"Congratulations, Alicia."
Ralyks' voice echoed throughout the devastated field as he approached, his dark cape and cloak now fluttering behind him as he walked towards her.
She was still kneeling, the rabbit in front of her, as she looked at him.
"This is quite an impressive summon." He added.
The moment he got a bit closer, the rabbit turned away from Alicia and glared at Ralyks.
'E-eh…?' The girl thought to herself, wondering where all the hostility was coming from.
"It appears you don't like me very much, Alicia. I have to say, that's a little hurtful…"
Alicia felt bad hearing that. She realized her Familiar must have sensed her dislike for Ralyks and acted accordingly.
"No, Snow. He's not an enemy." She quickly patted the white fur of the cute creature, and the thing finally backed off.
The Familiar returned its gaze to Alicia, rushing towards her bosom for something akin to an embrace.
"Looks like it desires to be petted. Do you have experience with animals?" Ralyks asked, almost amusedly.
Alicia smiled as she tickled the belly of the rabbit and gently stroked its head.
"Yes. I have… erm, cats back home. You may not know them, but…"
Alicia thought she saw Ralyks take a few steps back and shudder for a second, but that was probably her imagination.
"A-anyway… I don't think I'll have a problem catering for her."
"Her? What made you draw such a conclusion?"
"I just know it within myself." Alicia responded, stroking the rabbit even more.
The little guy seemed to be enjoying every moment of it, but Ralyks had to ruin the fun with a bit of unnecessary information.
"It's a Beast made of Mana. There's really no Gender or Sex you can give it."
"You think I don't—um… what I meant to say is that I'm well aware of that."
Alicia knew it would be wrong of her to be rude to her instructor, especially since he had shown a fair share of goodwill towards her.
'I still can't get over what he did, but he's not a bad person.'
Yes, Snow had no real sex, but that didn't mean Alicia would look at her just a thing made up of Mana.
It was also strange for her to refer to her Familiar as they/them.
As such, she could only think of the perfect compromise.
Besides, Snow looked feminine enough to be girl.
'And she's so soft too. Almost feels like a cat. I've not had a pet in this world yet. Ahh… I might get addicted to this!' She fought to make any weird face as she looked at her adorable little fighter.
As a warmer smile formed on Alicia's face, she looked a distance away from her.
"Hey, Rey! You should get over here. Come check this out. She's so soft."
She had told Rey all about her love for cats, and the pets she had at home.
Plus, Rey said he loved cats too.
'I'm sure this will remind him of them!'
As she thought this, she noticed Billy's sad—almost pitiful—expression, but completely ignored it.
She didn't want to have anything to do with him.
And now, with Snow by her side, he wouldn't dare to carelessly make a move against her.
"Come on, Rey… hurry." Alicia yelled, noticing how slow the boy was moving.
Before he could take another step, though—
"U-um… that's enough of playing around for now!"
—Ralyks suddenly interfered.
"You now have your Familiar, so let's move on to the next stage. You can indulge in whatever activities you wish to do after that."
What Ralyks said made a lot of sense. Once Alicia regained the awareness that literally every single person present had eyes on her, she realized how careless she had been.
"Maybe later, then…" She shot Rey an apologetic look, and he smiled and gave her a thumbs up.
'He must have felt a bit awkward doing this in public.'
Her Familiar shot her a quizzical expression, but she ignored it and focused on Ralyks and his new agenda.
"We'll have to test out the strength of your Familiar, since I still do not have a proper grasp of its—ah, I meant her—strength."
Alicia didn't know why, but she was happy to hear Ralyks adopt the pronoun for Snow.
"Don't worry. I won't be the one facing her." Ralyks added, placing both hands in his pockets.
"I guess we can all sit back and enjoy this show."
*******
'That was a close one! That was a very close call!'
Rey found himself nearly sweating within his dark mask.
He had almost messed up his entire arrangement thanks to the existence of Snow.
'[Phantom Projection] is only a B-Tier Skill. That Familiar is too strong and sensitive to notice what is real and what isn't.'
His replacement as Rey was an illusion he had conjured up with that Skill. It worked on everyone with certain base Stats and inferior Levels to compensate.
Even Adonis, despite having an S-Tier Class, was no exception.
'He's weaker in terms of detection compared to Snow. That's probably why he didn't notice.'
However, one look at the Grand Beast told Rey that he already knew his replacement was an illusion.
'There's a chance it would have told Alicia if the projection got too close.'
That was why he had to quickly create this scenario.
'I already know how strong Snow is, but I suppose I can let everyone find out.'
Rey had a perfect method for that.
'I've used the Grand Fire Elemental before, so why don't we switch things up a little?'
Rather than relying on the one with the highest offensive capabilities, he would summon the better tank.
That was practically the best way to test the power of their new addition.
'And the entire thing will let me copy its Skills. A win-win!'
With his thoughts already concluded, Rey began his summoning process.
'[Greater Elemental Summoning (Basic)], and [Divine Elemental Magic]'
With the aid of [Fusion/Fission], the results were established.
"A Grand Earth Elemental."