Inside a small café in Academy City, a group was seated around a table.
Bloed, Regina, Liu Ying, Aya, and Prince Calisto were seated at a side of the table, looking with astonishment at the middle-aged man across them.
Aya and Prince Calisto were astonished by the fact he was a demigod. They were surprised that Bloed had ties with still another demigod.
In fact, Aya realized she had met several demigods since the day she met Bloed.
But when she thought about the fact that Regina, a demigod, was Bloed's lover and servant, she stopped finding it strange.
'… I think it's normal if it's Bloed, huh…'
As for Bloed, Regina, and Liu Ying, they were surprised by the identity of the middle-aged man.
"Let me see if I understood." Liu Ying said with a weird look on her face. "Are you saying you are Chorius? The demigod bird we met in the Exiled Lands?"
"I am." The middle-aged man said with a gentle look.
"But, how? I thought you said you could not leave the Exiled Lands. And since when did you become human?"
"I'm not human and I have not left the exiled lands," Chorius explained. "What are you seeing is just a clone I created and shaped like a human. My real body is still in the exiled lands."
Bloed and Liu Ying looked at each other surprised.
After all, Chorius's explanation about creating a clone and making it to take human form was very astonishing.
According to Bloed's knowledge and his experience studying magic runes, magic was not something supernatural or illogical. Quite the opposite, magic followed a certain set of rules.
And these rules could not defy the laws of physics.
When you created a fireball, you were didn't create it from nothing. Instead, you used the mana inside you or in the environment as the source of energy and used magic runes to make it generate a phenomenon.
That was the reason Bloed was surprised. Even though it should not be impossible to create a clone and shape it like a human, it should be incredibly hard. At the very least, he was unable to imagine a kind of magic that could turn a bird into a human.
In the end, he was unable to resist his curiosity.
"How did you do that?"
"Do you mean how I created the clone or how did I give it human shape?" Chorius asked as though he expected Bloed to ask him about it. "Creating a human body was not hard. Well, it is not truly a human body. It's just a manifestation of energy with a human shape. It doesn't have internal organs. Unfortunately, I don't have enough knowledge to create a perfect human body. I heard that dragons can polymorph perfectly, but I don't know how they do that.
"As for the clone. It was much harder. I split my soul into two, leaving a part with my main body and putting the other in this vessel. Of course, both souls are still 'me', so the two bodies can share what they see and learn."
Bloed could not help but look at Chorius in awe.
He had already realized it when they met in the Exiled Lands, but Chorius's knowledge when it came to magic was truly astounding. It was something Bloed admired and envied.
"Hey Chorius, how did you know we were here?" Liu Ying asked at that moment.
"Well, I heard the news about two talented B-Ranks and an A-Rank entering the city. Curious, I asked about their information only to realize they were talking about the three of you. When I realized that, I decided to come here and welcome you. I never expected to find so many clubs trying to recruit you, though."
"Yeah, you saved us there." Bloed smiled wryly.
"Hahaha, don't worry about that. I was just helping a friend."
"Still, these people were really crazy about making us join their clubs." Liu Ying said with a slightly frightened look. She could not understand why they seemed so determined to make them join a club.
"Well, competition between clubs here is Academy City is really fierce," Chorius explained with a slight shake of his head. "You don't understand because you just arrived, but in this city, the top clubs receive advantages and resources that even I am envious of. Due to that, students fight teeth to teeth to increase the ranking of their club and get more advantages. What do you think will happen if they learn that three very talented seeds unaffiliated to any club just reached the city?"
Bloed and Liu Ying looked at each other with wry smiles.
"Right, did you decide what classes you are going to choose? How about the clubs? Will you join any?" Chorius suddenly asked.
Bloed's group shook their heads. They just reached the city, so there were a lot of things they did not know yet.
"Do you have any advise, Chorius?"
"Mm… The classes are simple. I don't think you are interested in things like politics or liberal arts, so we will ignore those. Miss Liu Ying should go for close-combat related classes and some about mana control and cultivation. Bloed's situation is a bit more unique, but I think you are probably interested in the magic-related classes, right? I remember you were very interested in magic runes."
Bloed nodded. Certainly, he used psychic power, so most of the combat techniques taught here were useless for him. However, he was very interested in magic runes.
He could also try to find some classes related to soul power. Who knows? Perhaps he could find something good.
When he saw Bloed and Liu Ying nodded to his recommendations, Chorius continued.
"Your cat friend is an assassin-like fighter, right? There are also many classes suitable for her in the city, and the young lionkin should focus on mana-control-related classes. Finally, Miss Regina…"
Chorius paused abruptly when he reached here and looked at Regina with an awkward expression.
"To be honest, I don't think the teachers here can teach you anything. You should instead become a teacher yourself and give your own lectures."
"No, thank you. I'm happy following master."
"If you are happy with that." Chorius shrugged indifferently.
"What about clubs?" Liu Ying asked.
"Clubs, huh." Chorius put on a pensive expression and looked at the group. "If you don't mind, what about coming with me? Actually, I'm the teacher in charge of one of the city's clubs."
"Huh? You are in charge of a club? How is it called?"
A mischievous smile appeared on Chorius's face.
"[Knowledge Seekers]."
Bloed nodded softly. But suddenly, he realized something strange.
For some reason, Aya and Prince Calisto were looking at Chorius with weird gazes.