"Hey, you should not talk like that to this elder sister." Erza talked back. She knew that this was the formation spirit and he was definitely older than her. But she really could not stop herself to tease him after hearing the childlike voice and the mean words.
"Damn brat. When I gained a consciousness back then, even your grandfather was not born yet."
"Liar. You don't even know who is my grandfather. How are you so sure that you are older than him?"
The sword spirit was speechless. He indeed did not know who was her grandfather.
"I'm older than that Ryan brat whom you called principal nowadays." The formation spirit argued. Ryan Osmond was the name of the principal.
"Whatever. Your voice tell it all. I bet you do not dare to show yourself in front of me because you are still too young. Don't worry, this elder sister won't bite you." The formation spirit was truly incensed by Erza words.
Soon, a childlike figure appeared in front of Erza.
"I know it." Erza giggled as she saw the spirit body.
"Hmph, quickly choose your treasure then get out." The formation spirit snorted.
"Is there anything I should know?"
"The brighter the light means the treasure is more valuable. Nothing else. Stop wasting time and quickly choose your treasure."
"Okay, thanks. By the way, I'm Erza." Erza decided to stop teasing the formation spirit and introduced herself. However, the spirit did not talk anymore. He simply stared at her. Erza then started to look around.
Soon, she realized that once she got closer to a treasure, the information about the name, origin, grade, and function of that treasure would appear in her mind. She guessed this was part of the mechanism here in the treasury room.
Since she already had Heavenly Flame Sword as her weapon, this time Erza focused more on defensive and supportive artifacts. She spent around four hours looking around the space field before concluded her search.
There were three treasures which attracted her interest the most. Two of them were king grade, while the last one was emperor grade. Erza surprisingly set her standards very high. If the principal knew her choices, he would definitely scold her. Even though she had a divide artifact which placed above emperor grade, the principal believed it was just a fluke.
The first item was a necklace called 'Tear of Margareth'. It was said that the pendant truly contained the tear of Margareth, a saint beast specializing in soul attack. The wearer would be immune to any soul attacks below emperor level and more importantly it would help the wearer to maintain a clear mind.
The second treasure was an armor made from the skin of six-winged Flame Serpent. It would protect its user from fire attacks below emperor level and also boosted one's agility. More importantly, it was really beautiful and would fit to its user body.
The last item was actually a mount. It was a robot which looked like a phoenix. Its body was made from one of hardest metals ever known to human kind. Obviously, it was the product of Hathaway Empire. It had a barrier which could defend against normal emperor level attacks. In addition, its flying speed could reach up to 5000 km / hour.
Erza was seriously thinking of which ones suited her the most. Of course, she also needed to see whether the treasure accepted her or not. Any treasures below divine grade would not have a spirit, but they still had a soul. A soul would not be able think like a spirit, but it still had an instinct. It would decide its owner based on its instinct.
As a knight, Erza could still go on without eating anything for a few days. Therefore, she decided to skip her lunch and continued considering which ones was her best choice. Each of the three treasures had their own uses.
Erza finally decided to remove the mount from her choice since she would not be travelling anytime soon. Hence, she was stuck between the other two treasures. The necklace could strengthen her soul and clear up her mind, while the armor would increase her defence and agility.
All of a sudden, her attention turned to a treasure at the very far corner of the space. She previously missed it as the treasure was not radiating any light. It was very strange as even a knight grade treasure was radiating a dim light. It did not make any sense for the academy to keep an apprentice grade item in their treasury room.
Just now, it was truly a pure coincidence that she was able to notice the treasure. She was just looking around aimlessly as she wondered if she could see a star in this space.
As she got closer to the item, its information appeared in her mind. Apparently, it was called 'Cloak of Aztaroth' and there was no information about its grade. Surprisingly, the treasure was originally owned by the Archdevil of Darkness, Aztaroth! After his fall, most of his treasures were distributed amongst the human leaders at that time. Somehow, his cloak ended up in the academy hand.
Erza was totally intrigued by the treasure in front of her. She tried see if there was any information regarding its uses, unfortunately she found nothing. Apparently, no one managed to figure out how to use it. Even for the principal, when he wore it, he felt nothing special. It was really just like a normal cloak. However, the academy still decided to keep the cloak in their treasury room due to its extraordinary origin.
"What is the cloak for? It is impossible that it is just a normal cloak." Erza was pondering carefully.
"Hmmmm.. That cloak?" The formation spirit noticed that Erza was showing great interest to the treasure.
"Brat girl, you unexpectedly have a great insight. This cloak is very special. Even though no one manage to figure out its uses, it is rumoured that the wearer would receive boosts to his attack, defence, and agility from the cloak." The formation spirit suddenly appeared beside Erza.
He was more than happy to see that Erza was interested in that useless cloak. He was actually lying when he spoke about the rumour. He just made up the rumour himself.
As the formation spirit protecting the treasury room, overtime, he started to treat the treasures like his sons and daughters. Therefore, he really hated it every time someone took a treasure out. The cloak was an exception though. It did not shine at all and he could not feel a soul or a spirit inside the cloak.
"Really?" Erza doubted what she was hearing. Still, she decided to follow her instinct. She put the cloak on her body to see if there was any change. Unfortunately, it really felt like a normal cloak.
"Of course, why would I deceive you? I get nothing in return. Don't worry if you do not feel anything now. Bring it out first and slowly figure it out." The formation spirit continued his persuasion.
Erza tried to reach out to Ash. As someone who had experienced a lot of things in life, she needed his opinion. Unfortunately, since that night, Ash was not responding to her call at all. She knew that he was still there though.
She planned to ask for the Third Lady and the Second Lady opinions when she came back to Valentine clan this weekend. She was afraid that Ash was injured in the process of helping her.
In the end, Erza decided to trust her instinct and chose the cloak. The formation spirit was so happy with her choice. He sent her out as soon as she announced her choice. He was afraid that she would change her mind.
As soon as Erza appeared outside the treasury room, two academy staffs went forward to welcome her. As expected, they were very surprised with Erza choice. Nevertheless, they still noted down her choice and would report it to the principal.
Erza felt that it was too early to go back to the dorm since it was still around 4PM in the afternoon. Therefore, she decided to go to the lake again. Once she arrived at the lake, she was happy to see that Beel was also there.
He was just sitting there looking toward the lake. Beel did not notice her arrival since she came from behind him. Silently, Erza got closer to him and blocked his eyes with her hands.
"Piggy?" Beel guessed.
"You are the piggy!" Erza pouted as she pulled her hands. Beel chuckled looking at the girl beside him.
They then talked about their day so far. Beel was just practicing in the morning, went to lunch, and directly went to the lake after that. It was his daily routine. Later, he would spend his evening with the fatty.
When Beel heard that Erza chose the Cloak of Aztaroth as her reward, he was both surprised and happy.
"I know how to use it."