“...” Prota stood on the field, confused. What was she doing here?

“You got this!” John cheered, giving her a thumbs up. He had a bag of She nodded uneasily, but she still wasn’t exactly sure what she was supposed to be doing.

She was aware she was supposed to be taking a test to become an adventurer. She wasn’t confused about that. She was confused as to why the man standing in front of her had the most ridiculous mana pool she’d ever seen. She was supposed to fight against that?

She looked back to John one more time, trying to send him a visual hint that this really wasn’t a good idea, but he looked oblivious as he gave her another thumbs up.

“...”

She clenched her fists and turned back to the man standing in front of her. His sword was out, although he seemed to be making no moves to attack.

[Don’t worry. You’ve got this.]

Prota’s eyes widened as she received a message in her system. She’d forgotten all about that specific feature, but calmed herself down as she continued to read.

[I’m not going to lie. He’s probably a lot stronger than me. I don’t know who he is or what kind of mana pool he uses, but I used all my strength, and he barely broke a sweat.]

She looked back in shock. He wanted her to fight someone like that?

However, as she looked at John, she saw Zero briefly appear and smack John in the back of the head, causing his face to slam into his knees. There was a short yelling match, followed by another message.

[Ok fine I lied I didn’t really use my full strength]

[I used something like that]

[Are you happy Zero]

Prota stared at the messages. Really?

[Regardless.]

[This is a good opportunity for you. Based on how he fought me, he’s not interested in going full power. He just wants to see what you’re capable of. Since there’s no danger of you getting seriously hurt, this is a good time to see how you fight against someone much, much stronger than you.]

Prota took a deep breath. The man in front of her continued to wait patiently, holding his sword in front of him.

“Are you ready?” Elfin said, seeing the slight change in Prota’s posture. She nodded. There was no point in putting it off any longer.

She’d trained with John for six months, longer, really, since they’d reset so many time, but the question was…

Was it enough?

She gulped and clenched his fists harder.

“Begin.”

Prota’s eyes snapped open as she immediately began siphoning mana from Elfin, who had so much of it he didn’t even notice anything. Power surged through her body, her eyes lighting up like spotlights, her hair floating as it began glowing bright white.

She’d trained three types of magic with John. One was pure mana, which he’d advised her not to use. The other two were fire and ice. She wasn’t very good with it, but there had been a start, so she was capable of fighting back.

A ball of fire formed in her right hand, and she threw it forwards, summoning a spear of ice in her left at the same time. The magic itself was relatively weak, and Elfin had no problem dodging it, but because of the amount of mana Prota had received from Elfin, she could continue to attack with no problems.

“...” Elfin had a somewhat disappointed look on his face. After seeing Prota’s brother fight, he’d had high expectations for her as well, but she did seem to be truly a regular mage.

Her magic wasn’t bad for a child, but it wasn’t great. He waited a few more minutes while Prota continued to cast small spells, altering their trajectories in various ways but ultimately there was nothing special about the fight. At that point, he decided to move in to test her defence.

Prota’s eyes widened as she saw the man rushing in, quickly embuing her body with mana and dancing out of the way.

“Not bad,” Elfin admitted, and picked up the pace.

It was at this point that Prota was most in her element. She was used to fighting against John, who usually got up close and personal, and so this was something that was familiar to her. She knew how to dodge and counterattack, how to cast spells at close range, how to predict movements and respond to them, but most importantly, she had no fear of being hit.

After dying over a hundred times, she was no longer truly afraid of death. She still had a small fear of pain, and her body would react to the blade that swung close to her, but there was never hesitation when she would narrowly avoid the blade to deliver an effective counterattack.

“...you’re not entirely normal either,” Elfin muttered with a small smile.

His blade got even faster, and Prota was starting to get tired. Her primary weakness was still her fragile body, and getting hit even once would be devastating. Her face was covered with sweat as she was being forced more and more into a corner.

“...” the pressure was overwhelming. Prota’s heartbeat was getting faster and faster as she was getting closer and closer to being hit. Counterattacking wasn’t doing anything, and she wasn’t going to be able to dodge very soon.

“...!” she gasped as the blade nicked her side, and quickly retreated.

“Is that all you have?” Elfin asked.

“...” Prota glared at the man. Should she give up?

Elfin sighed. She had shown potential, but it was nowhere near that of John’s. He looked up at the stands to see the boy grinning, and was confused. Wasn’t his sister on the verge of losing? Why was he smiling like that?

[Prota]

She looked up, surprised.

[You have a very unique ability. It’d be a shame not to use it to its full potential]

Prota close her eyes, confused. What did he mean?

“We’ll end it here,” Elfin said as his blade lit up. He rushed in, and Prota’s eyes snapped open.

“No!” she cried out, stretching her hands out in front of her as she began to absorb a large amount of Elfin’s mana, causing him to stagger. Her body began to glow as it now contained a ridiculous amount of mana, and a blade of wind appeared in her hand, similar to the one her opponent was holding..

“...what the…” Eflin stared, readjusting his monocle. “That’s… that’s my technique…?”

[Soul Steal]. The ability to steal not only mana, but some of the user’s abilities as well. The blade wasn’t very refined, and Prota clearly wouldn’t be able to use it the way Elfin did, but that didn’t matter.

A gust of wind shot the small girl up into the air as she slashed, dozens of blades of wind flying towards Elfin, who deflected all but one of them, which cut his cheek and left a small trickle of blood. The head of the adventurer’s guild traced the cut with his finger and looked at his blood.

“...I misjudged you,” he said, now grinning. He activated his own magic and shot up into the air, chasing after Prota, who tried to fly away, but her mastery over the magic wasn’t very good, and so she wobbled through the air.

“Kick his ass, Prota!” John yelled, to Elfin’s annoyance, but he remained professional through it all.

She turned around and clumsily slashed with the blade, causing Elfin to jump back, but the man immediately flew back in and lunged, narrowly missing Prota’s arm. She slashed again, creating another barrage of wind blades, but this time Elfin was ready for it.

“...” she grit her teeth and prepared to use the spell again, but then momentarily blacked out, swimming back into consciousness just long enough to stop herself from crashing into the ground.

While she was capable of using extremely high end magic, she didn’t know how to use it efficiently. It was taking a huge toll on her body, and she was already using up the massive mana pool she’d obtained from her opponent. With practice, she might be able to someday use the spells efficiently, but she was nowhere near that stage yet.

Elfin, however, hadn’t noticed that, and in his excitement at finding yet another extremely strong opponent rushed in. Prota’s blade faded out of existence as she fell to the ground, exhausted.

“Shit!” John yelled. There was a large flash of red light, and then John was there, unsheathing both his swords and catching Elfin’s blade with his own.

“Oi, calm down, old man!” he yelled. “Are you trying to kill her?”

Eflin jumped back and put his blade away, panting.

“...I’m very sorry,” he apologized. “I had assumed that she, too, was extremely powerful and assumed she would have something ready. Please accept my apology.”

John sighed as his blades disappeared into some unknown place. “Yeah, it’s fine. …does she pass?”

Elfin nodded. “With flying colors. Please come by later to pick up your official membership cards.”

John nodded in return. “Thanks.”

He picked Prota up and carried her out of the arena as Elfin wiped his face and sat down.

Prota’s power had been a surprise. Not only had she unleashed a large amount of mana, but she had used his own technique against him, which he would never have seen coming.

However, there was something much more than that. When Elfin had first fought John, he had known the boy was talented and strong. However, in the brief moment, John had intervened, Elfin had felt a strength that far surpassed his own, something he hadn’t felt in ages. It was as if the boy had multiplied his power level beyond that of when they’d fought.

That raised a question, though. Why hadn’t he used that strength in the fight against himself or Fate? Why hold back like that? Was it a matter of arrogance? While Elfin pegged John as a somewhat arrogant boy, he didn’t seem like the type to hold back just because of that.

There were many mysteries regarding magic in this world, and Elfin didn’t know the answer to all of them. John’s magic could very well have been something completely unique from anything else he’d ever seen. Was there a trigger that prevented John from using more than a certain amount of power? He remembered the large flash of light that had occurred just before John had blinked in. Did that have anything to do with it?

He didn’t know.

~~~

“John.”

There had been a small procession in Elfin’s office, in which the people who had passed received their adventurer’s ranks. John and Prota received a B rank, which was around average. It was clearly not what they were supposed to receive, as Elfin gave John a wink while giving him his lisence. Many already knew what they were getting into, and so left immediately afterwards, save for Fate, who apparently had some business with Elfin, John, who had fallen asleep during the procession, and Prota, who had to wait for John to wake up.

At some point, everyone except for these three had left the room. Fate, too, eventually got up, nodded to Elfin, and left, his pet fox perched on his shoulder. Elfin sat at a desk in the front, but eventually called out John’s name in an attempt to wake him up.

“Aasdfha8usdnv-” John gasped, his head snapping up. “I wasn’t sleeping-”

Elfin and Prota both stared at him. “How- what- what was that sound you just made?” Elfin said curiously.

“What sound?”

Elfin shook his head as if to clear it. “Never mind. Come over here.”

John got up hesitantly, running his hands through his hair as he walked over like a schoolboy called up by his teacher for a scolding.

“...what?” He looked uncomfortable, his hands in his pockets as he sat down in the chair in front of the head of the adventurer’s guild.

“You can drop the act, by the way.”

John sat down, still looking uncomfortable. “...what are you talking about?”

“Well, I don’t know what you’re trying to cover up, but… well, for example, you’re not really nervous right now, are you?”

John flinched, and then gave a weak smile.

“You’re not just an elf, are you?”

Elfin grinned. “What made you think I was an elf in the first place?”

“...Elfin…?” John tried. “I don’t know, the ears, maybe?

“I never said I was an elf, you know.”

“You’re diverting the topic. You’re not a normal being, are you?”

“What makes you say that?”

John’s smile dropped from his face, and it now matched his eyes; completely blank. There was no hint of any emotion on it.. It was slightly unnerving, especially on the face of a 12 year old boy, but Elfin didn’t flinch.

“You’re someone who looks into the eyes first, the face second, aren’t you?”

“How does that make me special?”

John shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. You’ve pretty much given it away, anyways.”

Elfin laughed. “You’re not really twelve, are you?”

“Am I?”

The two faced off as if daring the other to give up their secrets first, but neither spoke. Finally, Elfin sighed.

“Look, I’m not here to ask you to reveal anything about yourself. I’m actually here to give you a few warnings.”

John leaned back and nodded. “Ok?”

“First, you move way too well. You exhibit a large amount of power, but it’s still less than that of a lot of A class mages or higher. Despite that, you act as if you’ve been in hundreds if not thousands of hours of combat. I would try to fix that if I were you.”

John nodded again. “Next?”

“Your sister over there. I think she took my mana. I won’t ask if that’s what she really does, but if it is, I would recommend that she doesn’t do that anymore. There was a demon like that once, and it almost killed the hero of that era.”

“...noted.”

Elfin adjusted his monocle and leaned back. “That’s all. I wish you the best of luck on your adventures.”

John got up, started to leave, and then looked back. “Hey. How many others could see into my eyes the way you did?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that,” Eflin said carelessly. “There are only a handful of other people that would be able to see through your mask the way I did. You’re very interesting, though. Are you some sort of summon? You’re very unlike anyone else I’ve ever met.”

“...don’t worry about it.”

Prota got up and followed him, a slightly worried look on her otherwise neutral face.

“You know, your sister and you are like two halves. Despite never showing any expression on her face, her eyes reveal everything. You present yourself as the average person, but inside, you don’t feel a thing. How interesting.”

He got up to shake John’s hand. “Should the time ever come where we must fight together in the future, I look forwards to it.”

John took the hand and shook it firmly.

“Thank you.”