Agnisotra: Origin Tails

September passed, so did October and November. My birthday, December 7th, also passed and my buddies tried to do something big but I was fine with just all-you-can-eat sushi. After Ted introduced me to that place, I visited it quite often. It was now mid-December. We hadn't made any progress on finding any method of getting home. The library was quite useless. It is quite hard to find a place that is not supposed to exist and is kept quite secret. Paul, Paula, and Azu knew about Hourai but they didn't know where it was.

After we escaped from Boshi town I called Tero and he didn’t know either. I wasn't surprised that he didn't know though, all in all, he was quite useless, he told us he won't be able to help us anytime soon because he is going to find something important. I’m sure he just went to chase after chicks or something. Anyways Gregory and I decided to go through all the myths and legends because those might have the highest probability of having clues but there was nothing. I tried to sneak around at night to try and find the secret section but it seems this library doesn't have any. How boring. We ran out of ideas to figure out how to get home. The only thing I could think of was to get captured and brought to the person who is looking for us but there is no guarantee he would tell us. Overall, that is a terrible idea. These assassins he sent out don't seem to know anything which isn't surprising.

In the meantime, we were just doing our own things. Raishin was still together with Shania, I visited the blacksmith in this town but I couldn't learn anything from him, I did gain the attention of a blacksmith that crafted some magical weapons but he was loud, proud, and obnoxious. He did teach me some tricks but I don’t want to be his student or even near him. Gregory took up a job to make concoctions for the adventurers' Association. He was doing quite well and raking in the money. He did make sure that it was just a temporary spot. Gregory and Raishin all got promoted to E-rank adventurers, Ted and Shania made it to D rank and I was still D rank myself.

A lot of our adventurers' Association assignments were done together but Ted and Shania were a bit more serious in this so they also took up a lot of individual ones. Gregory had his shop so it made sense that he didn’t and I was trying to gather information and earn some money with blacksmithing. Raishin was… not taking adventuring too seriously, he did go on a lot of adventures and assignments with Shania but half of the time he was a liability. Oddly enough everything goes fine as long as he doesn't use magic, which sadly, he doesn't adhere to if Ted is not around.

I decided to go explore a cave system up northwest. It is not far away from the Aurelia river and some parts of the caves flood periodically so it is recommended to bring a water user. It is not rare to find a water user but they don’t seem to be common, they either are healers or supporters or are mainly found around the sea and lakes if they have offensive skill sets. Besides that, there is a high likelihood that anyone with a water affinity and another affinity is going to practice and nurture the other affinity and ignore water. Anyways that’s fine by me even though I’m quite new, 12 years old… 13 years old, and a D-rank adventurer, I have had some requests from other adventurer groups when they needed a water user. I tried to get by, by doing the bare minimum but the situations mostly turned out that I had to show off. Because of the importance and frequency of these, there is a high likelihood I will get promoted to C-rank after this one.

Besides Raishin there are 3 other adventurers that took the assignment to investigate these caves. We seem to be forced to form some form of a party which sucks because now Raishin and I have to hold back when shit hits the fan but on the other side, we can let these more experienced adventurers deal with whatever is amiss there. We gathered at the northwest gate of Ainahs and met up with the 3 adventurers that are going to carry us, uhh I mean that we’re helping out.

Oh hey! Are you the guys that are going to carry ehh help us?! I facepalmed, at least I didn’t say it out loud.

“Carry? You can walk right?”

“I don’t think that’s what he means Albert, I think he means carrying as that we do the hard stuff and they just stick around doing not much.”

“Ohh, well they are just kids so leave everything up to us adults!” This guy called Albert reminds me a bit of Rock, except he is less bulky and has hair. This other person is quite tall with long blonde hair. He looks quite arrogant but so far, he has been friendly. There was another member, a woman wearing a hood. Ooh, Hello, I don’t think I caught your name! I pulled Raishin back.

I’m going to tell Shania if you misbehave. Meh.

At least the upside of you having a girlfriend now is that we can seriously punish you now if you misbehave. My bad! So, you are Albert? I haven't heard the names of you two, also my friend Agnis here is quite forgetful so he might get your name wrong from time to time.

“I’m Claude and I heard that Ainah’s most recent water specialist is terrible with names.”

“My name isn’t important, let’s just do what we are assigned to do.” Ah, it’s one of those types eh. My name is Agnis. I’m Raishin, let’s get along well.

“Ehh this is Bea, she has terrible manners but she means well.” Just like Agnis! Hey! I’m going to kick your ass!

“They are just kids, we don't need their help, you will just get in our way, come Albert and Claude!”

“Uhm Bea, how are we going to deal with the water in the cave systems without Agnis?” Bea stopped.

“Fine!” I don’t like this chick; I’m not going to help her if she drowns, at least I’m controlling my bad manners. Hey Alfred.

“It’s Albert.” Same thing, what's the deal with her?

“I don’t know, as far as I know, she just hates everything.” Even food? What about sushi?

“I hate fish! But the only food I like is potatoes.” So, you have appeared, my nemesis. Bea jumped back.

“What? For a moment I detected bloodlust!” I have no idea what you’re talking about. During our journey toward the caves, I kept a close eye on this hooded chick. She is suspicious but she is extra suspicious because she only likes potatoes. So, we just go there to get rid of the water there?

“You would have known if you read the quest description. Not because you’re a kid means you should slack off on that.” And now the arrogant guy shows his true colors. Fred tried to keep the mood in our group positive but those 2 were kind of ruining it. We arrived at the caves at noon and looked at the entrance. It just looks like a normal cave.

“Yes, and that is why we need to go inside to find out why it’s not normal, use that brain of yours, pff kids these days they know nothing.” Probably because adults like you have shitty attitudes and don't help us in a constructive way. Ooh, nice one Agnis! Mr. Asshole looked at me as if he was looking at filth.

“I have nothing to say to shitty brats like you, I could kill you with a snap of my finger.” Contrary to what you just said it seems you have quite a lot to say.

“Now now, don’t fight! We are here to solve this not to fight each other.” We went inside the cave. Bea lit up the place with a flame. Mr. Asshole was using earth magic to make small rocks appear in front of me and tried to make me trip. Even without my Elgards eyes activated I could see what he was trying and he was unsuccessful. I decided to give him a piece of his own medicine and made him slip.

“Ow! I swear this kid made me slip!”

“Don’t be ridiculous Claude, the whole place is slippery, you can't blame him!” Yeah, don’t blame me for busting your face on the floor. Raishin and I laughed and the asshole made a disgusting face at us. We kept going until we entered a room that was half submerged.

“Fix it, kid, I’m going to do my nails.” Bea said rudely. I wanted to refuse because of how she said it but we would make no progress if I didn't do anything here. I put my hand in the water and felt out the flow and where the water was coming from.

“Hey get to it brat!” If you can do it faster and better, be my guest. Asshole shut up but his mood didn't seem to improve. You guys all have shitty moods, be a bit nicer to Agnis because when he is in a bad mood you guys would wish you didn't put him in it.

“And what is your role actually blonde kid? At least that guy is a water user why do we need you?” He is here to make sure I don’t permanently shut you up. This water here is flowing here from quite deep; I can drain the water but that is going to take forever, it is more efficient for us to move through the other side, there are various dry spaces further up. Bea got up.

“Eww, I don’t want to get wet! You’re here to make sure we don't have to swim or get wet!”

“Come on Bea that is quite unreasonable, we know that the river is most likely causing this, he will have to drain the cave and possibly the river to do such!” Thank you, Albert.

“It’s Al.. wait you got it right.” I can also call you Al if you want, it’s easier for me.

“Uhh, sure.” He doesn't have issues with short names. I can make an air bubble Agnis. Meh, only Al deserves this but sure we can do that. I moved the water aside and because Raishin made an [Air ball] with us in it I could let the water flow back and we’d be dry and safe inside the bubble. Raishin kept the bubble intact and made sure to refresh the air in it and I moved the bubble through the water. If we get deeper, I would also relieve the pressure on the bubble.

“Ohh, this is quite useful.” Yeah, so far, he did more than Mr. Asshole and Bea.

“Excuse me?! Who are you calling an asshole?!” If you can’t figure that out by process of elimination you might be more of a Mr. Dumbass.

“I’m going to kill you!” Good luck, we’re quite far from any rock or earth and even if you could we would all drown, so do your worst. Maybe he is a dumbass indeed…

“Well look at that Claude, you are getting owned by a bunch of kids.” Bea grinned and the mood in our party kept getting worse. I started to feel uncomfortable sharing this bubble with them so I pinched and split the bubble in half and made those 2 follow us in their separate bubble. Hehe, I think they are protesting but we can’t hear what they’re saying! While I kept moving the bubbles Raishin kept taunting them with gestures.

“Uhh, Raishin, be careful they don’t pile on to you after they get out…” Hmm, say, Al, what kind of creatures live in the Aurelia River? And I mean specifically mean large and dangerous creatures.

“Uhhmm, only water snakes I suppose, the Aurelia River is quite safe besides those.” How about in this cave system because this is not supposed to be submerged like this, any aquatic creatures?

“Not to my knowledge, only standard cave creatures are supposed to live here. Please tell me you’re not asking this because you noticed a dangerous creature…” You didn’t notice it, Al? It has been looking at us the whole time!

“What? where?! “Al looked around but he didn't seem to spot it. I mean that makes sense. I still haven’t activated my Elgards eyes but I can feel like something is looking at us and depending on the water currents there is something large and to me invisible swimming around here. I suppose Raishin’s intuition kicked in and alerted him. I suggest that we try to keep the disturbances to a minimum because, to be honest in this state we are no match for it. Uhm, can you tell that to them? Raishin pointed at Asshole and Bea who seemed to be fighting and made the bubble contort in weird ways disturbing the water around them.

Can you make them pass out? Or make their bubble fuse with ours? I can’t do anything with just water magic. Uhm, how do I do that?

I don’t know! I’m not a wind user! Hmm, let’s try. Raishin did something and their bubble popped.

Woops! For fucks sake Raishin! The creature reacted and I made a hand out of water, grabbed them, and pulled them into our bubble. I then froze the bubble which blocked jaws chomping on us.

“Wha... what is that! It is biting on us but it’s still invisible!” Ugh, this is a problem. Good, they are knocked out, we won’t have to deal with their bullshit! So, what do we do Agnis?

There is not much we can do; we need to run… swim away from this thing. I will keep this thing busy and away from us can you propel us through the water with wind magic? I made ice balls filled with water and formed a path out of them to indicate to Raishin where he needed to bring us. I activated my Elgards eyes and could see the creature clearly now. It looked like a huge moray eel and it was seriously ugly. I created huge icicles and shot them at the eel’s gums so that it loosened its bite on us.

Raishin took the opportunity to propel the bubble, which I thawed after we broke free, and followed the path. Al was freaking out while I kept sending ice spears at it and creating vacuum pockets on its gills. It didn't like that but it would be the only way to slow it down without using all too much effort. I would have to do some flashy stuff otherwise.

The eel was persistent but Raishin accelerated us enough to leave it behind after I froze its tail to the bottom of whatever we were in. I don't know if it's a lake or just a huge cavern that flooded. We shot out of the body of water and landed on dry ground. I dragged the 2 unconscious jerks to a safe distance away from the water. It looked like something invisible was surfacing and Raishin was sending [Lightning bolts] at it. It was a big target but he still managed to somehow miss half of them. To his defense the eel was invisible. Well, that was a nasty surprise.

“I don't understand! There should be no aquatic creatures here because this place isn't supposed to be submerged!” I have a question; my knowledge might be incomplete but is a creature like that supposed to exist? Because as far as I know, it shouldn't.

“I don’t know, but as far as I know there shouldn't be invisible aquatic creatures, maybe those that are good at camouflage but not invisible! And then there is the issue of where it came from, these certainly don’t live in Aurelia River!” But it’s invisible so of course, nobody would have seen it! Well, both of us could sense it, it is big and seems to be aggressive, there is no way this wouldn't have been discovered, maybe if this is the only one but I think it’s safe to say that Al is correct on this… We kept chucking icicles and lightning bolts at the eel till it gave up and left.

Well seems the two with the biggest mouths were the most useless. Well, that is partly your fault but I agree, I don’t think they would be useful either way.

“Well. an earth and fire user would be quite useless in that situation yeh.” Don’t they have other affinities besides those?

“Well… yeah, both have a water affinity but they never practiced with it…” So, they give me shit but they can't even deal with some water… What a useless bunch. What can you do by the way?

“I’m an Iron Wall, specializing in light augmentation!” Ehh, what was that again Raishin? Iron Wall was I think a tank.

“Correct! It’s just I can’t do much without a foothold…” That is fine, we’re not blaming you.

“But well, there have been a lot of sightings of strange creatures lately, I shouldn't be surprised…” Hmm, so it's not just us that encounter those weird creatures. Hey, how long are these guys going to sleep?

At least it's quiet, let's drag them along while we explore. Al was dragging Asshole and Raishin was dragging Bea. I tried to figure out where all this water was coming from. The cave extended and went under the Aurelia River so somewhere there should be water coming in but for some reason, I had the feeling that the water in there didn't come from the river. I couldn't see anything that looked like a leak but yet half this cavern system was flooded. Is this all groundwater? I looked down but I couldn't pinpoint what could cause this place to flood. This is weird.

“Ugh, my head, what happened?” It seems asshole woke up. “Hey, Albert back off! You’re ruining my clothes!” I found this absurd because his clothes were ruined already and besides who goes on an adventure expecting to not get dirty? “You! It is your fault my clothes are ruined!” Asshole stormed at me and I made him slip and froze his pants to the floor. I am not going to entertain your assholery it is normal to expect to get dirty or even wounded on an adventure.

“You made us drown on purpose!”

“Hey, Claude chill out! It was an accident, and let’s be honest here if they wanted you to drown, they could have left you behind in the water!” Al placed himself between asshole and me. Are you really a D-rank adventurer? I know I’m the one to talk but you don't seem very smart to me. Oof if Raishin says that, it means that you fucked up.

“Calm down Claude!” Al was blocking some earth magic Asshole was throwing around. Why are people so incompetent? Suddenly I spotted something interesting. There was another creature that shouldn't exist. And I have a decent idea of what creatures should and shouldn't exist, although it’s not complete.

Gregory and I went through volumes of books about monsters and animals because he was curious if the PB in Boshi town was really that strange. But I suppose someone, as experienced as Al, would know better. Unfortunately, I couldn't reveal to him that I could see a creature further up but I could give him clues. Hey, Al, the flow of this water is quite unusual, I don’t detect magic in it, are there any cave creatures that can control water like this? Or maybe even produce water?

“Produce water? As far as I know, there is no creature that can do that, maybe in the deep sea but living in caves or rivers? No. Controlling it without magic… maybe a water spirit or a creature that is rare, because there should be traces of magic.” I knew this wasn't a water spirit or any rare or mythical creatures I'd encountered in Hourai. As long as it's legendary or mythical I should know more about them than humans but this thing seemed different. Let’s assume it's not a mythical or legendary creature what else could do this?

“There is no point in asking about assumptions of what ifs, I’ll just bring this place down!” Asshole put his earth magic to use and tore down some rock walls but it was quite sloppy. So, you finally snapped and decided to bring the place down on us?

“I’m just making this place wider!” Al was punching rocks aside that were falling on us.

“Are you trying to kill us?!” I’m sure he is, he is just not very good at it. Raishin and I cleared away the rubble by blasting it away with water and lightning.

“Ugh, my head what is going on?”

“Ha, so you finally decided to wake up Bea! Stop slacking on the job!”

“Shut up! Hey, where is my hood? Did you guys see!?” Nope, we didn't see anything, nice cat ears by the way! I think that’s what she meant…

Uhh, not nice cat ears!

“Ugh! I guess I will have to kill all of you here!” With this much water around? Good luck!

“Eat this! [Flame tiger]!” Ugh, yelling your attack name is so cringe! I used [Water blast] to instantly defeat the [Flame tiger].

“What! But you’re just a kid! Take another [Flame tiger]!” I defeated it again and dodged a sneak attack Asshole made.

“Are you guys out of your mind? You’re attacking fellow adventurers! And kids nonetheless!” Al punched some rocks flying at Raishin and he started throwing [Light waves] at the asshole and kept him busy. I kept shooting down the fire attacks Bea sent at us. It seems she tried to hide that she's from the cat beast kin race but kind of failed and is trying to wipe us out because we know. I kept neutralizing her attacks which seemed to piss her off and I tried to avoid attacking her but the increased ferocity was driving up the temperature here. It was driving up the humidity and I could see it was causing discomfort for Raishin and Al. Hey, stop driving up the temperature, you’re going to kill everyone here!

“Nice try kiddo! I haven't hit anything because you keep cancelling them out! Nobody is going to die from that!” I stopped using the water around me and pulled the moisture out of the air and shot a [water blast] at her. She dodged it easily which made it easy for me to slip her and freeze her pants to the floor. She thawed herself by heating her body up and I gave her a cold shower. She hissed at me and seems extra pissed. Right, cats don't like water that much. She tried to use her agility to approach me but I kept slipping her. She didn't completely slip and recovered but I kept slipping her up.

“Aagh! So annoying!” She finally reached me and readied a [flame claw] but I easily evaded her and made her crash into an ice pillar. “Yeoch!” I created multiple ice pillars around her boxing her in. I added a roof and made an ice cage. “Hey!” Right, you go cool off. Raishin was suppressing asshole but he was also slowly bringing the cave down on us.

“Raishin chill out! You’re going to bury us!” Raishin shifted to martial arts and knocked Asshole out. It was sloppy but it worked. Go to sleep asshole!

“Hey let me out! It’s cold!” Bea was trying to melt the pillars without burning herself but it went quite slowly. “What’s up with this ice!” Your flames aren’t that hot so of course, it’s going to take forever for you to melt them.

“Bea, you do know better than fight a water user near water…”

“But I didn't know water users could be this strong!”

“But that was the whole point of bringing him!” Right guys we have a problem. It’s coming.

Right, Al, do we run or go upstream?

“Can I get more information for an optimal answer?” Big wave incoming!

“Can we even outrun it?” Nope!

“Then why did you give the option to run?!” Illusion of choice? A big wave approached and Raishin and I worked together to make a bubble and let the water go around us. Oof this is quite difficult! This is a bad time to screw up Raishin, all of you might die if you do!

“Huh, what about you then?” I’m a water user remember? It is going to suck for me but I’ll live, probably.

“Probably… I really wonder what goes on in the heads of kids these days…” Hey Agnis what about her? Raishin pointed behind us at Bea who was holding onto an ice pillar trying to not get swept away by the wave. Woops. I made a hand made out of ice and grabbed her out of the wave. She was shivering so I blew all the moisture off her.

“One day I will kill you!” Uhm, I’m sorry? Hey, Agnis didn't make this wave!

“I don’t think that is the point…” The wave subsided and we were shin-deep in water.

“Ugh, I hate water, I should have taken a different quest.” This was the first time I got a good look at her but she had short red hair up to her shoulders. She also was quite petite. She did have a very mean look on her face though her cat-like eyes made it look extra mean..

“Whatcha lookin' at!” That is one spicy cat. I heard a weird sound. And saw Al blocking a big claw. Hey isn't that the invisible thing that came from the other side? No this is just an oversized lobster although…

“I don’t remember lobsters having wings or tentacles.” Great another non-existing creature! I don't feel like finding out what this thing can do, Raishin, blast it! Are you sure? The winged lobster flapped its wings and created water out of nowhere. Right, this is bullshit time to vaporize it! I moved the water away from Al and Raishin so that they could do their job. I also used some water to freeze its wings. It kept clawing and Al blocked the claws.

“Be careful about its pincher claw!” Whud?

“The claw that the smallest is the fastest! The other one, the crusher claw is slow but if it catches you, you’re probably going to get crushed.” You sure know much about this creature!

“I love fishing, I just know a thing or 2 about lobsters!” Raishin dodged a claw and zapped it with blue lightning. It screeched and seemed to take a lot of damage. Ooh, it is weak to lightning magic! It’s time for my [Nova blast]! Ok. I pulled everyone closer and made a multi-layered ice and water barrier around us.

“Are you stupid?! Water ain't going to protect us from a lightning blast!” Alright, can you please shut up? Since you don’t seem to know anything about water users. I purified the water I used to make this barrier. I felt like kicking the asshole out of the barrier but I decided not to. Raishin blasted the creature and the cavern filled with lightning. There was one thing we forgot. We were right under the Aurelia River. Raishin’s blast caused more water to burst down from the ceiling.

“More water!” yes yes, I know how this goes, right Raishin come here! I looked at where Raishin was before the blast. The creature looked defeated but it seemed something knocked Raishin out. Great, guess it’s just you and me Al.

“Hey, I’m here too!” Can you swim?

“Of course not!” Then you’re not useful! I navigated through the flooding cavern, grabbed and pulled Raishin inside the barrier, and shot up through the hole we made. There was a lot of water pressure but that was no issue for me.

“I have to say but you are a very impressive water user!” I don't think this is impressive, most water users just suck. I got through the riverbed and surfaced. I dumped the extra baggage on the riverbed and dried Raishin and Al.

“Hey! Are you not going to dry me?!” You are a fire user, you’re perfectly capable of doing that yourself.

“Ugh…” Bea dried herself and Asshole. Hey, can you wake that asshole? It might be a good idea for him to close that hole. Bea slapped asshole but he didn't want to wake up. I was not in a great mood. In what world do kids have to babysit adults? At least Al was pulling his weight. Raishin woke up and looked around. Wow, these 2 were useless they only sabotaged us. I’m going to file a complaint! That’s a good idea!

“Huh what? Why did I pass out?”

“Claude, can you close the hole in the riverbed?”

“Why?” Ugh, useless. Asshole shot me a mean look and we heard a loud screech.

I thought you defeated it. I thought so too. Something shot out of the river and the lobster flew around and landed on the other side of the river and started creating water out of nowhere and shooting it at us. Hey, what if we catch this thing and send it to a desert or something?

“That’s not a bad idea but how are we going to catch it?” How about we boil it? Ooh, boiled lobster sounds good! Won’t it taste bad though? I won’t say that this is a handsome lobster…

“Hey, guys did you forget already that you wanted to catch it? It’s not going to be useful dead or in your bellies!” Hmm, Al has a point. How about we boil it and just taste its claws, it’s not like he needs it to shoot water, just have to keep the wings intact.

Wow, you actually have a good idea! Let’s boil it till it’s almost dead then!

“Hell no! I will defeat it and will use this to rise to C rank!” Even though you didn't do anything?

“How about a vote? I vote for capturing it but if that doesn't work, we kill it.” Same. Same here.

“I don’t care as long as I can stay dry!”

“So, capturing it is, I hope you can act responsibly and assist us, Claude.”

“I hate kids…” The wings of the lobster started glowing again. I froze the wings. Oddly this prevented it from creating water. Who wants boiled lobster? Raishin dashed toward the lobster and kicked the claw away from Al.

Ow! This thing is hard! Duh! Asshole cooperated and boxed the lobster in. I kept the wings frozen so that it couldn't fly away and create water.

“I will toast it!” Bea unleashed her flames on the lobster that was boxed in between [Earth walls]. I covered the lobster in a layer of water so that we could boil it.

“Why are you protecting it!” How are we supposed to boil it without water? Can you turn up the heat of those flames? We don't have all day! I will make sure it doesn't cause a steam explosion.

“Hotter? Steam explosion?” Bea added more flames but it didn't make them any hotter. Does she even know how fire magic works? The water started to boil and the lobster seemed to take quite the damage. Raishin was chucking weak lightning bolts at it to make sure to not kill it. I’m glad he learned how to hold back. Although he was drooling so he might just want to eat it and not vaporize it. How do we get rid of these claws? I can freeze his joints to which Bea could blast them with fire and someone chop off the weakened joints.

“Don’t tell me what to do!” She said that but she did blast the joints I froze. It seems Bea was starting to pull her weight but the asshole still was doing fuckall. Al stepped in and chopped the claws off. I caught the claws in water bubbles and started boiling them.

“Hey! It doesn't look like you needed me to boil the lobster!” Well, I can't have you do nothing like that guy over there. When are you going to close the hole in the river dude?

“Right, and this is the part where you all are going to die!” Yeah, dream on. Are the claws boiled yet Agnis?

“Don’t mess with me!” Asshole readied earth magic but Al used a [Light chop] on him and knocked him out. What a joke, and do any of you have a large amount of garlic, salt, or butter by any chance?

“Who would go on an adventure with those?!” I ignored Bea. I got a canister of Uraya’s spices! Oh, right we have a lot of those, chuck it in the water! Raishin chucked the canister into the boiling water. Right, I didn't mean for him to literally do that but that’s fine. I cracked open the canister by forming [Water hands] inside it and threw the empty canister out. I reduced the amount of water to make sure the taste wouldn't be diluted.

“Are we really going to eat this?” Why not? We all worked hard! Besides Claude and the cat girl.

“Hey! I boiled the… never mind…” We cracked open the huge lobster claws and ate some lobster.

“Hmm, this is a bit bland but tasty nonetheless.” I can freeze and preserve the other claw and bring it back to Ainahs where we can eat this with some proper seasoning.

“Are all water users like this?”

“No, I had adventures with Sally before and she wasn't an asshole like this kid but she wasn't as good as him and also a bit boring. Maybe I should consider training my water affinity” Good luck with that, of all the primary elements water requires the most mana control to get decent at it.

“Hmm, I’ve heard that before is the mana control requirement that high?” Well because water is the only element that is physical besides earth, it persists longer on the battlefield which allows for more flexibility, but that flexibility comes with a price. I did a short demonstration and made small ice statues of all of us.

“You did this without [Construction]?" Yup, it's easier to make it with [Construction] but opponents can easily dispel it if I do that.

“I also saw how you saved us and the multiple water skills you used; it looks like a lot of mana control is needed indeed.” Thank you for the acknowledgment, it wasn't easy to get here indeed.

“Hmpf! I can do that too! It was easy to master fire, I’m sure I could master water just as easy!” Hmm, I don't know about that, I've seen fire magic that’s way more impressive. Raishin looked at me. I shrugged. We cleaned up and the asshole woke up and Raishin knocked him out again. You are going to carry him now you know! Meh. Raishin carried the asshole while Al dragged the passed-out lobster. I carried the leftover frozen claw.

He sent Bea to get some people and they took care of the passed-out winged tentacle lobster. I hope they can put it to good use. Al and Bea filled in some papers and we went to the Association to give a report. We waited for the clerk to complete whatever he needed to do.

“Oh, congratulations Agnis, this quest put you in the requirement to become a C-rank, becoming C-rank requires a demonstration of your power so that the Association knows how strong their C-rank and higher members are.” Meh, it sounds like a pain, I don’t need to become C rank.

“Hmm, it seems your friend Tania foresaw this and made sure to get you a spot in the assessment a month from now. All the prior procedures are set in place.” Wait what?! She isn’t my friend! Why would she do that?

“I don’t know, maybe she wants to face off against you since she also reached the requirements of C rank 3 days ago.” Aha… can you cancel it?

“I’m sorry, she arranged this with the vice president backing her.” Damn her and her Daddy's power!

“Also, Albert, you also met the requirement for C rank, you need to go through the proper procedures though.”

“Oh, I will take care of that somewhere this week, by the way, we want to file a complaint.” Ah right! We filed our complaint and split off. Bea gave us a nasty look before she disappeared. She managed to find a hood somewhere so I guess only we know she is from the cat beast kin race. C-rank, eh? Is the assessment where you get to beat up all other C-rank candidates? I don’t know but sounds like it yeah, I don’t want to attract attention… I guess too late now, maybe Tania wanted a rematch and is rigging the system so you have to fight her.

I wouldn’t be surprised... She probably wants to humiliate me in front of all the C-ranks. I need to find a way to lose and not embarrass myself. Why!? Go beat them all up!

If I lose to her, she will give up and I can relax and stay D-rank. Do you think it will be that easy? She seems quite eager to crush you maybe she will start bullying you more after you lose.

…. Hmm that falls quite within her personality… what do I do?! Embarrass her so hard that she won’t dare mess with you! Just be sure to also embarrass the others, besides Al, he’s cool.

With only water magic? That makes the humiliation for them worse right?

Hmm, ok I’m motivated now! I need to find some creative ways to kick their ass with water! Raishin was going to meet up with Shania so we split up. I visited Gregory in his shop for a bit. I brought him up to speed on what happened and returned to the hotel room where I brushed my tails and started to run simulations on things, I can do with water magic.

The skill I got from Azu made me very flexible with magic since I wasn’t completely bound to the restrictions of magic circles anymore but in exchange, this required an insane amount of mana control to actually do this. I guess everything has requirements or a price. I have mainly used this passive skill on water magic, I haven't been this adventurous with other elements but I’m not in a rush.

Dinnertime came and Gregory picked me up from my room to go visit a random restaurant with Ted, Raishin, and Shania. We all talked about our day. Gregory was just doing things in his shop. Ted was being an alcoholic and visiting bars and Shania spent her days questing. Gregory and I had the rare occasion to scold Ted for being unproductive. And so, December passed. we had a camp on the Aurelia river on December 40th and closed the year. Nothing much happened until it was almost time for my C-rank assessment.