BXBX NOVEL Chapter 29: First Real Contact
"Why?" Everyone asked back.
Linfel then pointed to the students of Classes A and B right behind them. "They easily got rid of the Magic Beasts in the last Flag. Now, the flag is pretty much safe for anyone who gets close after us. Would it be a test if you never found any Magic Beasts?"
"So that\'s how it is..." Everyone had to agree with Linfel, including the Maguses and Familiars behind. They were traveling quite close, so unless Linfel and the others purposely tried to hide their voices, everyone could hear.
Suddenly, Linfel dashed to the side. At the same time, his Magic Energy circulated around his body as the air heated it. Linfel raised his hand, and a Fire Spear took form in seconds. "Go!"
The Fire Spear shot forward at high speeds, hitting a wall not far from Linfel.
*Boom!*
A huge hole appeared on it. However, the thing that caught everyone\'s attention the most was the purple liquid coming out. A second later, the wall crumbled as a Magic Beast fell from it, leaving a gap in the wall itself. The beast looked more like a fish, although it had horns. Countless teeth in a round mouth could be seen. No doubt something used to drill into the earth.
*Brummmm!*
The walls and even the earth around trembled as several more of these weird magic Beast jumped out, shot in everyone\'s direction.
Alvin and Connor were scared of their wits. However, they still were Maguses who received proper training in the Academy, so they still acted. Felia and Tratil quickly changed form, attaching themselves to their Masters.
Alvin then punched the ground, causing a small wall of earth to appear between him and the Magic Beast flying in his direction.
*Zush!*
Yet, before the Magic Beast even came in contact with the Earth Wall, a powerful gust of wind hit Alvin\'s body, sending him flying.
*Bang!*
*Crumble!*
It was then that Alvin noticed the Magic Beast passing right through his Earth Wall, falling on the ground and drilling into it straight away. That made him look at his own chest, thinking the hole on the wall he had created wouldn\'t be the only hole that Magic Beast opened.
Obviously, Alvin was saved, and the one who saved him was Linfel, who appeared on his side a moment later. "Not too bad. Your Master Familiar Connection was very fast, and your reaction and skill speed were even more so. However, you panicked way too easily. These might be Low-Level Magic Beasts, but they are obviously Earth Proficient. They drilled into these walls to hide from their prey.
Do you think that little bit of Earth you built would have stopped it from reaching you? You need to think more carefully and control your emotions."
Alvin was breathing heavily, listening to Linfel. Sure enough, Linfel wasn\'t lying when he said Horan trained him a lot. Linfel was definitely experienced in combats.
*Bang!*
It was then that Connor passed flying by them. He also tried to defend against the Magic Beast attack, but he was luckier. He used a Wind technique to create a blast of wind between him and that weird Earth Fish. Nonetheless, he was still hit on the shoulder, and blood began to come out.
Another Wind Current suddenly appeared behind Connor, dampening his fall to the ground. Linfel acted once again. "Connor, your reaction wasn\'t as fast as Alvin, but your Magic Energy deployment wasn\'t too bad. It made up for the slow reaction. Don\'t worry, you only got a scratch. Next time, don\'t just stay still and hope your Magic Skill will work.
Move your body as well. That Wind Blast you used should have been more than enough to separate you from the Magic Beast if you had used it sideways while moving your body in the opposite direction."
Connor, Alvin, Tratil, and Felia were surprised by all of Linfel\'s input. "A-Alright!"
Linfel suddenly looked to the earth below and warned. "Here they come! Don\'t worry. If things get dangerous, I\'ll intervene. Think carefully. These Magic Beasts are not as strong as your two pairs of Magus and Familiar.
You can take them down. Now, jump back!"
Alvin and Connor didn\'t waste time and immediately jumped away. In the next moment, another four of those weird Earth Fishes shot from underground, missing their targets.
Alvin\'s interlaced bracelet connected to rings by little chains, which was Felia\'s form during their connection, shined with an Earthy Glow as Alvin controlled his Magic Energy around his body to dash forward. The Earth Fishes had just missed their mark, and they were now in midair. Alvin didn\'t lose that chance and attacked the belly of one of those fishes.
His first transformed into a speartip made of Earth, hitting the belly of the Magic Beast!
*Splash!*
Purple Blood gushed out as the fist went halfway through the Magic Beast\'s body. It died instantly.
Connor also reacted faster this time. Wind Gathered in front of him before three blades made of air shot forward, all hitting the same spot Alvin did but against another of the Magic Beasts. The first blade opened a wound; the second penetrated it to reach the organs, and the last finally destroyed everything inside near the area it penetrated.
More Purple Blood rained down and another magic Beast was dead.
Alvin and Connor didn\'t let their guard down this time. They quickly looked around, searching for the other two Earth Fishes that had jumped out of the ground previously. However, they only had time to see those two other Fishes trapped inside what seemed to be a sphere of water before Linfe spoke.
"Freeze!"
The two spheres of water then slowly transformed into ice, also freezing the trapped Earth Fishes inside. They struggled to try to escape that prison, but Linfel\'s Magic Energy made it impossible for them to find any way to propel them out of there. Half a minute later, the two spheres of water fell, breaking upon contact with the ground, and so did the two Magic Beasts inside.
"Ah!" Linfel then noticed something. "What a waste of Magic Energy. These guys obviously can\'t breathe underwater, so I didn\'t have the need to freeze them. As long as I waited, they would have died."
Connor looked at that and was amazed. "Alvin... just what kind of monstrous Familiar did you create? If I didn\'t know you two can do Master Familiar Connection, I would have said he wasn\'t yours at all. Fire, Wind, Water... He used all three types of Elements as if they were nothing, and it was all while controlling the same Yellow Magic Energy as us.
Can he use even more types?"
Alvin\'s voice carried a hint of surprise and admiration as Felia severed the connection with him. Connor\'s words had struck a chord. Linfel was indeed not his creation. "Ahem... truth be told, I never anticipated him to be this exceptional."
Linfel felt the Magic Energy around his core and mentally nodded in satisfaction. \'Indeed, Magic Energy is so much easier to control compared to Primordial Energy. I\'ve never felt so comfortable while using the elements before. On the other hand, it truly does lack power. Well, I still prefer this Magic Energy, though.
There are no risks when I use it, different from Primordial Energy, which can kill you at any moment if you lose yourself even a little bit. Besides, a Higher Level of Magic Energy will make up for this eventually.\'
Linfel then looked behind and saw that the Classes A and B students had also got rid of a few of those Earth Fishes. "As expected of them, I guess? They truly didn\'t let more than four of these Earth Fishes get close to us."
Only then did Alvin, Connor, and their Familiars look back. There, they could see the carcasses of over ten of these Magic Beasts. The maguses and their Familiars didn\'t seem to be tired at all. And indeed they weren\'t. This time, they all paid close attention to Linfel. The moment Linfel started to attack, they understood he noticed more Magic Beasts around.
If anything, it was extremely easy for them to deal with the situation with Linfel\'s perception.
One of them approached Linfel\'s group, looking at Linfel differently. The disdain he had for this Rank F Familiar was now gone. "You are quite good. Your control, technique, perception, everything shows you were created with the best stats. Let\'s continue this partnership, shall we? By the way, you can call me Donfin."
Linfel didn\'t mind. "As long as you leave a few Magic Beasts for me and my Master to train on the way, I have nothing to complain. Right, Master?" Linfel said as he looked at Alvin.
Alvin scratched the back of his head. "Sure..."
Donfin glanced at Alvin, not knowing how to judge this student. He didn\'t show anything worth mentioning in this previous battle, but he was the one who created Linfel, so he felt conflicted about how to judge Alvin. As for Connor, he didn\'t even bother looking. "Anyway, let\'s keep going, full speed ahead."
Linfel and the others nodded. In fact, they were already very close to the next Flag. Just two minutes running and it already appeared in front of them.
This time, the Maguses and Familiars were all together instead of the initial distance the strong Classes A and B students kept from Linfel and the others. It wasn\'t like Linfel could force them away, and Alvin and Connor were nothing but happy to have such powerful bodyguards... too bad they would always leave some Magic Beasts for them to deal with.
Another Magus, this time a woman, asked Alvin as they left the area. "Alvin, right? I\'m Miranda. I\'ve seen your master Familiar Connection info in the news recently, but that was achieved with this Linfel, right? 71% Connection Compatibility is no joke. Aren\'t you two going to connect this time?"
The others also saw the news. After all, Milia was involved. Milia was just like them. If they also made any flashy moves in the academy, their information would be spread all over, and everyone would know about it soon.
Felia looked a little sad for a moment, but Alvin just patted her head. "Linfel and I already have a very high compatibility, so we don\'t really need to train for the time being. That\'s why I\'m connecting with Felia. You have to be able to use all your Familiars with with proficiency, after all."
Everyone nodded and didn\'t ask anymore. Besides, it truly didn\'t seem like Linfel needed to connect with Alvin to display a high level of combat power, so it didn\'t make much of a difference. They were just curious to see their connection in battle, that was all. Linfel didn\'t want to connect either. At least not at the moment when the enemies were so weak. If needed, he would do it later.
"We have company!" Linfel\'s expression changed as he looked above. From the darkness, tens of flying beasts came out, aiming at their group.
Somewhere else high in the skies, an enormous Airship maintained its position above the Dark Cayon\'s Region. Inside the Field Exam Management area, thousands of monitors could be seen while many instructors of the academy observed the students while doing various different reports.
In the center of the room, an old man stood tall, his eyes fixed on a particular set of Monitors. In the images, he could see Linfel and his group fighting the flying beasts. He didn\'t pay attention to the Level Two Maguses and Familiars. Their combat power was expected. Alvin and Connor weren\'t anything special either. Linfel, however, truly caught his attention.
"Do we have any information regarding that new Familiar?"
A subordinate quickly arrived to answer. "Yes, sir. His name is Linfel, and he has just been created recently by a student called Alvin. His Master Familiar Connection Compatibility with Alvin is at 71%, which received a commendation from the testing facility. Linfel is also an independent Familiar, although he barely passed the test to become one."
"Any information about his creation process?" The old man asked.
"No," the subordinate shook his head. "As you know, Maguses can create their own Familiars however they like as long as they register it after. However, it is up to them to disclose what kind of parameters were used during the process. Alvin hasn\'t disclosed his."
The man nodded. He then took out his MCOM and checked the independence test. He had special access, so he could check the specific results of each test there. \'So this is the Familiar Talano mentioned. He is indeed as impressive as those other Familiars from the last few years...\' He looked at Alvin after that and couldn\'t help but sigh. \'And yet, this master of his...
such bad luck.\'