To no one’s surprise, Adrian was on the training grounds. The swordsman was shirtless and drenched in sweat. That was a sight I was used to. I had trained with the man on multiple occasions, not as much as Marissa did because they shared affinity, but still not an unfamiliar sight.

What was new, though, was the presence of spectators. Two girls watched from afar at Adrian. They looked young, well, younger than him. Around thirty, most likely between the thirty-two thirty-five range.

The duo were of violet and purple skin tones. They weren’t that remarkable, their souls were weak, their affinities negligible, and didn’t possess much power. Overall, your average freshmen student.

The girls’ intentions were as easy to decipher as just looking at their eyes’ position and following their gaze. Yup, they were indulging themselves in Adrian’s abs.

Honestly, I understood them.

Adrian was the only muscular ellari I had seen. Though now that I Recalled, in my fight against the Ceaseless Storm, Fynn removed his shirt and jacket. And let me tell you that the military man packed quite a body.

I wouldn’t say that ellari found musculature unlikable, but it was so uncommon that they didn’t find it a desirable trait. And considering this whole country was founded on magic, it made sense the tempering of one’s body was a forgotten subject.

I walked into the arena of the training grounds, sand washing over my boots. I was wearing my military uniform, and that was enough for the girls to remove their sights on Adrian and look at me. Curiosity and fear were what their eyes spawned.

The only one who didn’t care about my clothing was the sweaty aeromancer.

“Yo Edrie, how ya’ doing?” Adrian saluted me, pointing his sword to the ground and using it like a cane.

“Pretty good, thank you.” Even though death had followed me around these last days, the swordsman looked as cheerful as always. “How ‘bout you?” I added with an accent similar to that of Adrian’s, which got me a chuckle out of him.

“Old same, I’d say.” The man shrugged, his muscles tensing up and contracting with movement.

“Really?” I added feigning surprise. “And what about your retinue?” I pointed at the pair of girls with my eyes.

“Oh, that?” Adrian laughed. “Those two just train with me from time to time.”

“Oh, really?” Now I was actually surprised. “So, what are you now, their mentor?”

“Actually, yes.” He nodded. “The purple girl has Air affinity, and the violet one has Earth affinity. But get this, she’s a swordswoman.”

“Truly?” I gasped as if I was a housewife listening to hearsay. Sword users, or any other weapon for that matter, were an exotic species on Ferilyn. “That’s actually really cool. So, you teach one air magic and the other swordsmanship?”

“Pretty much. But it’s kinda the opposite with Kalista.” Then he quickly added further as I didn’t understand who he was refereeing to. “The swordswoman. She teaches me.”

“Is she better than you then?”

“Not really.” Adrian smiled. “She just has a different sword style, and as she already knows mine, I learn from her. But I guess we are in a synergistic relationship.”

“Well, it’s difficult to come by swordsmen to train with, isn’t it?”

“Tell me that, man.” He groaned. “I think this is only the fourth time I met one in my life. Either way, why did you come here?”

“Oh, I was just around and decided to visit,” I responded. “I already have seen Marissa, and I intend to see Monica next.”

“Marissa, eh?” Adrian added with a roguish tone. The innuendos were obvious.

Before, I would have refuted such accusations. Most likely with a sigh. Yet now... Now I was guilty as charged. The imaginative swordsman was finally right.

“Yes.” I simply said with a smile.

“Oh.” That honest response made Adrian take a step back. “Em, good?”

I laughed. He didn’t expect it at all. And that made it funnier.

“See you later, Adrian.”

“See ya’ later, Edrie.” He offered me a handshake and I accepted. “Maybe we can go and get lunch one of these days?” I nodded at his proposal.

He had a good grip. Too good, as a matter of fact. Oh well, a little cast of Regeneration returned my crushed hand to a perfect state.

With my goodbyes already said, I saluted the girls sitting outside the arena and went to see Monica.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I didn’t have to know where she was or ask for directions. I remembered my friend’s soul and with a quick look of Soul Sight and a pulse from Mystic’s Dominion, I directed straight to her. She was in a laboratory.

As I arrived at the laboratory, I saw the dynamimancer (I was literally the only person in Ferilyn who called force mages by their right name) playing with some alchemical concoctions.

Monica was hyper-focused on the task; she didn’t notice me opening the door and entering the room. I lay on the doorframe, inside of her field of view, yet outside of her perception.

She decanted a translucid mixture into a vial, as she simultaneously stirred a light green substance on a separated container with the use of her force magic. Dynamimancers tended to develop very acute telekinetic mastery.

Ironically, the Force practitioners, who had dynamism on their own name, tended to be rather lazy (physically) as they ended up relaying all their work to magic spells. That was a very good and fast way to atrophy your muscles. Some people just didn’t care. Moving shit with the mind was cool, it didn’t matter if you were a young adult or a three-hundred-year-old savant.

The telekinetic stirring on the light green substance stopped and the glass container floated up in the air, and with a controlled movement, Monica snatched it. She didn’t even look, she knew the exact coordinates of the object. In such an aspect, Force affinity did look a lot like Space affinity.

Monica decanted the light green on the mixture she had created and then proceeded to sublimate the contents with mana. I was no alchemy meister so I couldn't describe what she was currently doing. The vial shone but that was where my comprehension of the situation ended.

The alchemist apprentice stopped pouring mana into the now lime-green mixture. The compound shone for a few more seconds until it didn’t. Apparently, that was good, as Monica sighed in relief.

Then a wet pop sound was heard.

It kicked me right into high alert. I expected the alchemical experiment to explode at any moment’s notice.

Thankfully, my fears were unfounded.

A need sound followed the pop. This one was more of a plop. The vial fell to the side, and from the mouth of the glass container, a liquid poured out vigorously.

The lime liquid quickly assembled into a flaccid sphere, a rock resembling a manite at its very center.

“What’s that?” I asked after confirming that we hadn’t exploded.

“Ah!” Monica yelped and jumped off her spot, finally realizing my presence. Curiously enough, the lime sphere also jumped slightly. “Who is...?” Monica’s words died in her mouth as she looked at me. “Is that you Edrie?”

“The one and only,” I responded. “Long time no see, Monica.”

The alchemist rolled her eyes. “Edrie, we just saw each other two weeks ago.”

Or twenty days, in the calendar of this world. Such dismissal of a somewhat considerable amount of time was normal for the long-lived ellari, yet I never grew used to it.

“Well, apparently, you saw me yesterday,” I added with a snark.

“Did Marissa tell you?”

“Alatea.” I corrected. “But either way, why didn’t you talk to me? Are you angry?”

“Of course not!” Monica negated fervently. “I was just carrying a fair share of alchemical products from the healing ward, the volatile kind. I didn’t enough hands or concentration to spare in conversation.”

“Oh.” I didn’t expect such a logical response. But now that I thought about it, that was to be expected with Monica. She was the most coolheaded of the group.

My thoughts were cut off by the rhythmic wet sounds coming from Monica. Or more accurately, behind her.

The little lime blob heaved up and down, slowly crawling forward.

“So, what’s that?” I pointed at the alchemical creation.

“This?” Monica put her palm before the blob, which promptly jumped on top of the fuchsia hand. “This little guy is a slime.”

“Is it alive?” Some knowledge in the back of my head told me what slimes were, even if I had never had about them.

“Well, there are a lot of definitions for life...” She pondered, the slime waving around in her palm. “But I think that yes, it’s alive. Slimes can eat but are not capable of thought. They move by pure instinct, in a way, they are even inferior to animals.”

“Are they rare?” I asked.

“Rare? Hmm, they are easy to make for a competent alchemist, but I wouldn’t call them common.” Monica explained. “They don’t have much use, so alchemists only make them to practice. And slimes are of total artificial origin, they do not appear in nature. So yes, they are ‘rare’.”

“That’s why you made this blob, practice?”

“Oh, don’t look me like that.” The alchemist added in faux offense. “I already told you, they don’t have thoughts, let alone sentience. They resemble insects in most aspects. I have not created life to torture it or something, this little guy isn’t even aware he’s alive.”

“He?” The use of a pronoun surprised me. “Is it a male?”

“Definitely no.” Monica poked the slime with her free hand. It shuddered slightly then it licked her finger. “If allowed, they reproduce by mitosis, so I’d say they are asexual. And considering the lack of mental faculties, and ‘it’ would be more appropriate to define them.”

“I see.” I approached Monica and kneeled slightly to poke at the little blob. Its outsides waved as if it were a pond that someone was skipping a stone on.

“So, what’s the nature of your visit?” Monica asked.

“I mostly explained myself before,” I replied. “I came just to visit, as someone had refused to talk to me.”

“You really don’t lose a chance to throw a poisonous jab.”

I shrugged. “What can I say, I’m a bit of a viper.”

“What’s a viper?” She asked. I frowned my brow. They didn’t exist in Ferilyn, but she should know about them.

“A type of snake.”

“Ah.” Monica gasped in acknowledgment. “Yeah, then. You are certainly a viper.”

“Are you calling your friend a snake?” I led my hand to my chest. “You offend me, Monica.”

“Oh, shut up.” She rolled her eyes. “But I know you, I have the feeling you have something else to tell me.”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” I confirmed. “But I don’t bear bad intentions, I just have a small doubt about something. A peculiar material.”

“Do tell.” There was a small shine in her eyes, the shine of someone who was interested in the topic.

“I think it will be better if I show you.”

“Do you have it with you?” Monica turned to the table and left the slime back on the vial, then she put a cork. I was unaware if they needed oxygen to survive, but I feel the window of opportunity for slime-related questions had closed.

“No. But if you allow me, I could project your soul where the ‘material’ is.”

“Project my soul?” She frowned, an inquisitive look penetrating me.

“Don’t worry, it’s totally harmless,” I responded. “It would be as if you had two pairs of eyes. I’ll only allow you to see through my soul, so if there was any danger, I would be the only one to suffer the consequences.”

Monica closed her eyes and swayed her head from side to side in ponderation. But in the end, she nodded.

With Monica’s non-verbal consent, I opened a small connection to her soul as I looked at her pink eyes. The bridge was established.

My soul traveled through the spiritual plane, landing in the imperial palace’s basement.

Then I relayed my sight to Monica.