Arelion managed to convince Alyx to hold on at the very least until the following day before they did anything. He told the excited gnome to go speak with his party and make sure that they were ok with everything that was going on. That had brought the gnome back to reality, and he had agreed it was the best course of action for the moment. However, he stated that his party would more than likely be fine with the whole thing. Even so, Arelion had insisted and had seen the gnome off.
After the gnome left, he sat down and spoke with Rose about what she thought of the situation. The redhead was on board with everything, as she pointed out that the contract was still signed and Alyx was still bound by it. She made it clear that the final decision was up to them, that they should be comfortable with the situation, and that that was the course of action they wanted to take. After saying that, the redhead excused herself as apparently she wanted to give him time to think.
Arelion really didn't believe her excuse for a second, and he knew that the only reason she had left was because Jasmine was not in control. Not that he could blame her, as she really didn't know him, and it must be like meeting somebody new for the first time and knowing that they know everything about you and your life. The situation made Arelion feel a bit bad about the whole thing, but it was nothing he worried about too much. Ultimately, he only cared about the redheaded because she cared about his sister and was clearly a loyal friend.
However, with the redhead gone, he sat back down as he began a mental communication with his sister as to what was the best course of action for them. That conversation didn't last very long, as they both knew that this was the best course of action. They had someone who could clearly help them, and it wasn't as if they were attached to him permanently. If they joined his party and, after traveling around this area, decided that it wasn't for them, nothing stopped them from simply leaving. That was one reason why they had told him to go speak with his party first. Sure, the gnome was fine with the whole situation about them draining mana from creatures, but it didn't mean that others might be. They didn't know how he would explain the whole situation but figured that the gnome was smart enough to figure it out while still maintaining the contract. It wasn't as if they were going to show their ability in the open so easily. They had specifically bought another ring of capturing so they could capture weakened monsters and absorb their mana in private.
Thinking about capturing monsters, they remembered that they had monsters tucked away in the ring right now and that they should probably head to the forest. After all, if they ended up adventuring the next day, it was best to be topped off.
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Leaving the tree house, Alyx excitedly made his way to where he knew Lili and Tesilim were. He had told them that he wouldn't be joining them later that day either, as he had some other business to attend to. Something that they were completely fine with as they would have just spent it training anyway. It was times like these when he wished that he was far stronger in order to be able to use communication magic more effectively. Well, it's not like he couldn't use it. It was just that he wasn't strong enough to encrypt the message inside. In fact, maybe he should buy some communication earrings for combat purposes. It would make the fights much safer as they could easily coordinate.
It didn't take long before he convinced himself that buying the earrings was a good investment. It also helped that it would only count a little on the infringement he had been placed on- on the whole, not helping Tesilim him too much. Either way, he eventually made it to the park where the two elves were training and quickly rounded them up to head back to Lili’s house.
“So, you have two new possible party members, but you can't tell us much about them because of a magical contract?” Tesilim questioned as they settled down in Lili’s shop.
“Yeah, exactly.”
“Seems a bit suspicious if you ask me.” The chaos elf added on.
“Sure, but you took me in without issue, and you barely knew me. What's the issue here?” Alyx argued back.
“Well, you gave me cool magic items and offered to teach me about magic. Back in my world, that's like fantasy companionship 101.”
“So, if a random stranger comes by and offers unknown magical knowledge along with some shiny magical items, you are fine with just going along with whatever?” Lili added her two copper pieces of wisdom while raising an eyebrow at Tes.
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“Okay, well, when you put it like that, it doesn’t sound good,” Tesilim replied incredulously.
“Who are these new people anyway? Are they even any good at fighting?” Lili questioned Alyx about the more important aspects of the situation. The elf had worked with many people over her long life and knew that one of the most important aspects was combat efficiency.
“Well, one is a Warrior of Sol,” Alyx stated as if that answered everything Lili needed to know, which it did. She knew exactly how well-trained Sol’s clergy was. The gnome then continued, “However, I am not sure about the other in terms of combat, which is why I propose we give them a chance. In regards to who they are, well, I can’t say due to the contract. Just know that I am studying them in the hopes of helping with some of their issues.”
Alyx’s answered seemed to pacify Lili as she went back to doing her alchemy thing. Meanwhile, Tesilim spoke again.
‘Uh, Whos Sol? From the name, I imagine he is some sort of sun god?”
“Yeah, he is. To be more specific, he is the God of the Sun, Protection, Courage, and Hope.” Explained Alyx.
“Oh, well, in that case, that's fine then. They can come along.” Tesilim agreed instantly, something which grabbed the attention of both of his companions.
“Wait. Just like that, you’re fine with them joining?” The gem-eyed gnome questioned for both himself and Lili.
“Well, yeah. One is the literal warrior of a god dedicated to protection, courage, and hope. That’s like the biggest green flag you could ever have. Back in my world, those were the guys who valiantly sacrificed themselves for the greater good.”
“Wait. I thought you told me your world didn’t have gods yet?” Lili finally spoke up, confused as she recalled their various conversations.
“Yeah, we didn’t. Well, a lot of people thought we did, but it turns out we didn’t. However, I think I can now officially say those ones were fake. Now, as far as actual magical gods, no, I don’t think we did.”
“Sooooo, you didn’t?” Lili asked, a bit confused.
“No, we did not.”
“Okay, so how did you have clergy?” Alyx pitched in actually interested in the answer.
“We didn’t, at least not the magical kind.”
“But you just said that they sacrificed themselves for the greater good. You aren't making any sense, Tesilim! Are you just messing with us?” Alyx blurted as annoyance started to creep in.
“Ohhh, I see the confusion. No. Basically, we would play pretend as a game of sorts. The game had rules and stuff, and we used dice to run the game, along with lots of imagination. Then, in this game, we had all the crazy magic stuff you guys actually have, except we just pretended we did. One of those things was Clerics and Paladins.”
“Wait, wait, wait, you said you had magic.” Lili stated.
“We did, but not always.” An answer that tipped Alyx over the edge.
“Tesilim! I swear to both of my gods, if you don’t stop messing around, I am gonna have them smite you down where you stand!”
That got Tesilim’s attention, and he quickly looked over at Lili, eyes wide, “Wait! I thought you said they couldn’t do that!”
“They can’t, but that's beside the point. Finish explaining yourself before I smack you myself,” Lili answered, as she, too, was beginning to get frustrated.
“Geez, alright, alright. So, we always had mana, but it was hidden from us, as in we couldn’t sense it. It hadn’t always been that way; it was just that old magic users hid it from the populace. This then caused us to go a few thousand years without magic, and we were purely technologically advanced. Of course, everything changed when the Eldrtich God attacked us, and mana was revealed to us. There, does that make sense?”
For her part, Lili seemed to be pacified. Sadly, Alyx wasn’t, and the glint in his gem eyes began to worry Tesilim.
“So, let me get this straight. During this time period when your planet didn’t know about mana, you all invented everything usually available through mana and magic, except using numbers, rules, and imagination?”
“Yeah, exactly,” Tesilim answered quickly as if trying to end the conversation.
“Now, me putting aside the fact that there should still be people able to sense mana through a variety of other means, usually through sheer luck. It is quite interesting that without access to magic, your planet was still subtly guided to create the same things you would have had otherwise.”
“Well, when you put it like that, it is a bit odd.” Tesilim agreed and saw how the gnome's comment also brought back Lili’s attention to the conversation.
“Not just odd. You have to remember Tesilim; your planet still had a World Crystal. So the question is, if a population is deprived of access to mana, will the planet itself end up guiding them back to the source? Is that one of the many defense mechanisms of the World Crystal? After all, without a population to defend it, the thing doesn’t have many other defenses.”
“I am not sure; it sounds plausible, though,” Tesilim commented, not liking where the whole thing was going.
“More than plausible! That is something that needs to be studied!” Yelled the gnome, getting up from his chair.
“Where are you going?” Tesilim asked as Alyx began making his way to the door.
“To get the experiment going, of course!”
“What experiment?” Tes asked, a bit of worry leaking into his voice as his gnome friend approached the door.
“The one we just spoke about!” Replied Alyx as he exited the store.
Watching the gnome leave, Tesilim was about to comment on the whole thing when the gem-eyed researcher popped back in, “Be ready tomorrow morning! We are gonna go out and test our two new recruits!” Alyx yelled before popping back out.
Tesilim, his worry clear on his face, couldn’t help but ask Lili, “You don’t think he is just gonna kidnap some folk for his experiments, right?”
Lili’s shrug did not make the elf feel better.