearly twenty minutes to traverse was crossed by Raatrox in less than thirty seconds. So this was why Urila was so insistent on the udines. He was as fast as my flying speed. And looking at my mana reserves, This form barely burned through one mana per minute. Meaning I would be able to maintain his form for a staggering five hours with my current mana pool. I couldn't even imagine what it would be like for someone like Urila with a far vaster mana pool and recovery time.

I could see the soft sunlight pouring through an opening in the distance, signaling not just the entrance of the cave but the brief appearance of mid-day. In a blink, we appeared directly at the entrance of the cave. Regan was waiting for me at the gate. It looked like we were the first ones out.

“...Cant exactly be surprised when you walk out with an undine like that now, can I. Looks like we'll be in each other's company for a while, kid. You were far faster than I expected, takes most one to two hours before they get out”

You may go now, Raatrox. Canceling the soul link skill, I skillfully landed on my feet as Raatrox softly disappeared into light particles.

“You don't need to worry. Udines can only be evaluated as such before the pact. Afterward their pact marks and status appearance are no different than that of a pact with any other monster or species. Many beast tamers are covered from head to toe in such marks–HAHAHAHA.” Regan said, laughing merrily for who knows what.

I see. That made sense. I wondered how we would hide such creatures on our journey or in towns. But the udines strangely took on different shapes depending on the person, so It would be hard to tell.

“You know, looking at you much closer–You would make a fine match for my son Hastufa!! I'll tell you what right now. He's not only the pride and joy of our family, but with his talent, he’ll raise our family name up through the ranks of nobility! You wanna be a noble in the future little missus?”

I couldn't help but be slightly slack-jawed. Just how shameless was this old man?

“Im good. I met him this morning, actually. Rude little kid.” I replied with as much distaste as possible. Hopefully, he gets the hint.

“Hmm, you must be thinking of someone else then. Not my Hastufa. Plus, aren't you guys the same age?” Regan replied, confusion apparent on his face.

“...” He wasn't doing this on purpose, was he.

As I was about to let loose on this old fart, a black mist began to seep out eerily from the entranceway. Saved by the bell yet again.

Then, like a wisp of smoke, a giant black panther seemed to almost shudder into existence. Urila on its back.

Now that's a big cat. Although slightly smaller than my Raatrox, the beast was covered in bone armor on all sides like sharpened steel. As the black mist continued eerily pouring out from it, Urila, on its back, looked like a god of death. Jumping off the beast, he walked towards us as it dissipated into light particles.

“Why can't any of you guys just come out on a brown horse or something,” Regan said.

CLAT.CLAT.CLAT

Horse hooves began to echo loudly from the cave entrance. It looks like Lita as well.

Why was Regan looking at the entrance with expectations in his eyes? I don't know.

Out from the entrance appeared Lita, riding on what appeared to be a large deer. With one side of it engulfed in flames and the other in ice. The ground around it seemed to melt and cool down concurrently.

“... Let's be on our way.” Regard said disappointedly.

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