Following behind Sylvie, Nyx seemed excited to finally leave the garden, as she went next to her to chat.

Gazing at their backs, Nox lightly smiled. Sylvie was a good person, and he was glad Nyx finally had someone other than him and Stella to interact with.

Removing his gaze from them, he looked up at the vast sky in contemplation, thinking of many different things.

The sun was about the same size he’d seen on Earth and Tian. On Tian, the Sun, Moon, and Stars of the many Planes were made up of the universe’s energy; they weren’t like the celestial bodies of the Galactic Universe where Earth was, so he assumed this was the case for Archaeos as well.

How was Stella? Where would he travel to first? How similar was Archaeos to the fictions and legends of his previous universe’s? He had many questions to be answered.

“Master “

“Master… “

“MASTER!! “ he suddenly heard a shout and looked in front of him. Nyx’s face was only inches away, calmly gazing at him.

“What? “ Nox asked as if nothing happened.

“We’re here. “ Nyx was used to him spacing out.

“Master does that a lot. “ Nyx told Sylvie next to her, giggling.

“Haha” Sylvie also laughed merrily. She hadn’t felt this way in a long time.

‘Enjoying this, I see. “ Nox thought, switching his gaze past them.

Up ahead was something he didn’t expect. Very wide stone stairs were leading up to an imposing building. At the bottom of the stairs on the left and right, were two fully armored guards that had a slanted axe shrouded in fire in the middle of the chestplate. Standing ramrod straight and unmoving, they were very well disciplined.

At the top of the stairs were two huge marble pillars supporting the entrance. The door was also very large, made of some type of sturdy looking wood.

“Your… family seems to have a good collection. “ Nox was surprised.

“Yes, my mother and father traveled for hundreds of years and gathered books along the way. After they settled down here, they bought many more, and my older brother only added to the collection over the years. I guess it’s a lot more than I made it seem “ Sylvie said a bit embarrassed. She forgot that her perception on a few things was different from others.

‘A lot more is an understatement.’ Nox thought. On Tian where families were tens to hundreds of thousands of years old, it was understandable to see such a big library, but here on Archaeos? It was unexpected.

“Here, I’ll lead you both in. The library is important to us, so it’s strict for guests to enter. “ Sylvie gestured.

“Second young miss! “ the two guards bowed respectfully.

Nodding, Sylvie led Nox and Nyx up the stairs.

Opening the massive wooden door, their vision was filled with shelves upon shelves of books. It was like a sea of books.

A few dozen feet ahead, a nice semicircular wooden desk was situated with an ordinary old man with white hair and small grey horns on his head, and a long beard reading a book behind it. Gazing up, the old man was slightly surprised when his eyes landed on Nox and Nyx.

“Grandpa Locke! “ Sylvie quickly walked up to the desk and greeted the old man.

“Ah, Sylvie, it’s surprising to see you here, especially with guests. “ the old man, Locke, smiled lovingly towards Sylvie, while his eyes seemed to see through Nox and Nyx.

“These are my friends, Nox and Nyx. They wanted to view the library, so I brought them here. They already met mom and dad, so I don’t think they would mind. “ Sylvie said politely.

Switching his gaze back to Sylvie, he replied “That’s fine, they can look around wherever they want, but they can’t take anything out of here. “

“I know. Alright, Grandpa Locke, Nox, Nyx, I’ll be leaving now. I need to get prepared. If you want to come to my banquet, I’ll ask Mel to get you two when it’s going to start. “ Sylvie said expectantly.

Glancing at Nyx, Nox replied “Sure, we’ll come. We both would rather keep our current attire, though. “

“Great! That’s perfectly fine. I’ll see you two soon. “ Sylvie appeared excited.

Nox was a bit puzzled. They just met, but she’s this excited?

Covering Sylvie’s ears, Nyx whispered ‘This is the time, go all out!’

Hearing Nyx, Sylvie nodded with determination.

‘What the hell, it’s only been one day!’ Nox felt like all his logic was dissipating when he saw them. He didn’t like to eavesdrop, but he could at least infer about it. He hadn’t lived so long for nothing.

Waving goodbye, the three watched Sylvie walk out the library and close the door behind her.

Turning around, Nox and Nyx focused intently on the old man, Locke, while he was doing the same.

“So, a Primordial and an Elder here in the same place. Two primogenitor's thought to be extinct. “ Locke broke the silence with a hoarse, nonchalant voice.

Nox and Nyx looked at Locke with slight surprise.

‘Primogenitor?’

“Archaeos brought you two here? I can see that you know nothing of mana control. The mana around you is chaotic. “ Locke continued.

“I had a feeling you weren’t ordinary. How are you so aware of us? “ Nox finally spoke. Locke also knew about the core, which was surprising.

“There is a type of element called Fate, which you should be aware of. It is considered the unruliest of the elements, but a scarce few can tap into it, and I am one of those few. I have been alive for a very long time, so I’ve come to understand Fate more than most. Unraveling Fate is what allows me to view some of the unseen, and that’s how I know you are connected to the core of Archaeos. “ Locke replied straightforwardly.

“Take care of Sylvie. Although she has lived 100 years, Valcor and Ashuen have isolated her until her awakening. Those that have come to visit, have been here strictly to speak politics or wanting to use Sylvie for their own machinations. To evoke her emotions so, it is proof that one meeting can create a bond. “ Locke voiced seriously.

Gazing at Locke, Nox laughed at his last sentence, thinking that it was very true.

“Haha, you’re a pretty wise man. You don’t have to worry, we already like her. “

“Yes, yes, that’s right! Sylvie is very good. “ Nyx replied happily. It was rare for her to see someone she could truly like. After all, how many people have her and Nox met over the years? Countless.

Looking at the two, the old man gave a faint smile.

“Behind me, row 1, sections 1-8 has books on Archaeos, such as its history, past and present countries and races, geography, the calendar; very useful information. Row 3, sections 1 and 2, has information on the elements and mana control. I’m sure those are what you’re truly looking for. “ Locke said fluently, as if he memorized the entire libraries' contents.

“Thanks, that’s exactly correct. “ Nox was impressed by this old man. He had very good insight. As for why such an expert was a librarian, Nox guessed that he wanted some needed reprieve. After all, this was a very peaceful place.

“We’ll put the books back when we’re finished. We don’t want to read much, so it shouldn’t take long. “ Nox gave his thanks.

“Go, take your time. A library is a place of learning. Anyone who desires knowledge can stay as long as they like. “ Locke said amicably.

Nodding, Nox and Nyx left to find the books they needed.

Gazing at their backs, the old man began ruminating on the information he knew.

‘Lady Elise did not exaggerate in her message. Much like her, compared to most other immortals that have been mentioned, they indeed do not look down upon weaker beings.’ Locke felt gratified from this development. He had known Nox and Nyx would come, but he didn’t know how they would be.

+1 Merit Gained

As Nox and Nyx were walking towards the rows where the books they needed were located, a robotic voice resounded in his head.

‘What?’ Nox was surprised.

As if understanding his confusion, the robotic voice of the Gifting System answered.

‘When user affects life in specific ways, you will be awarded Merit. Positive or negative effects have no relevance.’

‘Oh yeah. But how did I affect Locke? Ah, whatever. System, unless it’s significant, don’t bother announcing when I gain Merit. It will be too damn annoying.’ Nox didn’t want to deal with that.

‘Request granted.’ the system confirmed.

‘Good, thanks.’ Nox said. The system gave no response.

Potential headache averted, they arrived at the area with Archaeos' general information. Going through the multitude of books, Nox and Nyx conversed mentally as they went over the information found.

They didn’t think about it before, but after reading the cover of a book, they realized that the language and writing of Archaeos was very different from anything they knew. It appeared that Archaeos also imparted them that knowledge. The language was so easy, they felt like natives.

‘So, this continent is called Tartarus... ‘ Nox read a book called ‘The Myriad Countries and Continents’.

‘Divinus, that’s where the majority of humans reside. Let’s head there first. I want to see the differences between the humans here, and the ones on Tian. After all, this is my first lifetime as a different race.’ Nox was looking forward to it.

‘Whatever you decree, master. ‘ Nyx smiled. She was also curious. The most populated race on Tian were humans, so it would be interesting if there were differences.

Reading for another hour, they stopped after noticing a trend.

‘There are so many books on history here, but they all only add up to nearly 90,000 years. There’s no way a world where sentient life lives for so long, could have such a short history.’ Nox became intrigued. It was very unusual.

‘I agree, master. Sylvie mentioned 10,000 year old elves, but recorded history is still that short? Do you think Valcor and Ashuen just didn’t come across older books, or did something happen? I don’t think it’s so simple.’ Nyx also became interested. On Tian, it was not unusual to come across families and sects older than 90,000 years, much less recorded history.

‘Maybe Locke knows something; we’ll ask him later. Let’s move onto what we need the most before then. ‘ Nox said.

Putting away the last book they read, they head towards row 3, where the information on the elements and mana control was located.

Unlike row 1 which was entirely filled with books on Archaeos, this row only had two sections on the elements and mana. The other six sections had techniques, or spells, but they didn’t care about them. It was a new experience, so what’s the point in spoiling everything? That same philosophy is why they decided to leave after mostly learning the essentials of Archaeos.

Quickly finding one of the books they needed, the cover read ‘Guide to the Elements and Affinities ‘. The book was surprisingly thick.

Sifting through the contents, there were many more elements than Nox anticipated. It included three categories: Base, Variant, and Special. In the descriptions of the elements, affinities were also included.

Affinities had 5 different grades, and it measured the natural connection to an element. It went from Poor-Average-Above Average-Excellent-Pinnacle. The higher the affinity, the easier it is to control an element, the efficiency of mana required to form it, as well as the amount of mana your body can intake, as the elements can strengthen your bodies mana pool. That means more power, stamina, and variations of the element you can use (spells). If you have no measured affinity in an element, that means that your connection is so little, it’s effectively unusable.

To measure what element and affinity of that element, a massive, 5 meter tall and wide sphere made of natural crystals called an Affinity Orb, is required.

When you insert your mana into an Affinity Orb, the element and affinity grade form inside of it. From Poor to Pinnacle affinity, the element will get progressively larger. Poor would be the size of a finger, whereas pinnacle will be the size of an adult human.

As for how to tell the element, it’s fairly simple. Fire would be orange-red in the shape of a flame, water would be a dark blue water drop, wind would be a light green wavy string shape, earth would be a brown rock, so on and so forth.

Without exception, every sentient being will have an affinity to at least one element, with the average amount and average grades varying greatly between races and lineages.

‘Interesting. Unfortunately, affinities seem to be natural talent. Much like Tian, the world can be unfair. But, Tian always had chances to reforge your destiny, so I’m sure that applies here as well.’ Nox lamented.

No matter where you go, it was always survival of the fittest. But, that adage could be minimized depending on the local powers. Tian had many righteous sects and clans that kept the peace, so at least the weak didn’t have it too bad. It was surprising.

‘Yes, master, there are always chances. You and I chanced upon each other, after all.’ Nyx said sweetly.

‘Heh, true.’ Nox faintly smiled.

‘Alright, next.’

Picking out the book about mana and mana control, it was titled ‘Wonders of Mana’.

‘The mana pool and mana control are one of the most essential aspects of life. In this unfair world, those without drive live poorly, and those with it live comfortably.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

The size of your mana pool is decided at birth, but it can be strengthened and enlarged with practice, perseverance, and an unbreakable will, increasing your control at the same time.

There are two types of mana pools: much like the name, the first is only called the Mana Pool. It is incorporeal and located in your chest. Think of it as pocket dimension and inside is a pool of water. Some are the size of a water basin, others the size of a pond. Regardless of your affinity, it can increase in size if you strive for it. From a bucket into a lake, although incredibly difficult for the lower affinities, it is, indeed, possible.

As for the other type, it is called a Mana Vessel. The mana vessel is where the entire beings’ body is akin to a Mana Pool. For them, it as if they are born from mana. Think of them as Elementals, but replace their body made of an element, with one of pure mana. That is a Mana Vessel.

Legendary, as of this writing, year 3,127 of the Veren Calendar, a known Mana Vessel hasn’t been seen in millennia.

Continuing after a page, the information was now about mana control.

Mana control goes in tandem with the mana pool. The larger the mana pool, the more mana you can harness, which provides leeway for mistakes and allows you to practice for longer periods.

To control your mana and transform it into an element, you must first sense your element(s) and gather them into your body. Send those elements along your mana channels in a full cycle, which will fuse the elements into your channels, effectively awakening them, allowing you to project the mana outside of your body.

As for a Mana Vessel, the stories say that they must create the channels for themselves, using their own mana. It is said that they create their channels using their races base layout, but legends tell that a few created them using their own designs.

After awakening the channels, it is all up to your practice. Proceed with caution and don’t overexert yourself, or you may damage your channels and body, requiring a period of time to heal, making mana unusable. Mana Vessels need not adhere to this warning.’

Reading through the beginning, many complex instructions regarding the use of mana and methods to enhance your mana pool, followed. It was very eye opening to them, especially Nox, as the methods were very similar to those on Tian. If he merged the knowledge together, he might have broken the limit much sooner.

Half an hour later, they put the last book they needed back in its original place.

Done with reading what they needed, Nox and Nyx returned to Locke.

“Did you find everything you need? “ Locke asked.

“Yeah, what we wanted to know was there. The Ragnarr’s have a very impressive library. “ Nox praised.

“Right, right. “ Locke nodded with enthusiasm. He really loved this library.

“Locke, what’s today’s date? We read about the different calendars, but we’re not sure which one is current. “ Nox queried.

“Ah, yes, of course. It is currently year 3,430 of the Veren Calendar, and today is the 13th day of Lunar Dawn. “ Locke understood their lack of knowledge, as they just arrived here.

‘So, it’s Veren, alright.’

“Thanks. “ Nox nodded

One of the books they read earlier, involved the yearly cycles and days, amongst many Calendars or ‘Ages'.

Archaeos’ years were split into four cycles, each lasting 90 days, with 360 days making a year. The cycles were Solar Dawn, Solar Dusk, Lunar Dawn, Lunar Dusk. Effectively, they were Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.

“I noticed Sylvie hasn’t sent Mel yet. Since we have time, do you know of any place we can use that can prevent energy from leaking out? We figured out that the reason we couldn’t detect how to transform mana, was because we both are Mana Vessels that haven’t created channels. “ Nox didn’t bother hiding anything from Locke. Other than being an expert and clearly knowledgeable, he had a good impression of him.

“Hmmm, Mana Vessels, I see. It is understandable, then. “ Locke nodded in revelation.

“If you head towards the very back of the library, you’ll notice a blue crystal wall and door made of manastone. Inside, the entire room is also made up of this manastone. Manastone is peculiar, in that it absorbs and filters all mana up to a certain threshold, which makes it very resilient. If this threshold is met, a large flow of mana will inevitably leak out and might cause damage to it, so use caution. “ Locke advised.

“I’ll let Mel know that you two are in there. “

“Thanks, we’ll try to be careful.“ Nox and Nyx proceeded to walk towards the back of the library.

Watching their backs, Locke thought helplessly ‘You both are part of the few that need to be careful. Hopefully the damage isn’t too severe.

Walking past the endless sea of wooden shelves and books, Nox and Nyx arrived in front of the blue crystal door Locke mentioned. Even the handle was blue.

Opening the door, Nox felt it was quite heavy. What greeted their eyes, was a blue, empty square world. The floor, walls, ceiling, everything was made of manastone, save for a few crystals inlaid into the ceiling that gave off a bright light. The entire room felt unusual.

Walking inside, Nox closed the door behind them. It was seamless, fitting perfectly into the rest of the wall. If it wasn’t for the handle, you might not even realize that a door was there.

“Impressive room, albeit a bit unusual with the entire blue color going on.” Nox praised.

“Well, let’s get to it. I have an idea on how to do this. Turn your back towards me and don’t resist. “ Nox said.

“Oh? What is it, master? “ Nyx asked curiously, turning her back towards Nox.

Placing his hand on the middle of Nyx’s back, Nox sent wisps of mana into Nyx’s body. Like strands of string, the mana started to create an outline inside her body, forming a very intricate network.

“The outline I just placed inside your body, is almost the same exact layout my meridians took in my previous body, but slightly adjusted for yours. I obviously refined and changed them over the years, so I think it’s now a near perfect network. The only difference is that there’s no dantian. I feel like this is how we should do it. “ Nox spoke with confidence. He had a feeling that some methods of Tian and Archaeos could fit well with each other.

Seeing Nox’s confidence, Nyx smiled sweetly “Whatever you advise, master. I trust your judgement. “

“Heh, alright. Let’s start, then. “ Nox was excited to gain full control once more.

Both moving to sit on the ground cross legged, they closed their eyes and began to create their channels.

Nox was peering into his own body. Gathering mana, he also created an outline. The book said the mana pools that every other being has, are like pocket dimensions, while mana vessels' entire inside of their body is that pocket dimension of mana.

And how meridians worked on Tian, was that they were connected throughout the entire body. They were similar to arteries or veins. Their use, was that Qi was sent through them, strengthening your body and allowing Qi to surface for manipulation. Channels were similar, so without those, you could only move around pure mana and not the elements.

With the outline in his body created, Nox started to condense and refine the mana over and over until it reached the absolute limit. Inside the room, a huge whirlpool of mana formed around Nox and Nyx. The natural mana filtering in from beyond the manastone, and the mana stored within them was all being absorbed by the two.

For bodies that already stored a significant amount of mana needing to be supplemented by the outside, you could imagine how condensed their channels were getting.

Outside of the room, Locke was patiently reading a book as he suddenly felt a disturbance in the mana. As the outside of the room wasn’t that affected, only someone like him in such close proximity could feel it.

Peering through the rows of books, Locke developed a wry smile.

‘Mana Vessels are more impressive than I initially thought… just to create their channels they need such an amount of mana. By the time they’re done, all the mana in the stones might be depleted.’

What Locke didn’t know, is that this phenomenon was caused by Nox’s method to create channels. Besides the layout Nox created, the method of condensing and refining their channels was something commonly known on Tian, and clearly not on Archaeos. It was the true culprit.

Several minutes later within the room, the whirlpool around Nyx finished, while Nox’s was still ongoing.

Opening her eyes and turning to the side, Nyx was enraptured while silently staring at Nox’s face that was in concentration.

‘Master is as impressive as always. No matter the world, he will always remain as the greatest being.’

About 15 minutes after Nyx finished, Nox’s whirlpool finally dissipated as he opened his eyes. Inspecting the room around him, the blue hue of the manastones dimmed considerably. Luckily, the lights still worked.

His gaze landing on Nyx, Nox was staring into her ruby red eyes that revealed everything for him.

“You know, your eyes really are nice. “ Nox said straightforwardly.

“Hehe. You’ll be getting to look at them for all eternity, master. “ Nyx giggled.

“Hmm, that’s right “ Nox nodded several times before continuing.

“I see you were waiting on me. Let’s merge the elements into our channels now. “

“Yes” Nyx replied and closed her eyes.

Doing the same, Nox looked at the channels that were now fully merged with his body. They were larger and much sturdier than several of the diagrams that were inside the book.

Feeling the mana around him, Nox started using his channels to sense the elements more vividly than before. Within the mana, they appeared as tiny particles of different shapes and colors unseen by the naked eye. Initiating his channels, contrary to what he read in the book, the elements weren’t being drawn into them. At least one would come to be fused, but that wasn’t the case here.

Perplexed, Nox looked at Nyx and sent telepathically ‘Nyx, are any elements being drawn by you?’

Surprised that he would stop to ask, Nyx replied curiously while still fusing the elements with her channels ‘Yes, master. Darkness is fusing with my channels, but I feel that isn’t the limit. Why do you ask? Is nothing occurring for you?’

‘I see, Darkness. But yes, I don’t have a reaction.’ Nox said, a bit frustrated.

He could sense the elements in the mana, such as the pure black that represented Darkness, but nothing was being fused into his channels. Nothing was attracted.

‘Why don’t you try searching again very carefully, master? You must be missing something. There’s no way you couldn’t have an element.’ Nyx suggested confidently.

Listening to her, Nox put all his concentration inside the mana, trying to look deeper into the mana. After going into a near trance like state, Nox noticed an ever-changing particle that was incomparably smaller than the rest. So small even, that it was nearly invisible and most likely only he could feel jt. But, it also felt countless times heavier. Nox put all his power into forming his channels, but that one tiny particle was equivalent to them. It was inconceivable.

Now that he noticed it, Nox tried directing the attracting power of his channels towards it. After a few moments, he finally gained a reaction, as It started shaking. Moving very slowly, a chain reaction suddenly occurred, as an innumerable and almost infinite amount of those particles gathered from all around, even pouring in from the outside, increasing in speed and charging into Nox’s channels.

“UGGHHH”

Nox groaned in immense pain when this occurred, as his entire body smashed into the ground, cracking the manastone. It felt as if an endless number of mountains were weighing down on his channels.

“Master! “ Nyx shouted in worry.

‘I’m fine, this is nothing. Continue fusing your elements.’ Nox transmitted, but Nyx could feel his suffering.

“… alright” Nyx gloomily relented. She hated seeing this, but there was nothing she could do.

On the flat of his stomach, Nox began pushing himself up with his arms, as the manastone below began to crack even more. Sitting in meditative position again, he was actually sweating. This was a pain he hadn’t experienced in many years. This was a new body, after all.

Gritting his teeth and peering inside of his own body, his channels were still being flooded with that particle, but they were also fusing together at the same rate. There were no visible changes occurring, but he felt countless energies that were hidden inside the particle slowly being released into his channels. On top of the density of the particles, it now felt like a tempest was raging inside him.

*Puff…puff*

Nearly an hour later, the flood of those particles finally slowed and came to a stop. Nox’s clothes were soaked from sweat and he was breathing heavily. Feeling arms wrapping around him, he heard a worried whisper near his chest ‘Master, are you alright now?’

“Yeah, don’t worry, it’s over now. “ Nox felt a bit strained, but excitement was in his eyes.

“Good” Nyx said softly, but intense bloodlust towards Archaeos was filling her.

“Hey, it’s fine, really. Although I haven’t been ‘injured’ in a few hundred years, it’s a nice change of pace, so it’s perfect...“ Nox gently pat Nyx’s head with a faint smile on his face.

“Mmmm, I know, master. The last few hundred years have been boring for you, not to mention after your breakthrough, so you need your fun.“ Nyx nodded in understanding.

Breaking through on Tian, Nox’s soul elevated and his body accompanied it. That meant, along with his soul, his body was nigh invincible even without using Qi.

He only thought of it after Nyx helped awaken him, but after allowing his old body to be destroyed by Archaeos, which was the only power that could do it, his new body wouldn’t be that strong anymore; it would be vulnerable without energy. This meant that unless he fully unleashed his soul, it would be as if he never broke through.

Although his soul was still invincible, if he had that invincible body or even the one a bit before it, he wouldn’t be able to really ‘feel' the world like he could when he was journeying and striving for the peak.

The pain just now cemented the fact that this was Nox’s real, new life. That’s why he was excited.

“Alright, let me go, I’m sweaty. “ Nox said.

“I don’t mind however you are, but fine, I know you want to check your new power. “ Nyx reluctantly let go.

Standing, Nox concentrated, inspecting his bodies channels after the fusion.

Structurally, they were no different than before; even the enormous weight that the particles had, completely dissipated.

Visibly, though, the surface of his channels now an had an unusual ever-changing pattern akin to the shapes the tiny particle took.

Removing his inward gaze, Nox felt that his channels could create endless possibilities.

His eyes landing on Nyx, Nox’s body shook as a small amount of mana exploded outwards, clearing away his sweat and cleaning his body. With his channels now fully created, Nox now felt that the use of mana was similar to the Qi of Tian.

“Nyx, let me have a glimpse of your Darkness. You haven’t used it, and I also want to try mine out… Although, I’m not sure what I can use. I’ll just see what I feel first. “ Nox asked with interest.

“Alright, master. “ Nyx replied seriously. This was her first time using energy with a flesh body.

Staring intently at Nyx, Nox could feel the mana in her body bulding up and circulating rapidly.

Raising her arm, a pitch-black smoke began to slowly rise from her skin and twirl around her body like a snake.

Looking at her arm which was raised, Nox noticed scattered black scales forming on the back of her hand, as well as the tips of her fingers forming into sharp black claws.

“Looks like your body begins to change like mine when you use mana. Fits you well, honestly. “ Nox voiced with admiration. It was quite appealing.

“Come, attack me so I can feel what suits me right now. “ Nox asked and began circulating his mana... He felt that he could use multiple Elements but wasn’t sure which ones. Faced with an attack, he would be forced to manifest one.

“Mmm” Nyx nodded while taking a few seconds to focus some of the Darkness on her hand.

Launching forward, Nyx’s vertical black iris' thinned as she arrived close to Nox, preparing to swipe down her hand which was now a claw and covered in dense black smoke.

Gazing at Nyx’s power while he was standing still, Nox’s heartbeat quickened. Getting a reaction, mana gathered into his right arm lowered on his side. Making a grasping motion with his hand, a 4 foot long sword that appeared like a clear crystal materialized.

Holding it firmly, Nox raised the sword while his entire eyes turned and glowed blue-white. Exploding outwards, a torrent of lightning suffused the surroundings, then gathered into the sword, turning it blue-white with snakes of lightning swirling around it.

*BOOM*

A clash of darkness and lightning exploded outwards from where they made contact, completely shattering and turning the manastone below them into dust, leaving only dirt. Cracks appeared throughout the entire room, also destroying the lights. If it wasn’t for Nox’s lightning still lingering about, the room would be totally devoid of light.

“Hahaha, that felt really good. “ Nox laughed merrily. He hadn’t experienced something so invigorating in a while.

“Master… look at the room… and look at yourself and me…” Nyx appeared a bit shy, but she was relishing the sight.

“Hmm?” Nox looked at himself before his expression froze. Gazing up at Nyx, her face was slightly red as a scene of white and pink greeted him. Inspecting closely, although feeling a bit awkward, he was appreciating the view. Fate did a fantastic job.

“…seems like our clothes were destroyed. “ Nox said after silently gazing Nyx. Actually, both weren’t averting their eyes. Why would they?

“Yes, master. “ Nyx said after getting over her shyness.

“We made a mess of this room as well. Locke even told us to be caref-“ Nox voiced before getting interrupted by a sudden sound.

Both turning their gazes towards the sound, the manastone door was opened and a maid was standing their, clearly shocked and flustered. It was Mel. Looks like her professionalism had a few gaps.

“I-I'm sorry for interrupting your time, Sir Nox, Lady Nyx. “ Mel stuttered before trying to close the door.

“Woah, woah, woah, hold on, look at this room! We were testing our power and forgot to coat our clothes in mana, so they were destroyed. “ Nox quickly shouted. He didn’t want to cause a misunderstanding, making them look like perverts having sex in their hosts training room. Sylvie was going to travel with them and he did not want this type of image.

Hearing him, Mel decided to suck up her embarrassment and look at the room. She noticed the door cracked on the outside, but when she finally looked at the room, she froze in shock ‘They did this? With mana of all things!? How powerful are these two friends of Sylvie?’

She knew it was mana from the lightning still lingering in the air.

“Here Nyx, cover yourself. It’s coated in lightning, but it shouldn’t hurt you. “ Nox materialized two blue-white towels of mana, while he also made one for himself. He noticed that he could create objects of mana, and although he could make a simple sword, he didn’t know how to shape it into clothes. A flat and flexible rectangle was easy, though.

‘What! Conjuration and lightning? He can even infuse it into his creations?’ Mel was even more shocked than before.

Covering themselves, Nox spoke once more, ignoring Mel’s shocked expression “Sorry about that, and this room, I’ll find a way to compensate for it. “

“Ha, it’s fine, there’s no need for compensation. I said be careful, but I expected this to happen. Come, Mel, take Nox and Nyx to get clothes, preferably ones similar to what they previously wore. Sylvie’s banquet is nearing, after all. “ Locke appeared from behind Mel, speaking with his hoarse voice.

Awakening from her reverie, Mel calmed herself and bowed to Nox and Nyx “Sir Nox, Lady Nyx, I apologize for my previous conduct. I came here on the request of second young miss, as the banquet will start shortly. “

“No worries, it’s understandable. It was an unusual sight, after all. “ Nox waved it off.

“Locke, are you sure no compensation is wanted? We destroyed this room. “

“Manastone can repair itself over time, while the hole you two created can easily be replaced. Not much damage was done. “ Locke expressed straightforwardly.

“Alright then. “ Nox nodded and turned to Mel.

“Let’s get some new clothes and meet up with Sylvie, then. “

“Yes, right this way.“ Mel said before bowing to Locke.

“Lord Locke, we will take out leave “

“Go” Locke nodded.

Nox and Nyx walking together, they came up to Locke as Nox extended his arm with his palm facing upwards “Thanks, your hospitality was incredibly useful. If you need anything in the future, break this talisman. “

Materializing in Nox’s hand was a clear square. His soul was immensely powerful, so he could infuse some of it into objects. It was similar to the mark one used to track family, except this one could directly contact him. Nox could only hope that this talisman won’t dissipate. After all, he didn’t know the extent of his current power.

‘Conjuration ‘ Locke reflected before taking the talisman “Thank you, I hope I will never have to use it. “

“Go, Sylvie is waiting. You’re welcome back anytime. “

Nodding, Nox and Nyx followed behind Mel as she led them out of the library.

‘I wonder what kind of trouble they will cause in the future…’ Locke thought as he looked at their backs.