"Are you sure about this, your Highness?" Pierre debated with a worried look as he glanced at the sparring area.
On one side stood Ian, swinging his brush haphardly while locking eyes with his opponent.
On the other side was Pierre's master, Melia who cracked her fists while bearing a proud smirk.
"Are you not going to burn this room down if we fight too badly?"
Sensing a hint of caution, Melia addressed his concerns, "The sparring room is a room suited for matches with both physical attack and mana. Both its walls and surface have been coated by a caster's spell. Hence, our little match won't be chaotic in the long run."
Ian stiffened his arm's movement and replied, "Good."
On the spectators' end, Pierre looked at Ryan with a worried look, and once again, voiced his concerns "Sire, I don't think we should allow this."
Both his teacher and that flashy fellow were clearly not right in the head.
"I'm curious to see how strong they both are. This view allows for a good observation of their abilities," said Ryan.
Nevermind, he was going to add the King as another abnormal fellow.
[Pierre is dissatisfied with your decision.]
Ryan was first confounded by that statement before deciding to handle the matter later. For now, the real drama was what was in front of him.
"May I have the honour of knowing my opponent's name?" Ian began as he gripped his brush with force.
"Let's see if you'll be graced with the honour," Melia replied, "For now, call me First Major."
Ian's lips curled into a smile as he pointed his brush.
"Careful of your words, First Major, you never know when they might be enlightened."
Out of nowhere, the crimson stones under Melia's feet lit up with a pale, yellow light.
"Oh!" The Major looked over in astonishment when a powerful ray burst from below, swallowing her in its entirety.
Ian's expression changed upon seeing the dim, revealing an opponent whose body was shrouded in a red glow that pulsated around her, unfazed by his attack.
"Enhancing your defense using your aura, eh." thought the Artist.
'Nothing less from a Permeator.'
"Excellent, I need more!" The First Major screamed as she stomped her foot and sallied towards him with a tremendous leap.
"Seems you're a stubborn opponent," Ian commented with a cackle while proceeding to utter the create spell.
Right then, Melia came in front of him, squeezing her fist before a runic circle appeared.
Ian made a light step to the side, dodging the flaming attack that blazed forth when the punch connected with the circle, sending a gust of fire towards him.
"Gotcha," he grinned before taking a step back, at the same time his brush circled around the Commander's arm, right as he bellowed.
"Spike!"
Sharp spikes lengthened from the arc below Melia, fast approaching the Major's hand.
"Fool!" Melia shouted as the dim aura surrounding her arm suddenly erupted with an explosive force, shattering Ian's shaped attack.
The Affinity user's eyes widened, but he quickly regained his composure. However, this was due to the fact that there was a blazing fist aiming towards his face.
He quickly responded to the threat, arching his back to avoid a strike, then smoothly slid under Melia's arm to create a short distance.
His opponent, on the other hand, was not easy to get away from. Melia swung her leg up, intending to strike the land between his thighs when he whispered a word.
"Streak!"
His body morphed into a yellow wisp and darted forward, extending the gap.
"Very well, allow me to cast you with spells," Melia's thick voice boomed as she slammed her palms. A red orb appeared and swirled as they separated, then her aura expanded in size, her form now resembling the flaming wick of a candle.
"No way," Ryan's eyes widened in surprise.
'Is she about to use a ranged attack?'
As if he'd heard his thoughts, Pierre answered the question, "Sire, the last time I talked with my master, she had just entered the Skilled rank of the Ridlockian System. If she were to fight Sir Ian using that, it would be nothing but bullying.
A certain scene flashed inside Ryan's mind, reminding him of the time when Pierre had cut himself with his blade.
"I'm curious, Sir Nameless. I may have forgotten about your power, but I know that all wielders don't need to cut themselves with their blades to unleash an aura. Why is yours like that?"
Pierre sighed, taking a long moment of silence.
"From the runes on my blade, his majesty is aware that I wield—"
"The Essence Orb of a Rare Beast, Yes?"
"Indeed, but I use not just any rare beast," The Fighter's eyes drifted towards the floor, "But a Rare Hound. A creature known for its particular taste in blood to heighten the power of its element."
"Blood?" Ryan's smile faded. He turned to the fighter in a mask with a calm but palpable expression, "So you don't require blood to unleash your aura? You require it to increase the explosive force to an even greater degree?"
"Yes."
'Oh boy.'
As soon as Ian's wisp's form was broken with a flutter of miniscule yellow particles, the light user extended his brush in a uniform motion, creating a glowing, yellow stroke.
At the same time, Melia blasted her orb towards him with precision. Ian spun in place and slashed the stroke using his brush, sending a speeding yellow arc that collided with the blast.
Heat flooded the area, leaving the floors scorched and dust filling the arena.
Both users were about to continue when the doors of the hallway broadened, and a servant entered.
"Major Melia, Commander Berny requests to see you," The lone servant explained.
"The Defense Commander calls for me, at a time like this?" Melia groaned in annoyance.
She then turned to Ian as her flames vanished, "We'll continue some other time."
"It better be secluded, that way we can fight to our hearts' content," Ian replied, his hand shaking intensely with the paint brush.
'That sounds wrong.' Ryan thought, watching the Major swipe an arm authoritatively over the arena. In a matter of seconds, both flames and scorch marks vanished from the floor, leaving him astonished.
'What the...'
Before walking away with the attendant, Melia turned to Ian ans said,
"The King's banquet is in the evening; please be in attendance,"
"That is one powerful fighter," Ryan repeated to himself before a thought entered his mind.
'It also means that you're easy to assassinate.'
It felt like he had just taken a stab to the chest, being reminded of his weakness.
As the doors were closed, Ian's voice rang from the fore, "My King, shouldn't prepare you for the banquet?"
"I agree," Pierre interjected.
Ryan scoffed at those words and moved towards the open doors, only to come to an abrupt pause.
"Pierre, tell me something."
Pierre froze for a minute, confused by the statement. "What do you mean, Sire?"
"Yes, Master Ryan, remember about what?"
Ryan then inched closer and said, "Does your blade also drain you of that much energy in exchange for a more explosive force?"
A long silence ensued.
~~~~
Inside his room, Ryan gently cushioned himself against his bed, lost in thought.
'The more I learn about the five skills, the deeper it gets.'
According to the System's book, there were five classes granted for affinity users: Wielder, Permeator, Tamer, Chanter, and Mutant.
With the aid of observation, he had come to know of the workings of only three of them.
He would start with the Wielder class, who required blades or weapons with flaming shards incised into them to unleash their power. Some decided to take it even further, adding the orbs of beasts to diversify or intensify their output.
But, with Pierre as a prime example, the results of doing that brought a cost.
'No wonder that rider claimed that most simply preferred a blade with a shard, and if it would have the orb of a beast, it had to be of the abnormal grade.'
He was suddenly reminded of his own blade; whenever he wielded it, there was almost no effect.
'Seems the official that had it forged went out of his way to show his fealty. I should reward him one day.'
He moved on to the next class on his mind, and that was a Permeator. After Wielder, this class was the one he was most cognizant with.
He could fight directly with opponents without needing to worry about his weapon getting broken or removed from him.
However, unlike Wielder, the Permeator class was too greedy with mana, especially when he compared unleashing directly against unleashing with a blade; the cost was almost halved.
The last one he'd witnessed was a Chanter. From observing Ian, he found the light user a bit too bizarre. He imagined Chanter as someone who would take long in casts, but the latter had shown him one word.
'Well, maybe it's because he's unique?'
He sighed, then lay his body against the bed, shifting to another matter entirely.
His memory.
If the amnesia kept going, he would eventually reach the point where anything could go wrong, like being accused of being a doppleganger.
The least he wanted to do was hurry back home or go stronger before anyone would kill him upon realizing this. Additionally, he needed to unlock the Nation Store, which he could do only if his mana pool was around 125 and all of his stats were at or above 25.
Upon seeing the moonlit sky from his window, he put that thought aside.
First, he needed to get through the night.
~~~
With an entourage of guards behind, Ryan lithely walked through a passageway with thoughts lingering on whether any other transmigrator/otherworlder like him had gone through these issues.
And if they had, were they still living, or were they long dead? If they were, how long had they given up hope and accepted staying here?
If he did happen to meet one, would they be determined to kill him? What would the circumstances be? Would the system even be able to identify them?
None of those questions had any answers, so he could look towards the dark, narrow passageway that led into an open area of stone flooring with a wide dome at the top.
The moon hung high in the sky, shining its ghostly light over the outer courtyard. Red lanterns were hung around thin iron poles as people waltzed around in clothes of various colours.
The melody of the instruments playing in the background heightened the moment.
"Are all of them Nobles…sorry, Officials?" was Ryan's first question to the Masked person beside him.
"No, not at all Sire, a few influential people are here as well, merchants, and…"
"So they are all High Society?"
"Yes."
He really wanted to run, but there was a strange, unforeseen force holding him back. Maybe it was just the guards.
"Greetings to his Imperial Highness," A saintly, feminine voice greeted.
He glanced to the front and spotted the Divine Envoy with the same sort of gown she'd worn when they first met.
Beside her was a man with a red dress and orange attire that starkly contrasted with the Priestess' own.
As the duo raised their heads. Esteria introduced the man, "This is the Head of the Temple - Lactar Inis."