The four individuals stood not too far behind us and approached with caution. The pink-haired elf was the furthest ahead and was just as enigmatic as I had remembered. She held her staff above her head while controlling the vines. I have never felt mana like this before. It seemed to be a combination of earth and water mana, but that’s not just it, there was a slight instability within the combination. Another thing was that even though she wielded a staff, two rapiers hung at her waist.

“What are all of you staring at?” she said, before pointing at the Sentinel. “If you don’t want to get eliminated, I suggest you get moving.” Her voice was surprisingly mature for her appearance and the words rolled over her tongue seamlessly, as if she had rehearsed this phrase many times.

Enan brought me to my feet, waves of fatigue rippled throughout my body, causing me to go limp in his arms. “I can’t walk at all.” I complained.

He then placed my arms around his neck before lifting me onto his back.

“This should work right,” he asked in response.

“I guess.” I replied, slightly embarrassed.

The elf, upon seeing this, let out a giggle, then pointed to Cedric, who lay at the base of a tree unconscious. “Can you help him up, bale?”

She addressed a young dwarven boy. He sported blonde spiky hair and his short, stout stature protected by bronze like armor oozed strong earth mana. He left to get Cedric, putting him over his shoulder.

“I’m still against this, you know,” he said in protest.

“We should honestly get going. This type of cryptid is extremely territorial,” said another elf. She had much darker skin and wheat colored hair. Her mana was the strangest of all. I can’t seem to comprehend it; a mana type I’ve never come across. She wore a close fitting battle robes which did well to display her full figure.

During all this, the cryptid raised all kinds of hell as it tried to free itself from the binding vines. They easily snapped under its strength, but the elf channeled more mana it, causing new vines to reform and coil around it.

After we had gathered everyone up, we quickly left the scene. The elf hid our retreat by sprouting several trees to avoid the cryptid from following us.

“Why are you helping us?” I asked out.

“I don’t know, I just felt like it.” The elven girl said as she shrugged.

“Wouldn’t it have been better to eliminate us and steal our points?” Senna said.

She observed Senna for a moment before a sly grin appeared on her face. “Would it ease your mind if I said that was our initial intention?”

“Don’t joke with me elf,” Senna spoke back in a calm, threatening tone.

“Is this how you speak to your saviors?” She replied.

“Would it kill you to take anything seriously for once Lyria?” The dwarf boy interjected.

The elf, which I had now known to be Lyria frowns upon hearing this.

“You’re no fun,” she said as she turned away from Senna. “I’ll brief you once we get to a safe place.” She continued ahead, arms crossed and nose pointing to the sky, almost as if she was a child.

The dwarf then looked at me almost apologetically.

“The name’s Bale, sorry bout her. She’s got a few screws missing.” He said as he twirled his finger near his temples.

“It was our first thought to ambush you guys and steal points, but she fought against the idea and suggested we help and form an alliance.” He continued. “We actually need a bit of help ourselves, so I say we both benefit.”

He assured me they had no ill intentions, and they were also in a dangerous situation.

It was then I spotted the last figure as she walked near the middle of the group. Her aura was so discreet I didn’t really register her presence up until this point. Her hair was long and black and her bangs hung over her eyes. She had pale skin and compared to Lyria’s extravagant battle robes, her clothes were basically rags and leather. She walked with her head down and stayed mostly quiet as Lyria continued to bicker with Bale.

The sword at her back showed that she was most likely a fighter, but the large satchel strewn over her shoulder also signified she had been put in the supporter role, similar to me. It took me a while to notice, but I soon figured out she was a human.

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We didn’t get too far before I dozed off. Tired and mana exhausted, I thought it would be ok if I rested. Enan’s mana was quite noisy though, it was a constant rippling effect. Maybe he’s still anxious about the cryptid?

When I came to, I felt as if I was being embraced by particles of soothing light. A pleasant feeling that permeated my body, curious I focused towards the source, only to make eye contact with the pink-haired elf, her staff hanged over me and light green particles floated down.

“Oh, look who’s back. Did you sleep well?”

“I think I’m ok.” I replied

Most of my body felt fine, even my knees felt ok. It seems like she had treated my injuries while I was unconscious. I adjusted my body to sit up, but the feeling of dizziness quickly brought me back down.

“You’re still mana drained, so don’t move too quickly,” she said as she helped me up.

“Here, your friend left this for you. He said it will help replenish your mana,” she said as she handed me a cup of tea. I immediately knew it was from Enan.

I took a sip and tea has hit with a much stronger flavor than I knew. It differed from what he usually made and had almost a citrus after taste. While I contemplated what this tea was, I spotted Lyria closely inspecting me.

“Thank you again for saving us. I thought we were done for.”

“You don’t have to thank me it’s not like I did it completely out of kindness.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, let’s just say we ran into troublesome opponents and, in the process of our little scuffle… might have awakened the earthborn sentinel.”

“Wait. so you mean we almost got eliminated because of you guys?”

“Maybe.”

I guess it was fine in the end. Due to the nature of this domain, it seems that injuries, even those that would take a few months to heal, cleared out relatively quickly. We get another chance to clear this trial.

“Bale mentioned that you also need some sort of help.” I asked.

“Oh yes, that,” she said, putting away her staff. “You may think I’m on a full team, but in actuality, we were an alliance of eight. We joined up and worked together. It worked well, and we managed to get four thousand points by day three.”

Maybe we should have formed an alliance as well if they got that much. Well, it’s not that we ran into many teams, so the opportunity never really presented itself.

“We were ambushed and in an instant, two of us got eliminated. The enemy numbered in eight as well, but the initial ambush left us in a panic for the first several seconds. We were able to even the playing field and eliminated three of them. Even then, that Draco girl was extremely annoying. We were mostly even, but all of a sudden this damn sentinel popped up out of nowhere, causing us to lose another two.”

She sighs for a moment and then looks up at me, that same curious gaze slowly creeped back up on her face.

“Enough about me though, I’m quite interested in you,” she said while grinning. “Not only does mana behave strangely around you, that weapon reeks of aberrant earth mana. Even though I can’t see your internal mana, my senses alone suggest you don’t have earth affinity.”

“I’m a big nerd when it comes to magic and when I see something that piques my interest, I tend to get a little bit…. obsessed.” She said, almost drooling. It was as if she was a predator that had finally captured its prey.

I instinctively try to back up, but my body won’t let me. Has she already found out about my seal? If anyone finds out about my true soul fate, I might have to return home. She said she can’t see my internal mana or my soul. Maybe she isn’t really an aspect.

“You can’t see the mana within my body?” I asked.

“Not really no, I can only see ambient mana and a person’s emotional aura, nothing else really.”

“I thought Aspects could see people’s souls,”

“Me an aspect?” She asked, surprised. “Oh gosh no, that’s way too much praise, even for me.”

“Oh, your eyes made me think you were.” I said.

“I get that a lot, but I’m not an aspect. I am a descendant of one, and I inherited these eyes from her, although they are nothing compared to the real thing.”

I felt all the muscles in my body relax after hearing those words. Although I didn’t really know what an aspect even was. Are they people with special powers that make them see things others can't? I’m actually quite curious now. She seemed to know what they are so there was no harm in asking.

“Actually, I don’t even know what an aspect is, really. Do you know anything about them?”

“You don’t know what an aspect is? Why did you assume I was one then? Wait, I’m dumb don’t answer that you won’t truly know what an aspect is unless you meet one.”

She looked up for a moment, as if collecting her thoughts. “From what I know, they are mortals that have received the blessing of either a god or sacred beast, and in return, they serve as their proxy. They are some of the most powerful beings that exist on Gaia and command the most inexplicable magical abilities, some of which can bend the very laws of reality, time and space.”

She then pointed to her eyes. “One of these abilities is the eyes of truth, which is what I have, although this is a watered-down version. Normally these eyes can see everything from both ambient and internal mana, perceive lies and can even see the future.”

“I only know of two aspects, as most nations keep theirs hidden from the rest of the world unless they reveal themselves willingly. One of them was my great grandmother and the former queen of Minsel, Ludmilla Arlen. The second is the current ruler of Atlantis, Thyella Poseidónas.”

The ruler of Atlantis, even though I may have ended up much closer to one than I would like. I at least knew who to avoid.

“That’s all I know. To meet one in your lifetime is considered lucky, so don’t count on it.” She said as she turned to me.

“That should be it for now. I’ll go check up on your white-haired friend. Oh, I haven’t even asked you your name.”

“Oh, right Atsumi, Atsumi Hoshiko.”

“I see mine is Lyria Arlen.” She replied. “I look forward to seeing what you can do.”