“Ray, familiars don’t talk.” Anita stated as she pointed her Void laden finger at him.

“Um, this one does?’ Ray replied, angling away from the Void.

“Ray.” Anita said, her eyes narrowing, “Are you harboring a Fae? I won’t judge. Tell me. I want to talk to one.” she continued, her excitement clear.

Ray wanted to plant his face on the ground. Well you’ve been talking to one all your life, sister dear, no need to look so excited about doing something that has a death penalty. The Xnarthan might think you aren’t scared of them.’ Ray thought.

“I am not scared of them,” Anita said, her grin wide. Ray froze, “Di-did I say that out loud?” he asked.

“No.” Anita said, picking Norman up, “I think this guy has something to do with it.”

‘What false accusations! I was just trying to talk to this girl here when Ray barged in! I had nothing to do with it, I swear!...Or at least I don’t remember doing it.’ Norman said. Ray felt like throwing him out. Was this really an old Fae? Why was he acting as some newbie?

Norman, can you please just leave?’ Ray said. Norman left, looking downcast.

“Well, brother dear, we have some talking to do.” Anita said, the smile on her face was wide as she experimented with her new communication method.

“I have no idea how Norman does this.’ Ray replied, knowing what she was thinking.

‘Yeah, sure. But he can do it for you. Now we can talk all the time!’ Anita said, excited. Ray was just horrified at the idea of Anita being in his head all the time.

‘Perhaps not all the time?’ Ray said.

‘Ugh, you won’t let me have any fun. Just imagine all the secrets I can sneak in using your head. I have to go to a place a dozen times to remember things, now I could just tell you instead. But you have to tell me all about this Fae stuff. And we should keep talking like this, less of a chance of someone overhearing.’ Anita said.

‘Are you sure you realize what this means?’ Ray said, his eyes narrow.

‘Yes, yes, you’re going to die if the Xnarthan find out. The Empire thinks you're weak and all that rubbish. But I wanna know what it's like, being Fae. I hear you guys are made of energy’ Anita said, surprising Ray.

‘Anita, have you been looking at things you weren’t supposed to?’ Ray said.

‘I have been looking at things I wasn’t supposed to since I was two. Do catch up, brother. Did you forget all those things you did with me?’ Anita said.

‘I distinctly remember you forcing me around!’ Ray objected.

‘Yeah, sure, you didn’t plan all of them.’ Anita harrumphed.

‘I only did because you forced me!’ Ray said, rolling his eyes. Anita tended to drag him into things, but he didn’t know any of them were illegal…perhaps he should look them up.

‘Yeah, whatever’ Anita said, rolling her eyes. ‘ I see that being Fae hasn’t changed you one bit. But you did get that element you wanted. What is it?’

‘Just glitter. But it can now become other elements.’ Ray said, pulling out his wand and showing her. A little blue glitter turned into water above her head. Anita shot Void at it, nullifying the water.

‘So you can now cheat at that too. Humph. Did the Academy give you a retest then?’ Anita asked.

‘No… Did Aunty Ariana not tell you she bought me a place in the College?’ Ray asked.

“Well, we had a little argument before she left,, so it may have slipped her mind.’ Anita said, looking shifty.

‘What did you do?’ Ray demanded.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

‘Oh, just the usual stuff. Not getting to places on time, sneaking out, breaking a brat’s legs.’ Anita said, making Ray look at her judgingly.

‘Anita, I thought you were going to stop beating people up.’ Ray said.

‘Well, they deserved it! The guy is twenty, Ray! I don’t like talentless oldies that can’t even beat me with a five-year lead.’

‘A twenty-year-old is courting you? Why? And the Academy is ok with this?” Ray asked.

“The Academy has a long-established tradition of marrying the two most talented male and female students, Ray. Why do you think Mama and Dad got married? The two can barely stand each other as it is.” Anita replied.

“I thought they were civil with each other. Uncle Trevor was quite nice to Aunty Ariana when we had dinner.’ Ray replied.

‘Oh they’re civil. But the two of them don’t even sleep in the same wing. Dad spends most of the year out training his army, and Mama makes sure to visit the archipelago when he’s around. The two of them just start fighting otherwise. Dad is very traditional… Mama thinks the Emperor is an idiot. Dad thinks she’s biased cause of your mom, and it goes on from there.’ Anita said, her voice sounding tired.

Ray had known that they weren’t exactly a happy couple, but he didn’t know they were that bad. ‘Why don’t they just get a divorce? Archduke Lorenthal has a lot of them every year!’ Ray suggested.

‘Archduke Lorenthal is a several thousand-year-old self-proclaimed man-whore that gets mana from fucking people. The marriages are just shams, so he can shag people and get heirs. Isn’t your Mom related to him somehow?’ Anita asked.

Ray cringed, Ma really did not like talking about it. In fact, she hated her family with a passion. Ray still did not know what had happened fifteen years ago to make her come to the Elven continent.

‘Yes, Ma is the seventy-six thousand, nine hundred and thirty seventh heir to the Arch duchy. The Archduke is her great-great-grandfather. Though she was kicked out by her parents after they found out about her element,, so I don’t know if it still holds.’ Ray said. ‘But we’re talking about Aunty Ariana and Uncle Trevor, don’t change the subject.’

‘And here I thought I had you. Grandpa would never allow it, Ray. On both sides. At least Momma has already got the title,, so they can’t do much to her. But Dad would be bankrupt if he was disowned.’ Anita said.

‘But isn’t Uncle Trevor just a third son? Why would they care so much for him?’ Ray asked.

Anita sighed, saying ‘Dad is talented Ray. And so am I. Not just that, Mom is rich. So rich that she has ten times as much money as grandad. And grandad gets discounts at every one of her enterprises. Dad’s marriage saves him millions of mana coins every year. Not to mention the prestige and status. Mom might not like Dad very much, but she isn’t going to hurt him like this.’

‘No, let’s change the topic, I hear you’ve been up to some bad stuff while I’ve been away. The Academy is full of rumors about how you humiliated the younger Fartallis.’ Anita said.

‘Are you talking about that thirteen-year-old brat? Yes, he was just too smug.’ Ray answered.

Anita giggled at his sentence, apparently he’d said something funny. ‘I knew you would fall for it! Oh, I am going to rub it in his face so hard!’

Ray’s eyes narrowed as he asked, ‘What do you mean?’

‘The brat is actually sixteen, he’s just short and has a baby face. Oh, he gets so irritated when he gets mistaken for someone younger.’ Anita said, still laughing.

‘And you know him?’ Ray asked.

‘Oh, yes. The guy whose legs I broke is his cousin, brings him around all the time. I am supposed to be impressed by him babysitting, I think.’ Anita just couldn’t stop laughing.

Ray rolled his eyes, ‘So we’ve made enemies of the two of them, great.’

‘Oh, please, they're just too weak. And the older idiot isn’t getting up any time soon.’ Anita said.

Ray looked at her suspiciously, saying, ‘Anita, which Tier are you in?’

‘Tier 9, I haven’t progressed in a while, the Academy’s old fogies are just too stingy with licenses to higher Tier areas. Now speaking of hunts-’

‘Tier 9! What the heck? I see why those guys dote on you. Wait. What level is that brat? And will he act against me?’ Ray asked.

‘Just a Tier 5, and just a normal Air element at that. Just beat him up if he attacks you, I will handle his family.’ Anita answered, but Ray was already panicking.

‘Anita, I am Tier 3! I can’t beat that guy! Ugh, I need to get more mana…’ Ray began brainstorming for ways to get more mana.

‘Oh, shut up you panicky brat. I swear, you always panic and go into this hyper mode.’ Anita said, but Ray was already deep in thought.

The way to get more mana was to level up skills, to level up skills he needed to practice them. Perhaps he could get something like [Mana construction] from the lab making? And [Mana manipulation] could level up too. But how could he do it so fast? The mana needed to do each lab was considerable.

‘Well if you want mana then I could just get you in the hunt. The area just has a few Tier 7s at most, but I am sure you can get some mana from it.’ Anita said, as he was brainstorming.

Wait. Did clerking in the bakery count as a skill? Baking did, so it must! Ray could do that. And selling the potions. Ray could get the business skill from that too!