Reagan sat crouching on top of a stool.
『Reagan? What are you doing he-』[Nova]
『God damn it, Nova. Answer my question, why are you here?』[Reagan]
Nova suddenly got hit by a small wave of fear.
『Ah, right… Oswald gave me an invitation...』[Nova]
『Haah?! What makes him think that you'd be a good addition to the Association?!』[Reagan]
Reagan climbed down off of the chair.
『Do you even know the rules of the Association?!』[Reagan]
『Nope. Not at all.』[Nova]
Reagan shook his head.
『You gotta contribute some kind of revolutionary… wait.』[Reagan]
Reagan walked up to Nova, and began to examine him.
『You have a flame that burns away mana, right?』[Reagan]
『Uh… yes. But I can-』[Nova]
『Nah. That's good enough. Let's get you situated.』[Reagan]
He pulled Nova enthusiastically through the fancy white and gold themed building, with a fancy red rug.
『Huh?! Where are you..? Why are you?!』[Nova]
Reagan began to hum to himself, but Nova could hear everything he said to a word.
『I've~ got a new~ test subject~! Nova's flame~ isn't quite so lame~!』[Reagan]
『Huh?! Reagan! You know I can hear whatever you say, right?!』[Nova]
Reagan's face quickly turned back to a dark shade for a moment, as he looked back at Nova.
『This is the happiest I've ever been with you. Please be quiet so that this will last longer.』[Reagan]
Reagan's stare left Nova with a freaky feeling that made him feel like staying silent.
『Ah… okay.』[Nova]
After a few unbearable (for Nova, at least) minutes of humming, they arrived in a room with several people inside.
They all kept at what they were doing except for one.
『Hmm? Who is this?』
A young man wearing a white lab coat over his school uniform with fading blonde hair with brown hair at his roots and black hair pins walked up to the two of them.
『Ah. Cael. Meet our newest member.』[Reagan]
『Oh? Did you get a second protege? 』[Cael]
『No. It seems someone gave him an invitation sleeve.』[Reagan]
Reagan went off to the side to grab some documents.
『An invitation sleeve?! Those cost a million research points! Who could..?!』[Cael]
『Not someone who is here any longer. Nothing to concern yourself about.』[Reagan]
Nova picked that up and turned toward him.
『Oswald…?』[Nova]
Cael turned over to Nova before looking at Reagan and asking.
『Huh? Oswald is still here, what do you mean?』[Cael]
Reagan kept himself busy on the side for a moment.
『Nah. Oswald isn't the one who bought that card. Most definitely not.』[Reagan]
Reagan started playing with some chemicals at this point.
『Cael. Introduce yourself to our newcomer.』[Reagan]
At this point, Cael straightened himself up and realized that he hadn't introduced himself yet.
『Right! Forgive me for my rudeness, please. My name is Cael Luma. I'm the protege of Professor Hayton. It's nice to make your acquaintance.』[Cael]
Nova didn't expect to hear a familiar name here.
『My name is Nova. You're the protege of Professor Hayton? Does that mean he is here?』[Nova]
This caught Reagan's ear.
Still facing away from the two of them, he began to talk before Cael could even start.
『You know of Professor Hayton? How?』[Reagan]
Nova awkwardly scratched at the back of his head.
『...He's been the proctor for all of my ranking matches so far.』[Nova]
『Right. That's good. You're acquainted with some of the members of this Association already then.』[Cael]
Nova looked around the room, but found that the other people were obscured in a strange fog.
Cael noticed Nova's confusion and decided to enlighten him.
『Ah. That's a concealment mist to allow them to concentrate on their own research without anything disturbing them. I'm sure they'll introduce themselves to you later.』[Cael]
『Ah, alright. Thank you, Cael.』[Nova]
Cael nodded before getting visibly excited and moving up to Nova.
『Now! What type of seed do you have?! How will you add to our Association, no- our paradise?!』[Cael]
Nova began to sweat as Cael was centimeters away from Nova's face.
Finally, Reagan came by and pulled Cael off of Nova.
『Lay off. We're about to get a look.』[Reagan]
He handed Nova a vial of semi-translucent blue liquid that reminded Nova of a mana potion.
『That's a mana potion. It's filled with particles of mana in there. Can you burn those mana particles with your flame?』[Reagan]
Cael looked on with shining eyes at the vial in his hands.
『That's… really expensive… Shouldn't we-?』[Cael]
Reagan immediately shook his head.
『Nah. He can waste it if he wants. Doesn't matter.』[Reagan]
Once Nova heard this though, he didn't really want to burn the use out of the potion.
「...What if I tried turning it into a health potion? Would that work?」[Nova]
He held the thought in his mind for a while.
『Get the show on the road. Let's go.』[Reagan]
Reagan's words shook Nova back to reality and he nodded.
『Blessed Flame Rebirth.』[Nova]
Nova couldn't clear the thought of the wasting of the potion though…
A blue flame covered Nova's hand, along with the entire vial of semi-transparent blue liquid.
『Woah! That's amazing! Does the flame burn off mana?!』[Cael]
Reagan looked on with an eye of interest.
『Yeah. It seems to melt mana at an amazing rate. Makes me wonder how much mana it takes for him to maintain that flame.』[Reagan]
『Oh! I heard a rumor of there being a certain student in the school called the "Conqueror" who wielded blue flames! He's a first year!』[Cael]
Nova's focus seemed to be entirely on the vial of liquid, so he didn't even register what Cael had just said.
Reagan got a little curious though.
『That sounds like Nova. Anything else?』[Reagan]
『I was told that the student used his blue flames to heal people, though?』[Cael]
Reagan's interest seemed to die down after these words, though.
『Hmm… I don't think I remember the kid ever doing that..』[Reagan]
After a moment, the flames finally subsided off of Nova's hand- revealing the vial.
The moment the vial was revealed, however, Reagan's eyes immediately went wide as he scrambled to grab it.
Once he had it, he lifted it high into the air.
『What the hell?!』[Cael]
Nova was confused as he looked back and forth at Cael and the vial.
『....Huh?』[Nova]
The vial in Reagan's hand was red.