Throughout the course of the fight, Merial’s expression went from worried to astonished.
She knew that Rin had some experience in fighting based on her reaction when she had tried to grab her hand. But she did not imagine that Rin would win against Jamie in a spar.
Merial closed her mouth which was hanging wide open and walked over to Jamie who was currently writing down something on a clipboard.
“What was that? How did she beat you?” Merial asked, shocked at the result.
“I...” he said, bringing down the clipboard and looking her in the eye, “I almost killed her Merial.”
Her eyes widened and a frown appeared on her face.
“What do you mean? Didn’t you lose though?” she asked.
“It’s not about that,” he sighed, “I guess I got too excited in the thrill of the fight.”
“So, you almost killed the girl, a level twenty at that,” she said.
“Yeah...” he breathed out, rubbing the back of his neck.
“...But you lost though,” she joked, lightly punching the man’s shoulder.
“Haaaah... you cheeky elf. I guess you haven’t changed at all,” Jamie chuckled.
The elf flashed a peace sign into the air and smiled before turning towards the white-haired girl.
“Anyways, what were her results?” she asked.
At her words, he brought up the clipboard that was hanging on his side and showed its contents to the elf.
“S RANK!?” Merial exclaimed, reading the first thing she saw.
“Hang on for a moment,” Jamie replied, “That’s what I put down for her potential.”
Raising a brow, the ranger gestured for the man to continue.
“Before the fight I barely felt any kind of threatening pressure or aura from her. But as soon as the fight began, it was like I was fighting against a boss monster,” Jamie explained.
“Can’t you control your aura like that though?” she asked.
“Hmm... good question. I can mask it to a certain degree, but nothing like what that girl can,” Jamie replied.
“Interesting,” Merial muttered and looked towards Rin who only shrugged at the glance.
“Don’t get any funny ideas,” he frowned and looked between the girl and the elf.
“Oh, don’t worry about me,” she chuckled.
The man shook his head and placed his palm over his forehead.
“Fine, fine, but if she ends up killing you, don’t blame it on me,” Jamie sighed.
Laughing once more, the elf pointed towards the clipboard.
“What about the rest?” Merial asked, her eyes twinkling.
“Let’s see, her style of fighting is simply astonishing. She has a tier of control over her magic that not even the strongest mages in this city have,” he said.
“How so?” she asked, confused as she had watched Jamie destroy the girl’s magic with ease.
“Well, how do I put this...” he muttered and tapped his chin with his finger thoughtfully.
Thinking of an idea, he pulled out a large map and placed it on the ground. He flipped it over so the blank side lay facing up while Merial looked on with interest.
“So, here’s scenario one,” he said, pulling out a pen and drawing two circles about 10 centimeters apart on the left side of the map.
“This is me,” he pointed to the first circle before pointing to the second, “And this is your average mage.”
“Right,” she said, not sure where the man was getting with his drawings.
The man then drew a line connecting the two circles with a different color.
“This right here is what I call the area of influence for the average mage,” he explained, pointing at the line.
“Is it the same for archers too?” the elf asked.
“It depends, usually archers have less flexibility in their attacks than mages. But at the lower levels I guess it doesn’t differ too much,” he said as the elf nodded.
“The area of influence is a place where people can create a cause and subsequently, an effect. Usually, mages with a low to average level of experience only utilize their skills and abilities along this line,” he described.
Turning to the second circle, he drew a medium sized circle around it.
“Now this,” he traced his finger around the second circle, “This is my circle of influence. The size is quite small, but that’s because of my class as a melee fighter.”
“Ah, I get what you mean,” Merial muttered as the man smiled.
Picking up the pen, Jamie drew two more lines originating from the mage’s circle connecting to his.
“These lines symbolize both levels and experience. As one grows in strength, their area of influence increases accordingly,” he said, looking to the elf who was currently frowning.
“But what does this have to do with her results?” she asked.
“Tsk..tsk... I haven’t gotten to my point yet,” he sighed.
Taking up the pen once more, he went to the opposite side of the paper and drew the same two sets of circles.
“Alright, scenario two,” he said, pointing towards the first circle and drew another circle around it, “So there’s me again, along with my circle of influence.”
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“And this,” he drew a massive circle around the entire paper along with several tens of intersecting lines connecting to his circle, “This is that girl's area of influence.”
Unable to respond, the elf blankly stared at the paper while Jamie opened his mouth to continue.
“Unlike your average mage, that girl uses her magic in an unreadable attack pattern. She hides her attacks behind layers of feints that are also behind feints. And the worst thing about fighting her was that she had only been aiming for my vital points.
“If we were the same level,” he shuddered at the thought, “I don’t think I would even last a second...”
Putting away the pen, he started to roll up the map before Merial interrupted him with a nudge.
“Hey Jamie,” she said, “Doesn’t that look like an attack domain?”
Narrowing his eyes, he looked down at the paper.
“Hmm, you’re not wrong. This might be useful in cultivating a domain,” he muttered.
“But anyways, I’m going to send this up to the guild for research and finish up her ranking evaluation,” he said before he paused, “Oh yeah, what was her name again?”
“Her name is Rin and what rank are you going to give her?” she inquired.
“Rin, that’s fitting. And about her rank, personally I would give her an S ranking in terms of combat ability and potential strength. But in our system, I would have to give her an E based off her current strength,” Jamie explained.
“Isn’t that too low? She did beat you after all,” Merial pressed.
“I didn’t make the system,” he shrugged, “And she would probably beat you too.”
“Enough with the jokes Jamie, she can’t possibly beat me. The greatest archer in Arphen!” she exclaimed.
“You wish,” he chuckled, “But the ranking is also for her safety, it wouldn’t be good for her to draw attention to herself.”
“Seems like she already is though,” Merial said and pointed to the white-haired girl who had amassed a group of admirers around her.
“Just what are they... HEY! GET BACK TO WORK,” Jamie stood up and shouted.
Hearing the man’s voice, the group of people around the girl dispersed. Jamie glanced over to the girl who was also looking at the group with confusion. When their eyes met, they both looked downwards and shook their heads.
“Okay, so what are we going to do about the language issue. We can’t just let her wander off by herself.” Jamie frowned, he knew that the girl was quite capable, but she still looked like a young girl to him.
“I can teach her, but she’s really smart... she’s picking up the words I’m telling her about really quickly,” Merial said.
“How smart are we talking here?” Jamie questioned.
“I think she can pick up Arphenian in around a week,” Merial stated.
“Of course, she can,” Jamie sighed, “I think that’s even more impressive than the hypothetical S rank.”
He turned to the elf before continuing, “Where did you even find this girl, she couldn't have just popped out of nowhere right?"
He frowned when his words received a laugh from the elf.
“The funny thing is that’s exactly what she did. Apparently, Nathaniel went to investigate the issue at the Ice Forest dungeon, and he found her somewhere in the woods.
“I was also out that day and was returning from a dungeon when I saw her walking down the road towards the city with the old dwarf Lucas. She had an injured arm that she covered in ice and was looking around like she didn’t know about anything,” she explained.
"Like she wasn’t from this world?” Jamie joked.
“Exactly like that. But yeah, she went to the guild and Alana fixed her arm up. I couldn’t see how bad it was, but Alana told me how her entire arm was destroyed, and you could even see the bone,” Merial answered, shuddering at the thought.
“So, what you're saying is that I lost to a girl half my level that was also injured,” Jamie grumbled.
“Yep!” Merial beamed.
“...” Jamie sighed.
“Say, what do you think of running a dungeon together? Just like the old days,” Merial offered.
The elf was thinking about the days when they used to go and raid dungeons together. Their party was made up of four members but broke apart when one of their members sacrificed themself to let the rest escape. The remaining members of the party were Merial, Jamie and Alana.
“I don’t know Merial, it just won’t be the same, you remember what happened to Alana,” Jamie replied, remembering the past.
“Oh, come on, you were just beaten by a little girl! You can’t just let that go; you have to get stronger!” she exclaimed.
However, when the temperature started to slowly decrease, they turned to Rin who had a frown on her face.
“...Sorry,” Merial muttered, wondering how the girl even understood her,
“Alright fine, I’ll go with you if you can get Alana to come,” Jamie compromised.
“Bu-”
“No buts.”
“Alright, it's a deal!” Merial declared.
She jumped forward and tried to hug the man before he swiftly stepped to the side, letting the elf fall flat on the ground.
“What do we do with her though?” Jamie asked.
“Ugh... maybe we can ask if she wants to come to the dungeon with us,” Merial suggested in a muffled voice from the ground.
When Merial finished her words the two heard a light crisp voice coming from their side.
“I’m coming, but first let’s get some food,” Rin said before walking out of the training hall.
The two looked at each other as if they had just seen a ghost. Their jaws were hanging low in surprise as they wondered about what had just happened.
“Did she?”
“...Yes.”
“I’m speechless,” Jamie sighed, massaging his eyes.
****
‘Haha,’ Rin chuckled, thinking about the looks on the two’s faces when they heard her speak.
While the two were talking, she was using the words she had learned earlier with Merial to find a pattern in their speech.
She had analyzed their words and ran several algorithms within her mind, decoding their conversation before it finally clicked.
In her past life, she had been subjected to a series of torturous procedures that changed her body permanently.
Rin wondered why they decided to test their valuable substances and research on her. But she didn’t mind, it had benefited her for the better in the long run.
Seconds later, Merial and Jamie walked out of the hall. Both looking towards Rin with suspicious expressions plastered on their faces.
“You. Explain,” Jamie demanded.
“Can’t a lady keep her secrets?” Rin smiled.
The two of them had completely different reactions to her reply. Jamie released a deep sigh while Merial burst out into laughter.
“So, can we get some food now? I haven’t eaten in forever.” Rin said, annoyed that she had gotten herself into this mess in the first place.
“Right, yeah, okay Merial. You go ahead and take Rin someplace to eat, I have to hand in her file so she can get her card,” Jamie said.
“Okay! See you later Jamie,” Merial waved goodbye, excited to show the girl around the city.
“Yeah, later.” Jamie responded with a wave of his own, walking back into the hall towards his office.
As Jamie left the two on their own, Merial shuffled closer to Rin and attempted to snatch her hand away.
Rin kept her eyes trained on Merial, fully knowing what the elf wanted to do as Rin pulled her hand out of the way.
“What’s your issue anyways, are you some kind of pervert?” Rin narrowed her eyes, letting out a tiny portion of her aura.
Feeling Rin’s sharp gaze and icy aura, Merial quickly shook her hands and stepped backwards.
“Sorry... you know. I’ve always wanted a little sister and well, you looked like a little girl that needed protecting so I...yeah,” Merial stuttered.
“I guess that’s not too bad, but I’m not a little girl,” Rin replied upon hearing Merial’s explanation.
“So how old are you then?” the elf asked.
"I'm t—"
“Eighteen,” she immediately corrected herself.
‘Almost slipped up there...’ she thought and sneaked a glance to the elf who didn’t seem to suspect anything.
Walking into the elevator, the elf pressed a button which soon returned them back to the ground floor of the guild.
The two left the guild as Rin brought out a mana core from her inventory and began tossing it up and catching it repeatedly.
She still had around twenty cores remaining after her class advancement but didn't know what to do with them.
Deciding to scan the contents of her inventory, she found the horn that she had harvested from the wolf boss.
[Boreas’ Essence – Rare Quality]
She read the description and brought it out of her inventory. Examining the item in her hand, she found that it shone a dim blue-light, similar to when she infused her mana into her blade.
“What’s that?” Merial asked, pointing towards the shiny object in Rin’s hand.
“Oh this?" she said, holding the object up, "It's a wolf horn that I got from a dungeon,” Rin replied with a shrug.
“Dungeon? Which one did you go to?” Merial asked, lowering her voice as she slowly grew suspicious.
“I think it was the Ice Forest one or something, but yeah, I got it from killing the boss,” Rin explained, unsure why Merial was questioning her.
“That’s the dungeon where four whole parties died, but I’m guessing you didn’t know that,” Merial sighed.
“Yeah,” Rin simply responded, not wanting to reveal anything about her reincarnation.
She didn’t know if she had been transferred into another person’s body. Or had a new body created upon her reincarnation, but it didn't matter to her.
‘All that matters right now is getting some food inside me,’ Rin thought as her stomach growled once more.