Scarlet Asger

After making it past the guards at the gate – who all send confused looks towards Tar for being out in broad daylight sitting on my shoulder – I head straight towards my suite. And after entering it, I go to my room and then closet to change into gym clothes to train in. Only for Tar to offhandedly mention how pointless that was when I’m literally walking around in my magi-tech armor, not having bothered ever deactivating it except for when I went to bed last night.

Oops.

I turn back around and leave my suite before going to the training hall located within the mansion. But when I get there, I find someone else already inside of it. Someone I recognize.

Anthony Wilson – otherwise known as Necro – turns from where he’s currently training in the center of one of the vast training fields to look in my direction, likely having heard the door shutting behind me. The guy is wearing just a simple pair of shorts as he fights against a bunch of robotic dolls, immediately returning his attention to the fight after seeing me.

Why is a magic focused Guardian training so hard – judging by the amount of sweat I see on him – in hand to hand combat?

“Well, it’s always good to have all your bases handled,” Tar says, and on second thought, I can’t help but agree. Just never really thought I’d run into him here.

I had heard that he was one of the five seeded Class I students in the Top class, but I didn’t know he was in the same mansion as my suite.

Anyways, I ignore the guy to head towards one of the other training fields – one far away from him – before messing with the controls to activate the dolls.

I should really work on my own hand to hand and claw to hand combat. Since it could use a lot of work.

After a couple hours of training, I stop the dolls with an audio command, “Stop session.” Then I use the clean skill on myself to wipe off any sweat that had built up before turning around and beginning to make my way towards the exit, only to find Anthony standing there leaning against the wall while watching me.

“Do you want something?” I ask while putting my hands into my jacket pocket, stopping a few meters away from him.

As if on cue, a fae in the form of a miniature swan appears in the air. The fae then says with the same sensation of power that Tar has in his voice, “Greetings, young one. My name is Artoria.”

I frown for a second before my face goes neutral again when Tar appears in front of me and immediately says, “Sister.”

“So you finally decided to meet with me?” the princess of the fae asks with a frown somehow appearing on her face – which I wonder how is possible since swans have beaks. “Or is it just because we met on Earth?”

Tar sighs, although I don’t think he does it out loud. Just in my head.

“Get on with it, Artoria,” Tar says, not bothering to answer her questions.

He’s been avoiding her since the tournament? That’s kind of surprising.

Although considering how he initially reacted towards her, I guess it isn’t. Not really.

“You already know that I want to work with you and Artemis for the Fae Competitions, so what is your answer?” she asks rather bluntly.

Tar sighs again before floating onto my shoulder and answering, “It’s too early to decide on that. Let’s leave that for when the competition is closer at hand.” He then speaks directly to me through telepathy or whatever mind link our contract gives us, “Let’s go.”

I don’t need to be told twice as I immediately begin to leave, only giving Necro a single nod to which he returns, already having changed back into his magi-tech gear at some point. Which isn’t saying much considering how it’s still just a shirt and shorts, basically meaning that the only difference is that he’s now wearing a shirt as well.

My armor at least has a shirt, pants, and a jacket. Much better.

“His armor is rather pointless if you really think about it,” Tar suddenly says, jumping into my line of thought as I enter the hallway outside of the training room and begin making my way towards the cafeteria in the mansion. “It barely offers any protection at all. Only around his torso, shoulders, and thighs. The areas covered by the shirt and shorts.”

Yeah. There isn’t much point to it.

My armor – even if it looks like regular clothes – covers everything. So it’s much more useful. But his? His doesn’t cover enough to really be considered armor.

It’s bizarre.

I do kind of wonder if I’ll have Anthony in one of my classes though. It’s possible he could be in tomorrow’s System Basics course, or in the interior combat or Achievements courses.

If I had to guess, I’d say the Achievements course. Because I think that one was limited to either Advanced and Top class students only, or Top class students only. I can’t remember which.

I continue making my way towards the diner before walking into it to find a few people already seated, eating their meals in peace. Meanwhile the chef can be seen standing in the kitchen with an open counter between the dining area – which is very high class and not some run of the mill cafeteria – and the kitchen.

Huh.

I stop in the middle of the dining area – since calling it a cafeteria really just sounds wrong for something this high-class. Especially since I see the chef using mana in his cooking.

“This should be your first time seeing a pure support and creation Guardian.” Tar states. “These Guardians have no combat related skills unless they specifically purchase them but are able to infuse their magic into different things. Some of them can create magical food that will have beneficial effects on your body, others can infuse their magic into items and technology, which is where your magi-tech came from.”

Interesting.

Guess I’ll be trying magic food for the first time.