Sigrún sat in another chair by the table, gesturing for Erik to sit, which he quickly did. She then handed him a plate full of cookies, which he immediately began to eat happily, like a mouse.
"You're really cute, Erik," Eleonora commented as she watched him eat, but Sigrún quickly cut her off.
"Did you bring the artifact?"
"Fufufu, there's no need to be so tense, Sig. I won't steal little Erik from you; we'll just share him."
"Hmph."
While the women engaged in their strange conversation, Erik decided to play dead in an act of pure survival and quietly ate his cookies. After all, it's important to have enough energy to run, right?
The almost humorous conversation between the two beautiful women was abruptly interrupted when, out of nowhere, a transparent crystal ball appeared on the table. Sigrún quickly turned to Erik and spoke warmly to him.
"Erik, try to channel some mana into the crystal ball."
"Sure."
Erik agreed easily, extending one hand toward the sphere and channeling a bit of mana while holding a cookie in the other. Shortly after, the sphere began to emit a faint, warm white light, almost ghostly in appearance.
"As I feared..." Sigrún commented seriously, which surprised Erik, who asked curiously.
"Is something wrong with me?"
"It's not that something is wrong," Eleonora replied. "It's just that you don't have an affinity for any of the basic elements."
Erik stopped eating his cookie, and his expression became somewhat serious. That sounded pretty bad, so without beating around the bush, he decided to ask the important question to quickly determine his next steps. He sat up straight in his chair and asked seriously.
"Does that mean I'm no longer a disciple or something?"
Eleonora and Sigrún looked at Erik, somewhat surprised, and then burst into laughter, confusing Erik. Not knowing what it meant, he decided to wait quietly for the answer.
"Hahaha, not at all, Erik. Although cases like yours are rare, it's not like there aren't any. Besides, there are several powerful mages and knights out there who were born without any elemental affinity. So don't worry. If Sig doesn't want to teach you, I will always be your master."
Eleonora responded between laughs, extending one of her delicate hands toward Erik, which Sigrún quickly took and lowered forcefully while giving the beautiful golden-eyed woman a 'deadly look', who just laughed amusedly.
"Hey!! Stop trying to steal my first disciple. And as this thieving cat said, you don't need to worry about that, Erik. Also, do you know the famous phrase of a powerful Master-level mage with no affinities?"
"I don't know... maybe something like: 'Having nothing only means I can have everything,' or something like that?" Erik responded, thoughtfully resting his right hand on his chin.
Erik's words stopped the women's laughter abruptly. They looked at Erik in surprise, and shortly after, Eleonora asked with some incredulity in her tone.
"How did you know that, Erik?"
"So it is true? Well, I just thought of something I would say, though I tried to make it sound cool and make me seem important."
Erik replied with a sincere smile on his face, which made the women unable to contain themselves and burst into laughter again, which would undoubtedly surprise anyone who knew them, as they were both respected Master-level mages.
"Hahaha, Erik, you're the best. You've given me great ammo against this woman, hahaha."
Sigrún laughed so hard that she held her stomach with her hands and leaned back in her chair, throwing out the serious and elegant demeanor she had shown earlier. Meanwhile, Erik resumed eating his cookies calmly, occasionally passing one to his wolves, who had obediently lain down beside him.
After calming down from the hearty laughter, Eleonora sighed and, still a bit amused, asked Erik in a cheerful tone, feeling a genuine desire to take the young boy under her wing. After all, she couldn't remember the last time she had laughed so much, which made the starry-haired boy undeniably unique and endearing in her eyes.
"Erik, could you show me how you solidify the Myst?"
"Solidify Myst?" Erik asked, confused, and looked over at Sigrún, who was still having sporadic fits of laughter but managed to respond.
"She means your 'crystal arrows.'"
"Ohhhh," Erik exclaimed with a look of realization, then formed a few arrows and sent them in front of Eleonora before continuing, "These are them. Is it called solidifying Myst?"
Although Eleonora knew that Erik could solidify Myst and control it at will, she was still surprised by the speed and ease with which he did it. After all, doing something like that went beyond the limits of complexity and entered directly into the realm of impossibility.
To solidify Myst, you generally needed a complex spell, a lot of concentration, and a significant amount of mana, just for the solidification part. Not to mention creating a functional construct and, worse yet, moving it, which was even more complex to achieve, usually requiring special 'tricks.'
"Yes, this is Myst solidification," Eleonora replied in a low tone filled with surprise as she analyzed the 'crystal arrows,' but she quickly turned to look at Erik again and added with an elegant smile, "Tell me, Erik, wouldn't you like to improve the strength of these 'crystal arrows'?"
"Don't pay attention to her, Erik," Sigrún quickly cut off Eleonora, her expression no longer showing the laughter from a moment ago but instead looking much more serious and alert.
"Come on, Sig, you know that sacred geometry is the best in terms of structure, and what these arrows lack most is an improved structure. Besides, you must know it too. Instead of having no affinity, it's more likely that Erik has a very rare affinity that allows him to do this so easily."
"..."
Sigrún remained silent after hearing Eleonora's words. After all, she knew she was right. Sacred geometry excelled in precision and mana efficiency, which translated into a very solid and stable structure.
Although sacred geometry also had its disadvantages, such as being less flexible and versatile compared to, for example, the Aegis system, the problem was that what Erik needed most was to improve the structure of his Myst constructs. It was almost certain that this was due to a very rare affinity.
After all, if Erik had no magical affinities, the best path he could take was to enhance his strengths, and his ability to solidify Myst and move it was a very important one. Moreover, there was a clear path to follow: extrapolating the literal mountains of spells and studies on mana constructs from sacred geometry.
"Fufufu, I'll take your silence as acceptance." Eleonora turned her gaze to Erik, who was still happily eating his cookies, and continued, "So, now you can greet your new master, Erik."
Erik stopped eating his cookies and looked Sigrún in the eyes, almost as if asking what to do, but she simply nodded reluctantly, accepting though clearly unwilling. So, the boy stood up from his chair and bowed slightly before speaking.
"It's a pleasure to receive your teachings, Master."
"Fufufu, I'll teach you a lot, Erik, but keep eating your cookies; you don't have to stand up."
"Thank you very much, Master." Erik sat back down but quickly spoke again.
"May I ask something?"
"Of course, Erik, ask whatever you want. Your master will make sure to answer you," Eleonora replied cheerfully, wanting to affirm her status as a master and also to tease Sigrún a bit, who had a difficult expression, as if she had swallowed a bitter and hard-to-swallow bug.
"Is a disciple really that important?"
"That's a great question, and the answer is yes, they are very important, especially for those who hold the title of Master, like us."
"Why?"
"Because it's a good way to show off, fufufu."
"Show off?" Erik looked at Eleonora with confusion at the unexpected answer. But it was Sigrún, now smiling amusedly at the little cookie devourer's astonished expression, who responded.
"Yes, at our level, it's quite difficult to show off since a serious fight would cause a lot of damage. But there are still many conflicts, disputes, and competitions. In those cases, the best way to compete is through our disciples."
Erik looked at his golden-haired master with a doubtful expression, struggling to digest what he had just heard. At that moment, Eleonora changed the subject, catching the boy's attention.
"Well, putting that aside, Erik, did Sig mention that she practices the Aegis system and is an alchemist?"
"Yes, my master also explained to me how alchemy works and some basic runes." Although still a bit confused, Erik quickly responded.
"That's good. Now, let me tell you a bit about myself. I'm a Master like Sig, but I practice sacred geometry and am one of the best Artificers in the galaxy," Eleonora said with a small smile, though her tone carried a hint of pride.
"Artificer?" Erik tilted his head, confused, as he looked at Eleonora, who responded casually.
"Yes, it's basically the profession dedicated to making things like Sig's ship or the storage ring you wear."
"Really?!!! Will you teach me artificery, Master?" Erik jumped with joy and exclaimed excitedly, looking at Eleonora with shining eyes.
Sigrún, on her part, had a bitter smile seeing Erik's excitement, as the reason she hesitated to let Eleonora teach him was precisely that. From the beginning, Erik had shown a great interest in magical artifacts, from clothes to the ship; he was always looking at them and trying to study them in his own way.
Although Sigrún taught him basic alchemy and tried to tempt him to follow that path, Erik was, at best, mildly interested in alchemy, while his true passion was clearly magical artifacts or, in other words, artificery.
As for Erik, he was genuinely thrilled. Since a certain event in his childhood in his first life, his greatest passion had been building things and mechanizing processes. For that reason, he had chosen mechatronic engineering as his career in his past life, although it was also because he heard it paid well and at that time wanted to give his parents a good life.
"Fufufu, of course, Erik. Your master will teach you how to create artifacts," Eleonora said in a sing-song voice while giving Sigrún a proud look, which worsened Sigrún's bitter expression.
"That's great! Thank you so much, Master."
Erik thanked her with a big smile and then went back to eating his cookies, feeling genuinely happy. This was undoubtedly the happiest day of his new life, with a new master who would teach him to create magical artifacts and cookies that magically reappeared when they were about to run out. Truly paradise.
"You seem very interested in creating artifacts, Erik," Eleonora commented enthusiastically, unable to hide her smile at the boy's evident interest.
"Yes, they seem amazing, and I want to create them on my own."
"And what do you think of alchemy, Erik?"