Drawing with her Mana in the air, Lucy practiced drawing the new runes she had learned.
“Defense. Strength. Speed. Amplify. Regenerate. Burst. Realm. Prolong. They look a bit more like Kanji than Germanic runes. So they documented wrong information in the history books, then? Guess the winner truly does write history.” Lucy mused.
8 Runes were all she was given. 8 Runes and the possibility of discovering more as her specialization leveled up. Even with just 8 Runes, though, Lucy had plenty to try.
“Hey, Nell.” She called out.
“Hmm?” Nell hummed, popping out of Lucy’s bag.
“I was joking when talking to Silica, but what are the chances of that actually happening?”
Pondering the question, Nell let out a low purr, “50%, maybe. The method of selection between Agent and Sentinel isn’t particularly complicated. In fact, our situation is rather special. It shouldn’t have been possible for an Agent like me to form a contract with a Witch. Why? Do you not want her as your second team member?”
Lucy nodded in understanding. “It’s not that. It’s just that it might be a little difficult to get used to a teammate who doesn’t talk.’ She shrugged, ending that topic there.
Sentinels were a weird topic. Despite supposedly being around for an extremely long time, information on them was next to none. Lucy could confidently say she knew more information about Sentinels than anyone else prior to becoming one. Yet, she didn’t know about crucial functions like each Xin having their own unique ability.
‘Witches have fought with the Invaders on a large scale before. How do we not have a detail as important as each and every Invader possessing a Personal Attribute? And just what is their goal?’
“You think we were able to contract because of the system?” Lucy asked, continuing the conversation.
Nell nodded.
“Most likely so. I didn’t hesitate before because Sora’s ability is Empathy. It can confirm things like compatibility at a high level, but we have completely different Lores. It shouldn’t be possible for any contract to be made.”
Lores are the origins of magic—the method by which magic is used. Lucy didn’t think all that much about it despite knowing how magical contracts work because the Lore Sentinel’s have and the Lore Witches and Demons have are pretty similar.
For a Witch, she uses her own body and affinity to cast spells. This is the exact reason why, up to this point, Lucy couldn’t cast any spells because of Chronomancy. On the other hand, Sentinels use their Agent as a catalyst to cast spells.
Fundamentally, they both target a living entity and use it to cast their spells. The only difference is the target. While on the topic, Lily-Rose was another weird case.
It was clear she used that doll as a catalyst, but Lucy couldn’t tell if her Lore was what the church had, using items as a catalyst, or what Sentinels did, using another living being.
Fundamentally, Spirit Magic was really confusing. Not complex; the way it worked was simple: you put a soul, either natural or artificial, in a doll or something to animate it. Nobody really understands why it works, though. It just does.
“Huh, well. Maybe the System will be kind enough to give us answers someday. I need to go check if my theory was correct.”
“Theory… Lucille, what are you talking about this time?” Nell questioned, prompting Lucy to chuckle in response.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Without another word, The duo entered the house, and Lucy quickly pulsed her Mana through the entire building to find where Lily-Rose was.
“And she’s… Not here… Wow, she figured that out fast.”
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In the usual flash of light, Lucy fell into the Sentinel base only to be bombarded by countless pop-ups.
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“Lucy! You’re here!” Zone ran up to her and cheered
“Lucy! What is this thing? Help me!”
Pushing the notifications aside, Lucy couldn’t help but break down into laughter at what she saw.
Vines sprouting from the ground tied Lily-rose to her obelisk-like she was about to be crucified.
“So that’s what happened… Zone, why didn’t you say anything?” Mana nearly fell to the ground from laughing while walking toward her new captive.
“It said she was an Invader! They’re the bad guys!”
Looking at Zone for a few moments before looking at Lily-rose, Lucy finally managed to stop herself from laughing.
“I never knew it was possible for something so cute to be so racist. System, let her go.”
Truth be told, Lucy did expect Lily-rose would gain access to the kingdom. Well, specifically, Lucy expected her to gain access to the System as that’s what she thought it meant by being a HERO. Her being able to enter the base was par for the course if Lucy was right.
She was a little worried when the link made from giving Lily-rose the Staff Emblem said she hadn’t left the house, but apparently, it just didn’t update whenever they entered the Sentinel base.
That also raised the question of why the Sentinel Base captured her despite her having one of the Emblems. Lucy didn’t really understand the point of allowing people with them to enter if they were still gonna be detained for no reason, but that was just another thing that would be added to the growing list of the System doing things that don’t make sense.
“Eh? Why are you freeing her?! She’s a bad guy!”
“It’s a false alarm. Lily-rose isn’t a bad guy, right Lily-rose?”
Lily-rose, who landed in the fountain’s water and got soaked, nodded with a grunt. “I am… A girl.” She answered, avoiding the question in her own way.
Technically speaking, she was a bad guy as Xin’s blood flowed through her, but she didn’t have the violent urge to obliterate all of existence the other Invaders had. Not yet, anyway.
Finally, Nell entered the scene, very confused on several fronts, and it took her a few minutes to decide in what order she wanted to be confused by all these things.
“Lucy, why did you run into the base without explaining anything? Why is Lily-rose here, and why is she in the fountain?”
Lucy shrugged innocently. “I just wanted to see if giving her one of those emblems would give her access to the System. I didn’t know it would give her access to the base…” She pleaded her innocence.
“SO YOU GAVE IT TO AN INVANDER?! LUCY! WHY ARE YOU THE WAY YOU ARE?!”
“Why are you racist? Because our lives suck! She’s not done anything yet; stop treating her like I treat the Clergy. I’m allowed to do that because I have an actual reason to hate them!”
Nell… Was mildly conflicted. She knew Lucy was right, but she didn’t want to admit it. In her eyes, Lucy let a ticking time bomb into their last bastion if things went wrong. Technically speaking, she isn’t wrong, but Lucy would die in battle before retreating to the Sentinel Base.
Not because of any sense of chivalry or pride; she doesn’t realize that’s an option.
“That aside, Lily-rose, are you okay?” Lucy asked, giving her a hand out of the fountain.
Lily-rose nodded, getting the water out of her eyes.
“Where am I? Lucy, what did you give me? That little marble made translucent screens appear, and I accidentally found myself here while figuring out what it did, only to get captured!”
She clapped her hands together before relocating everyone inside the mansion, ensuring Nell and Zone were away from Lily-rose for the time being.
“Let’s start from the beginning! Oh, for the love of all that is unholy, I have to start from the beginning!”