Chapter 0122

Tempest showed her token to one of the attendances manning the event and she led her to an out of the way courtyard.

With a “Wait here, the other will appear soon.” the girl left Tempest to explore the small courtyard.

Tempest was not impressed with what she saw.

The yard of Tempest temporary new home was brown and plain. Not a spec of green can be seen. There isn’t even a small weed growing at the corner of the courtyard. The place feels lifeless.

“I see. The ambient mana in this place had been diverted to another area, making the vegetation dry up.” Unlike the plants back on Earth, which needed only water and sunlight, plants in the Cardinal Realm need water, sunlight and a source of energy, be it qi, soul force, mental power or mana. Given the mana density Tempest experienced before, the small amount of mana in the courtyard had to be deliberate.

“At least there is some security.” Tempest consoled herself as she inspects the high stone wall that surround her new home. The consolation had some merit as it could keep normal people out, but most the majority of the people living here are mages. The stone wall is merely symbolic protection instead of actual protection. Anyone who wants to cause trouble has go over the wall instead of destroying it since the wall is the property of the guild and the new recruits would have to think twice before damaging it.

Tempest turned her attention toward the actual abode and was glad she had her own home in the Serene Spirit Lake because she does not want live in the shabby dorm style building. The house was built like the boxy generic suburbia style homes but instead one door leading into the house, it had three doors.

Each door lead to a small 10m x 10m room, furnished with a bed and nothing else.

Forget house! This place was more like a dorm or a studio style apartment instead of a cozy home. There was no living room or kitchen. Just an ugly courtyard and three doors that lead to three small rooms.

Tempest sat her butt down on the ground and wallowed in her misery. She understood the house was meant to be shabby to encourage the newly recruited mages to go on a task and earn points so they can move out of this place as soon as possible. She knew the purpose behind the crappy place. It doesn’t mean she has to like it.

This was the scene two red head mages came to see. The female mage immediately glomped on to Tempest.

“Gah!” Tempest instinctively tried to swat away the perverted bastard hugging her when she realizes the ‘pervert’ was another girl around her age with red hair and strange crimson eyes. Instead of the eek-pervert-go-die swat she was going to lash out with, Tempest simply pushed away the little octopus clinging to her.

Tempest regret trying to softening her attack since the shoving a determined octopus does nothing but cause the octopus to latch on to her tighter.

“Fenix, let go of her.” The sweet gentle redhead with emerald green eyes tried to disengaged the little octopus from Tempest but it only made the matter worse.

Now, instead being fondled by one person, she get felt up by two.

Tempest knew the red hair guy didn’t mean it. He was trying to get the red hair girl off of Tempest. The scary part is the red hair girl did mean it. And she’s young. So very young.

“Graden, let me touch her a bit longer. Her powers are very soothing.” Fenix held on and Graden tried to disengage her with Tempest pushing the girl away. After a minute of the strange embrace, Tempest got fed up with it and sent the flying with a sound smack.

Graden immediately removed his hand from Tempest and smiled apologetically.

“Hello, my name is Fenix Arosis and I am a fire mage with 85 affinities.” Fenix got between Graden and Tempest and introduce herself with a leer.

Now Tempest had watched her share of anime before. She found the humor is some of them to witty and some to be slap stick trope put into the show for fan service. Fenix reminded of Miharu Shimizu in the anime Baka and Test and Tempest seems to be her Minami Shimada.

The damn Miharu is always after Minami in a sleazy way, even though they are both girls. Tempest never understood why Minami didn't slap the pervert to hell and back instead futilely shoving the pushy pervert away. She always had attributed their interactions as fan service for the masses. Who gets felt up and doesn’t slap the pervert away regardless of their sex? Minami that who. And now it seems like Tempest fell into that category as well.

She wanted to smack the slimeball girl sizing her up like she’s a sizzling roast.

Circumstances deem it prudence she stays her hand, but damn did she want to electrocute the wench into a burnt crispy chicken tender.

“My name is Graden Murkeiel, an 89 fire affinities 51 wood affinities mage.” Graden meekly introduce himself like the shy little kid would when their parent told them to introduce themselves to the stranger they have never met before but is actually friends of their parent, then hides behind their parent leg.

“I’m Tempest.” Tempest introduction was curt, borderline rude. She’s still peevish over Fenix previous behavior.

“Sorry about groping you before.” Fenix apologized sincerely, except her eyes express unspoken desire no child her age should have. The strange stare cause shiver to run up Tempest spine. “I understand it was wrong of me, but I couldn’t help myself. You see, I’m a single element fire mage. All single element mages have more complication with their cultivation than normal mages would. A high affinity fire mage such as myself tend to experience backlashes in the forms of fever or fever-like tendencies. You must be a high water affinity mage because when I got near you, I felt your power washing over me. It felt incredibly soothing against the burning sensation lurking underneath my skin, so I acted without thinking and uh...”

“Rubbed yourself all over me like a cat in heat.” Tempest finished for her dryly.

Abashed, Fenix looked down to avoid meeting Tempest gaze. She wasn’t acting shy and Tempest knew it. She was hiding the desire suppressed inside of her.

“How old are you?” Tempest had to ask. Fenix looked to be about 12, the age where young girls start physically developing their secondary sexual characteristic and it is also when puberty kicks in and they express an interest in sex.

“I’m 21 years old.” Going with people looking half their in this realm, Tempest guess should be about right.

The aging rate in the Cardinal Realm differs greatly from Earth. Humans age at a similar rate to humans back on earth until they are around seven years old. When they hit seven years old, they start aging at a slower rate. They only become a fully grown adult at 40 years old. Tempest is 13 to 14 years old, but she looks like a 10-year-old girl. The girl looks like she’s 12 or 13 yet she lived for 21 years.

“I’m 34.” Graden’s answer surprises the two girls. They both turned to stare at Graden at the same time. Tempest examined the young boy before with wonder. The man before her was almost an adult yet he looks no older than Fenix. With his shy quiet demeanour, he seems like he could be Fenix’s younger brother, not someone who is at the cusp of adulthood.

“I’m fiveeee.” a small black hair cherub hurled himself at Tempest. Tempest caught the ball of energy and settled him into her embrace.

Then she caught sight of his eyes and immediately tossed the little boy towards the people he came in with.

“Ghost!” Tempest screamed at the top of her lungs then hid behind Fenix.