It was still the afternoon, so there was still a very high chance that she'd still be at the mines trying to complete her quota for the day. The possibility became even higher when he realized that he wasn't there to take the weight off her workload.
Melchior felt stupid. Erin was the only person who had considered him a friend even after the failed bonding. They were friends before and after. So he didn't expect to have forgotten her like that.
He shot across the town and the forest at top speed before finally arriving at the foot of the mountain where the mines were built. A small crater appeared where he landed, dirt and debris covering his figure.
"Who's there?" A voice yelled from in front, "Show yourself or we'll attack!"
Mel was a little confused at first, but it didn't take long to realize where the confusion had come from.
He laughed a little, then stepped out of the dirt cloud to face the guards.
"Relax, it's just me,"
They froze noticeably upon realizing that it was him, and clearly, the thoughts struggled to form as to how a powerless individual could move with such speed and force. That couldn't be helped, since the news of his new status wouldn't have spread to the mines yet.
The armoured guards merely gave him a nod of respect before continuing to assess the perimeter.
Power really was everything in this world.
'How amusing. Just a day or two ago, it was disdain. Now, it's respect.' Mel mused as he walked past the gate and into the mine area itself.
And since they respected only power, he would give them that.
Melchior released the restriction he had put on his Spirit Energy to hide it all this while, and in less than an instant, the full force of his unnaturally large energy reserves pressed down on everything in the vicinity.
An unseen pressure followed as he walked, and the earth sunk twice as much as usual.
It was enough so that everyone, miner and overseer included, stopped to watch who emitted the copious amounts of energy.
He maintained this emission up until he reached the cave entrance, then withdrew all his energy in an instant.
To those in the know, a thought entered their minds: 'That isn't the energy of a First Layer Bonded,'
A small grin emerged on Mel's face. It was satisfaction. Showing off wasn't necessarily a good thing, but some hidden part of him had waited and relished every single second of this moment.
He went down the stactite cave to his and Erin's usual spot and found the girl toiling away, just as he had suspected.
She spun around before he could even react, then punched him straight in the guts.
"What was that for?!"
"For being a dickhead!" she yelled, reaching straight for the pickaxe next to her.
Melchior's eyes widened as she began to raise the pickaxe above herself while aiming at him. He quickly grabbed it from her hands before she could rip his skull apart.
"Stop messing around, you stupid gremlin!"
"Let go,"
"I'll let go when you promise not to attack me anymore!"
She frowned a little, then let go of it with a small pouty face.
"Fine."
"Thank you." he sighed, then threw the pickaxe away to the side. "Are you calm now?"
Erin turned away from him and went back to the sack of Stactite propped up against the cave wall.
"No. Go away. I don't want to see you here."
"Why?"
She shot him a deadpan look.
"You're denser than usual today. Well first, you and those two dolts disappeared two days ago and I hear you come back with injuries a few hours later. Do you know what my first thought was?"
'Shit.'
He didn't realize just how much he messed up.
Erin continued, "Did they attack him? Is he going to be fine? And the worst part, I couldn't even ask what happened to you, because no one would take me seriously. I went over to Clyde and Andy's and those two bastards completely ignored me!"
"I'm sorry, Erin."
She sighed, "I know you are,"
"Which is why I'm not going to get all pissy about it. Anyway, you better tell me everything that happened."
He grinned.
"Of course."
And a few minutes later, her mouth hung down. Melchior told her everything, right from the beginning. Obviously, he omitted key details like that of his Earth transmigration and the Finality.
"So you mean to say…" she started, then trailed off.
"Yep. I can use it now."
As a demonstration, he raised a hand to the air and then used Tirun's power to engulf a part of it in the dark energy.
Erin reached forward, trying to touch it, but he quickly stopped her.
"Are you trying to lose a finger or something?"
"Shoulda warned me sooner!" she glared, grabbing onto her finger dearly.
After that, neither said anything for a few more seconds. Mostly Erin. Melchior waited for her to finish processing everything he had told her so far.
"So… is that why you weren't worried about Clyde and Andy anymore?"
He nodded, "More or less. They keep crossing me time and time again. You'd think they'd learn their lesson already."
Erin scoffed, a look of derision appearing on her face.
"They won't. They're short-sighted brats. Even though I was a full year above you guys' Bonding, they constantly looked for ways to demean me,"
That was true. Erin was older than Melchior by about two years. She had been working in the Stactite mines for over a year now just after failing the Bonding ceremony, but they had been friends since way before that.
"Don't worry about it."
She stared him in the eyes for several seconds before finally nodding.
"What are you gonna do next? With the whole war tensions and all?"
"Dunno, but I need to leave Blackmount, is all I know."
"The Academy?"
"Maybe, we'll see.' That lingered on Melchior's mind for several more seconds, "Anyway, let's get out of here!"
"Huh? Are you retarded? I haven't even finished my quota for today."
"Forget about it. I'll help you with it tomorrow. Let's go over to my house. We're having a celebratory lunch,"
"Lunch does sound good…"
He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, then let's go!"
Melchior grabbed her by the waist and began moving out of the cave quickly until they reached the open enclosure.
He was about to move forward once more when a large shadow was cast upon him. And from that, Elias' voice emerged.
"Where do you think you're going?"