Chapter 0024

“Soul Memories Nine Reincarnation Sutra.  Heaven Defyer.” murmured a dazed cultivator following behind a wall of cannon fodder...ahem meat shield ugh… ahem vanguard, towards the Sundered Lion.

Previously, the mercenaries wondered how shameless a magess could be, asking to be in the rear when she can easily kill all the low levels beast with a wave of her hand. Now they understand everything.

The newcomer had no sense of direction. They tell her to go east, she goes north. They tell her to go right, she goes left. It’s no wonder she is strong as she is. If she wasn’t strong, she’d be killed by all the ferocious beast she accidentally runs into.

It isn’t Tempest’s fault she gets lost. She just transmigrated into this world. She doesn’t need directions. She has gps, the spirits! Also, Ventus is very chatty, imparting superfluous common sense of this world, distracting Tempest from her surroundings. Ventus does not need to breathe in order to be heard, so she tries to fill every moment of Tempest waking hours with strings of weird but useful information about this world, as if she was trying to make up for the time when Tempest was unable to hear her back on Earth.

It wasn’t until Tempest ordered Ventus to seek out Aria and Xing Zhi did she get some peace and quiet. She can finally focus on her surroundings. Her previous dazed look was because she was concentrating on Ventus and entrusting her protection to her spirits.

Back on Earth, the psychologist who diagnosed her with schizophrenia admitted her to the insa… ahem hospital for treatment. During her confinement… ugh stay at the hospital, most of the time, she spent ignoring the spirits while trying to control the effects the spirits had on the world. The misunderstood little girl figured she will be freed if she can control the source of her anomalies.  She believed she will be cured if she eliminates the voices in her head.

The drugs and therapies didn’t help. They might have, but Tempest can’t really say if they were effective. It was her friends that gave her the motivation to get out. Four months. It took only four months for Tempest to control the spirits but by that time it was too late. They were gone.

Tempest shook her head, bringing herself back to the present and the interesting conversation Ventus related to her.

“Did those leave twirl around her?”

“That is nothing. You should see the tree branches. It bends to get out of her way.”

“Trees and leaves are nothing. Cultivators can affect the nature of the world.  Affecting a small area around them isn’t as impressive as parting the seas or slicing the mountains in half. You should watch her closely and listen. The newcomer doesn’t make any sounds when she moves.”

“What is so special about that? It means she has a high-level movement technique.”

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“You idiot. You grew up in the Magus Alliance and still don’t realize it?! That girl is a red mage. Red mages don’t have movement technique. They are solely dependent on their spells. How much control does she have to exert her power over the physical world over long periods of time?”

“Yes, yes. I heard a rumor that the most dangerous mages in the Magus Alliance aren’t the most powerful, but the one that can control their power and magic output. A skilled mage is better than a powerful mage.”

“She isn’t a mage. No one saw her casting a spell circle.”

“She cast a spell when she attacked Senna, Amber, and Bailey.”

“She cast spells then, but there are no spell circle active right now.”

“Then what moving those branches and leaves out of her way?”

A sudden silence descends upon the mercenary group as each member tried to recall what can influence the natural world without activation. Unable to come with a solution, they stared at the newcomer with trepidation and confusion.

Slowly, enlightenment came over a few of the mercenaries. There were rumors about mages with high affinities circulating around the Magus Alliance.  Many take those rumors as a grain of salt. One of those rumors has it that the spirits of high affinities mages exert their power over the natural world to aid their mage when they are weak because the body of the mage can not tolerate the large amount of mana the spirits channel into them.  However, the mana of the spirits must go somewhere. The spirits direct the mana around the mage.

As more mercenaries realized this, they cried in their hearts, “Why did this monster come into our camp.”

Tempest heard these snippets of conversation from the mercenary group, but she ignored them. Why should she care about the opinions of random strangers?

After they kill the Sundered Lion, sell its corpse for money, they will go their own way. Two of the people here might go with those cultivators Aria and Xing Zhi Hui confronted.

As far as Tempest is concerned, the people here are at best high level meat shield, buying time for her to kill the Sundered Lion. There is no reason to get close to them or try to ingrates herself to the various cliches.

Still, their conversation bothered the transmigrator. Tempest is trying to fit in this new world. She didn’t want any trouble, yet it still follow her.

The newly christened red mage blamed Aria for singling her out. If she didn’t act all friendly towards her, Tempest was sure she could walk into the mercenary camp and fade into the background.

Despite her intention, a crazy care bear tries to cozy up to her, attracting unwanted attention and ruining all her plans.

Now Tempest has to suffer the scrutiny of the mercenary camp.

It would have been fine if Tempest knew what she was doing, but she doesn’t. Tempest has no idea what a red mage is even though everyone assume she is one nor does she know to fake being one either.

Her actions are sending mixed signals to everyone. Tempest wanted blend into the background as a harmless little girl selling low level charms to make a living yet her actions proclaims her to be a red mage, and even with the demonstration people are still gossiping about her power, especially the one that required no activation to work.

“Hi, my name is Tilda Amerath. This is my friend, Wiminia Gretcord. We are both in the rear guard. Pleased to meet you. It’s rare to see a mage cast so fast. It’s almost like you master chant less casting. Your spells were so amazing. With talent like that, in a few centuries, your name would resound throughout the Magus Alliance, on par with Cardis Gourd. Please take care of us until then.”

A plain girl dressed in brown homespun clothing dragged a wary woman of Caucasian descent with blond hair and blue eyes to speak to Tempest.

“Great, another oddball trying to flatter her,” Tempest thought to herself as she affected a dazed look, trying to avoid being drawn into the talkative girl’s pace.

Tempest wasn’t an idiot. She knew what motormouth was trying to do. Amber assigned their position a while ago, but the two girls only came now to introduce themselves to Tempst. Anyone with a brain knew the two girls were trying to find a big tree to shelter them from the storm and that big tree is Tempest. Little did they know, Tempest is the raging storm they need to be wary of.

If the pair came right away, Tempest might be inclined to look after them as part of her charm selling little girl cover, but they only came after the mysterious powers protect Tempest from the nuisance of the forest.

Tempest was disinclined to bother with them, so she put on a dazed expression and wandered off, leaving the chatterbox speaking to air.