"Look's like you wanted to show off by not even using mana? Fufu, you don't have to show off to me like that you know!" She smiled jokingly, her rose-gold hair shining in the sun.
He's noticed that the guild name [Rose-Gold] was probably made after the color of their daughter's hair, and her rosy eyes. It aligns with when the guild was made and her current age.
Bael, although he has read articles about it, with a real situation has completely guaranteed... the relation between physical attributes and magic alignment! The same wind mage had green hair and the fire mage had red hair, many others around the world were just like this. It wasn't a coincidence.
So did his own appearance mean anything, he wondered? And what about Ophelia?
'I see what you're thinking, but does that matter? There is time to research and a time to fight! That analyzation ability really just makes you focus on anything that catches your eye, huh?' Bael had noticed this too, it always bothered him that there was never a sense of urgency in him when facing a situation.
"What's that look on your face? We have to keep going you know, it's not every day you steal expensive watches on a cruise in broad daylight!" Keeping her bright smile, she started walking into the main lobby of the cruise, most likely around where the food was.
He walked with her, wondering if she even knew where she was going, just for her... to stop? Why did she stop, Bael wondered. 'Kid, someone is trying to sense for any mana signatures. Luckily you don't have any mana, so... how about we get the jump on them? I have an idea. Kekekek.' Bael inwardly looked at the old archmage, lamenting on his luck that he was still there.
"Fine, what's the idea?" Bael whispered, so Ophelia wouldn't hear him.
'It's simple, because even though I'm not in control of the body. I can see a certain something. The path to where the detection is being used! It seems due to my soul already reaching a point in having inherent mana without the purification process, came in handy this time around!' The Archmage cackled arrogantly, Bael not knowing what he was even talking about.
"Purification process..? Nevermind, just guide me to where they are-"
"Bael? Do you have something up your sleeve?" Bael stiffened in response and gave a robotic smile her way. Nodding.
"Let me take the lead for this one, I bet you've already noticed that nobody can simply detect my mana signature. I think I'm the perfect match for an indoor battle, especially when I have the jump on them..." Bael smiled, seemingly regaining emotion. It's been happening more often ever since Astram came. Maybe it was his constant thankfulness of that fact that kept his emotions intact, possibly another person to share the burden with lessened the mental strain?
That didn't matter now although, he had to show off a little bit, to this old geezer Astram.
'They should be exactly thirty meters ahead and around sixty to the left... it leads to an open area, one with food. Of course, they aren't alone! There's one hiding behind the food and another under a table with stealth magic.' Bael nodded, thinking that maybe he couldn't do this alone. A small plan was needed.
"Ophelia, ill go in first, but when I yell, just come in as quick as you can and kick some ass. If I don't first, of course." He looks at her as she nods, following closely behind as he went to their location.
"So Astram, how exactly did you figure out all that?" He quietly asked.
'It's simple. Due to the nature of the detection magic used, as it permeates the body, my connection to the body and the little amount of mana I have was used to hijack the magic. Since I don't have a physical form, it was easy to turn this detection magic into my "eyes". A cheeky brat like you wouldn't be able to do this even with mana!' Bael felt like he shouldn't have asked anyways, as silence was once again the only thing left as Ophelia and Bael snuck to their destination.
"Stop here, Ophelia. I'll call you in." He looked at the open door, as Ophelia nodded once again. Wondering how to get in... he remembered a skill he got that came with Astram's arrival.
[Soul Synchronization (Rank: S+)
Synchronize with the other soul that shares your body! You can either synchronize a stat or skill. When synchronizing, depending on what you synchronize the EGO ratio will lower or higher in response. Permission is needed.
(Any mental afflictions will get more powerful when the EGO factor is lowered, and the synchro rate will appear when the EGO factor is higher. Please exercise caution.)]
'Alright, you want my mana stat, right? You can have it.'
[Status:
Name: Bael Hophorous
Allegiance: Evil God Hophorous
Main Path: None
Sub Path: Scholar
Mana Rank: NULL (F-)
Physical Rank: E+
Luck Rank: E]
Bael didn't question why it was F- instead of F, but he quickly did his best to achieve a small feat in magecraft. You see, magic and magecraft use the same source of energy, with only a few key differences. One of them is the difference of efficiency, as magecraft is done with equations like "if this does this, then that happens" and many more complicated equations. Bael excelled at magecraft theory which is why he was admitted to the Academy.
He just hoped he could put it to practical use, so he used one of the equations he had made with his theoretical formula called "Refraction". Not entirely groundbreaking as it took inspiration from another magecraft equation called "Reflection" but for his age was quite amazing. It, as its name implies, refracts. It refracts light, sound, and mana with a more complex "this does this because of this, and that happens".
The only problem is that it needed a constant supply of mana, luckily simply imagining refraction by using magic instead of calculating with magecraft would have taken even more mana. So there are some upsides.
"Wow! That's high-level magecraft isn't it?" Bael didn't answer and quickly went in to survey the open room, while Ophelia pouted at there being no answer from Bael.
'She's really just standing there in the middle room as bait with her detection magic... the question is who are the other two to be close enough to form a team of three?' Bael wondered the same thing and simply prepared for all variables. At the very least the best course of action is to find the odd one out.
There was at least one person in this room who didn't have their teammate in the vicinity, stealing their watch from them would be mentally draining since their partner isn't there. I could also just run with Ophelia if need be, with her strength, it isn't bad to be a little bit cocky right?
Either way, he had to hurry, he had virtually no mana left to hold his magecraft onto. It wouldn't hurt to start a brawl for fun since the instructors would come and help them anyways, right?
... Bael felt he was thinking quite illogically today, but he was content with that. Which is why he wanted to do this, he didn't want to let go of that feeling.
So, he aimed to steal the watch of the one around the food, so he would have to leave his position and the food's integrity would be intact. Like he wanted.
Luckily this participant didn't suspect a thing, with his arm resting on his knee, waiting for a sign. The watch was right out in the open, unprotected...
So of course he took it right off his wrist! Just like Ophelia said, this was fun!
"Ophelia now!" Bael quickly yelled and pushed the person in front of him away, and jumped even farther back to create more distance.
Ophelia busted in and quickly attacked the one using detection magic, it all happened so suddenly she couldn't react. Luckily the person under the table could help her, right?
Three mana-infused plates were quickly thrown at him, and Bael lost his reserve of mana after doing that. The person he pushed away quickly pounced at him, most obviously a close-combat fighter using mana to strengthen himself. A frontal confrontation wasn't optional...
"Ophelia, switch!" Ophelia quickly broke the girl's balance and went to fight against the close-combat fighter. Bael jumped over the heaps of food that resembled a portion of a buffet and quickly went for the girl's watch, being stopped by the masked student who was hiding under the table.
It seemed they excelled in surprise attacks, which Bael could see from their amateur response in getting him away from the target. Bael had noticed the girl in the middle seemed to be important, other than being bait. Why else would they save her when she could be even better bait?
So Bael chose a risky but good choice, an aggressive response!
Bael quickly kicked at the masked student's side, which was easily blocked, and exactly what he wanted. Bael was informed by Astram that he could go beyond his stat in terms of mana capacity but came at a cost when overused.
Possibly had something to do with the EGO factor, he had said. But that didn't matter much, although the synchro rate was an unknown variable, his EGO rate lowering was helpful at times like these and he welcomed it. It was a 50/50 chance that he would be taking.
[EGO factor has been lowered.]
Emotion could be seen draining from Bael's face. Scaring the masked man, but also because he was getting pushed back by "Kinetic Share", which was a magecraft that equaled out the kinetic energy output of two conflicting objects.
This wouldn't have done much except become an attack that would destroy his leg and the student's arm. Except, until his usage of "Kinetic Dispersion' which made his leg take less of the damage. It would usually have adverse effects on organic material, but due to kinetic share equaling it out, nothing big was seen on his side.
What happened to Astram becoming a sword teacher instead of lending mana? Well... Astram felt he needed to see why, that even with this option, it wasn't a good idea to become a mage or wizard.
'Hopefully, he finds out in a bigger battle, the scale of this one is too small for him to learn why he would take up the sword...'
Astram knew something, and he trusted that this experience would only serve to help Bael's later growth.