Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit

"Hm...yeah, that is a pretty tempting offer, I can't really think of any reasons to refuse. I have a question though...what's your end goal in all this? What lies at the end of the road for you, if and when you've fully crushed the church in its entirety?" Raven asked them.

"Well, I can't say for sure that we'll accomplish it, it is quite the uphill undertaking, after all...but that said, our ultimate goal is to fix this damned, corrupt Kingdom. Discrimination and prejudice against Commoners runs rampant, thanks to the deep corruption in the Church of Persona, the Nobility, and of course, the Royalty who rule over them all. We intend to carve out that corruption, until there's none of it left. Of course, that's far easier said than done, so in the short-term, we're just trying to make life easier for Commoners, even if it's just a little bit, by eliminating those responsible for their oppression and suffering, one by one," Explained the leader, a determined look in his eyes.

But Raven's senses picked up on something beyond that determination and righteous justice...behind all that, was a simple yet intense hatred, not too unlike his own.

"I see...they're just like me. They've suffered because of the church, and for no other reason than the fact that they possess unusual Magic Classes that the Nobles fear," Surmised Raven, before meeting the leader's gaze and responding, "Okay, then...if you'll really help me find and rescue my sister, I'll join you. Like you said, we have a common interest...our exact reasons may differ, but ultimately, we both intend to go after the church. Realistically, I doubt I can get very far by myself, even with these abilities, I can use all the help I can get, whatever will raise my chances of success...so, yeah, I'll join you."

"Great! Welcome to The Irregulars, happy to have you! Let me introduce myself, my name is Aster Stark, nice to meet you, Raven," Smiled the leader.

He was in his mid-twenties, with flowing, medium-length white hair that had two black stripes down the front and light blue eyes with black-framed, rectangular glasses. He had clawed scars across his left cheek, jawline and neck, a pale complexion, an agile build, and he was fairly tall.

He wore greenish blue leather armor top under a black vest that had a harness in which two swords were strapped across each other on his back, a high black leathered collar covered his neck, and he had black trousers and black boots on.

"Yeah, likewise," Nodded Raven politely.

"I'm Colt Lekta, how's it going?" The young man with the eyepatch introduced himself with a friendly wave.

He was in his early twenties, with slightly long, straight dark brown hair, his right eye was covered with a black eyepatch, with a vertical scar extending from under the patch, and his left eye was dark red. He had a light brown complexion and a slim, agile build, and slightly above average height.

He was wearing a sleeveless, white hooded t-shirt under a long-sleeved blue leather armor jacket, with dark blue trousers and black boots.

"And I'm his younger sister, my name is Celia Lekta, nice to meet you," The girl with the explosions chimed in with a smile.

She was in her late teens, a couple of years older than Raven, she had a fair complexion, jet black eyes, and long black hair tied up in a ponytail. She was around average height and had a nimble, attractive build, with firm, perky breasts that Raven briefly stole a glance at and immediately felt bad about after looking at the warm, welcoming smile on her face.

She was wearing a sleeveless and backless dark blue top with a collar that wrapped around her neck, with the upper chest area around her cleavage being sheer and partially see-through. She had a black choker around her neck, with black shorts that went halfway down her thighs and boots that went above her knees, a glimpse of her thighs visible in between.

"Y-yeah, nice to meet the two of you," Nodded Raven, before thinking to himself, "She's really cute..."

"Guess it's my turn...I'm Lexia Bell," Spoke up the pink-haired girl with a curt nod.

She was in her early twenties, with shoulder-length, straight pinkish blonde hair tied up in short twintails, bright green eyes, a black hairclip on the left side of her hair and a fair complexion. She was slightly taller than Celia and had a curvy yet slender figure with noticeably large breasts, accentuated by her low-neck top.

She wore a baggy red top that exposed her left shoulder with a blue bra strap visible, and heavily exposed her cleavage, with a short, dark blue skirt over black tights and sleek black shoes.

"And last but not least...," Grinned Aster, turning his gaze to the redhead and prompting him to introduce himself.

"Hm? Oh, right...I'm Tacitus Drake, hi," He muttered, a lethargic look on his face.

He was in his mid twenties, with longish red hair tied in a low ponytail, a ghostly pale complexion, dark blue eyes with dark circles under them, and a deceptively muscular and sturdy build hidden under his baggy clothes, and he was the tallest of the group.

He wore dark brown leather armor under a baggy black hoodie, with dark brown leather armored trousers and heavy black boots.

"Okay, so...what's next? When do we attack one of the churches?" Inquired Raven, his sense of impatience returning.

"Slow down there, kid, I understand why you'd be in a rush, but there's not much you can do at your current level. Therefore, before we make our next move, we're going to need to train you up. It's true that you're powerful and possess serious brute strength, and you seem to have passable control over the abilities you've gained, but that said, you could stand to use your abilities a lot more effectively and efficiently.

More than that, though, your actual physical combat skills are pretty amateur, at best. From the little I saw of your capabilities, you seem pretty cautious and like you're always thinking while fighting, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but too much thinking will only serve to slow you down, you need to hone your instincts and battle sense a lot more.

It's also clear that you have very little real combat experience, had we attacked you at full force right from the start, any of us could have defeated you by themselves. Therefore, we're going to need to get you up to scratch...because frankly, at your current level, you'd only slow us down and end up exposing yourself to more risk than you can handle right now.

Hm...actually, now that I think about it, your current ability level shouldn't have been enough to destroy that church, the Inquisitors should have been able to stop you without too much trouble, even if they were caught off guard. Maybe there weren't that many of them present at the time? Well, whatever the case was, the fact remains that you're just not strong enough," Surmised Aster bluntly.

"I...I know that. I already knew that even before you guys showed up, but...my sister, it's already been two weeks, there's no telling what they're doing to her, so I want to go rescue her as fast as possible," Replied Raven, clenching his fists in frustration.

"I get that, I'd probably feel the same way if I were in your shoes, but there's no point in rushing into it. You'll only get yourself killed, and that'll be that. But if you learn how to fight properly, your chances of successfully finding your sister will be a whole lot higher," Reasoned Colt, as he walked over and placed a hand on Raven's shoulder.

"But that's-...alright, fine. I guess I can't argue against the logic of that. Not to mention, I have no idea where she is or where to even begin looking for here," Relented Raven with a sigh, his shoulders slumping.

"Don't worry, while you're training, we'll head out and see if we can gather any info that'll help lead us to her. I can't guarantee that we'll find anything definitive, but it's better than searching blind. Alright, then, now that that's settled...let's get going, we'll head to our hideout and begin your training. It's not too far from here," Remarked Aster, gesturing to Raven to follow them, as they began heading to their hideout.

"Okay, not sure what I've gotten myself into, exactly, but they seem like good people...I was wary since they're wanted criminals and all, but now that I know that's only because they were forced into their current situations by the church, I think it should be okay to trust them. Just hold on a little longer, sis...I'll do my best to come find you as soon as I possibly can," Raven declared to himself, before following after The Irregulars...

...

...

"Huh...no offense or anything, but this is nicer than I was expecting," Remarked Raven in surprise, as they arrived at The Irregulars' hideout.

It was a two-story building made of wood, well-hidden in a dense grove of trees. It looked much nicer than most of the buildings in Ruby Village, certainly more so than the cheap inn Raven had been staying in.

"That's understandable, it's not the kind of building you'd expect to see in the middle of a forest. It's even got running water and plumbing, and we've got an electric generator too, so we've got lighting throughout the building. The rooms also have ceiling fans, but it gets pretty cool and windy out here, so we rarely need to use them," Aster informed him, as they approached the building.

"That's pretty amazing...you guys built it yourselves?" Raven asked him.

"Uh-huh, we sure did, took us about a year to get it to its current state. Tacitus did most of the work though, he's pretty handy with this stuff," Replied Aster, nodding at the redhead with a grin.

"I still regret revealing that fact...thanks to that, I'm stuck doing most of the literal heavy lifting," Grumbled Tacitus with a sigh.

"Well, anyway, let's get right to it, shall we? We've got a Magic Power Reader somewhere...not sure where it is though," Mused Aster uncertainly, as the entered the building.

Raven looked around in fascination, it looked like a proper house...it was clean and spacious, with a pleasant, airy atmosphere.

"Oh, I think I remember seeing it in the storage room in the back a few days ago, I'll go get it," Spoke up Celia, heading off into the building.

"I'm gonna go take a nap, that fight wore me out," Yawned Tacitus, as he made his way towards a flight of stairs.

"I wonder how much Magic Power you have? Considering that you apparently have Royal blood, it's probably pretty high," Remarked Colt in fascination.

"Well, during my appraisal, the Priest said my Magic Power was 40,000," Recalled Raven.

"That was probably a lie. He likely pegged you as a potential test subject during your appraisal and then played down the results to make sure you didn't draw too much attention to yourself. From what I know, it's practically unheard of for those with Royal blood to possess Magic Power lower than 50,000," Aster informed him.

"Yeah, but my blood is only half-Royal, right?" Pointed out Raven.

"That's not how it works. When a new King or Queen is chosen to succeed the previous ruler, they choose spouses from the Nobility...which is obvious when you think about it, otherwise, it'd be incest. And that hasn't diluted the general amount of Magic Power that members of Royalty possess. The same applies to Commoners with Royal or Noble blood, they possess Magic Power levels similar to that of the Royalty or Nobility, their Commoner blood doesn't dilute it. That's why Royal bastards are usually executed as soon as they're born...if I had to guess, your mother must have noticed she was pregnant before anyone else did and went into hiding to give birth to you in secret, otherwise you and your sister would have been killed the day you were born," Explained Lexia, as Celia reappeared with an object in her hand.

"I found it! It was super dusty, I took a minute to clean it up a bit," She remarked, handing the object to Aster.

"That looks different from the Magic Item they used during my appraisal," Noticed Raven, as Aster put the device over his left eye.

The Magic Item used for appraisals looked like glasses, but this one looked more like a monocle.

"You mean the Appraisal Specs? Yeah, those are hand to get your hands on outside of the churches. This right here, is called a Magic Power Reader. Now, stand still and unleash your Aura, this device will measure it," Instructed Aster, as Raven nodded and did as he said, releasing his Aura for the first time after suppressing it during his appraisal.

"What the fuck!?" Blurted out Lexia in shock.

"Holy shit...," Muttered Colt with a stunned look on his face.

"U-uh...what is it?" Inquired Raven nervously.

"You, uh...you've got an unnaturally large Aura. I see, that Homunculus Ritual, it must have increased your Magic Power...and from the look of it, by a tremendous amount. Let's see just how much...," Muttered Aster with an intrigued look on his face, running his Mana into the Magic Power Reader as he focused the lens on Raven.

"Well? What does it say?" Celia asked him curiously.

"80,000...90,000...100,000...110. 120. 130. 140. 150-...," Began Aster in disbelief, before abruptly trailing off as the device suddenly exploded, sparks and a burst of smoke erupting from it as the display shattered to pieces.

"Seriously? I didn't even know that was possible," Said Colt, following a brief, stunned silence.

"Hold on, the highest Magic Power ever recorded in a human is 100,000, right? And his is over 150,000?" Added Lexia in bewilderment.

"No, it was still rising rapidly with no signs of slowing down before the device reached its limit. My Magic Power is 88,000, and your Aura looks to be about five or six times larger than mine, so I'd estimate that it must be around 500,000 or so," Responded Aster, grimacing slightly as he removed the device, several small burns across the skin around his left eye.

"Here, let me help...[Heal]," Chanted Raven, as he walked over and placed his palm against the burns, which slowly disappeared and faded away.

"Thanks...ordinarily, I would chalk this up to this being a faulty device or something, but since I can clearly see for myself how vast your Aura is, there's no denying it. You have more Magic Power than anyone ever has had in our known, recorded history," Stated Aster without a hint of doubt.

"You're probably gonna want to keep that suppressed. Even though there's very little pressure to it at the moment, if you fully master control over your Mana and maximize your Aura pressure, the pressure from such a vast Aura could probably kill an ordinary civilian without you even needing to lift a finger," Aura informed him.

"I'll, uh, keep that in mind," Nodded Raven warily, as he suppressed his Aura again.

"Mastery over your Mana will come naturally as you learn higher level Spells, we'll need to get our hands on some Recovery Magic Grimmoires. In the meantime, we need to decide on a suitable Combat Template for you," Mused Aster thoughtfully.

"What exactly is that? I've heard of the term, I remember my sister mentioning it a few times, but I don't actually know what it is," Replied Raven sheepishly.

"Right, you mentioned that you weren't interested in joining the Knights or learning how to fight, so it makes sense that you wouldn't bother to learn about it. So, a Combat Template is how you channel your Mana through your body to suit your specific fighting style. There are a total of nine Combat Templates; Brawler, Martial Artist, Saber, Lancer, Archer, Dual Blader, Pulverizer, Assassin and Thrasher.

In very rare cases, some individuals can create their own unique Combat Template to suit a more unorthodox fighting style, but you hardly ever see that since there's a high risk of things going wrong and your body could end up physically unbalanced. As you can see, I'm a Dual Blader," Explained Aster, gesturing to the twin blades strapped across his back, before continuing, "Each Template requires a different way of channeling your Mana throughout your body, and it significantly and very directly affects your fighting style. For instance, an Assassin would channel their Mana in a way that makes their body more nimble and flexible, while a Pulverizer would try to max out their brute strength."

"I'm a Martial Artist, by the way, my Combat Template focuses on augmenting speed, flexibility and reaction time. My individual strikes aren't very powerful, but I can land a lot more hits in than, say, a Brawler, which is more focused on brute strength and instinct," Chimed in Celia, before continuing, "Sabers and Lancers specialize in wielding swords and spears, respectively, the Archer Template focuses on augmenting eyesight and arm stability to help aim with ranged weapons, usually bows, Dual Bladers have a greater focus on flexibility than Sabers do, Pulverizers focus on brute strength like Brawlers do, the difference is that Pulverizers use heavy weapons, while Brawlers use their fists. Tacitus is a Pulverizer, by the way. Oh, and Thrashers wield flexible weapons like whips and chains. Colt and Lexia are both Assassins, their Combat Template augments the physical areas they need to be stealthy and nimble, while also sharpening their senses."

"Also, an individual can only master one Combat Template. If you try to attempt mastering multiple Templates, you'll be mediocre at best in each one. The reason for that is because your body gradually changes and adapts to the Combat Template you've chosen to pursue, so trying out multiple Templates will make your body unbalanced," Added Colt, as Raven nodded thoughtfully.

"Okay, I think I get it now. But how do you decide on your Combat Template? Like, what if you pursue one and then later come to the conclusion that you chose the wrong one? Also, since I have so much Magic Power, is it still impossible for me to master multiple Templates?" Raven asked them curiously.

"To answer your first question, we'll help you with that. I think if you spar against each of us using different combat styles, we can determine which one is best suited to you, or you yourself can decide which one felt most natural. As for your second question, the simple answer is no. Magic Power has no correlation to Combat Template, it's the one area where Commoners and Nobles are on equal footing. Even a Commoner with barely any Magic Power can physically match a Noble if they have an equal or higher level of mastery over their Combat Template. If I'm not mistaken, one of the most skilled Sabers in the nation is one of the few Commoners in the Knight Order, I think his name is Rine Harter or something like that?" Recalled Aster uncertainly.

"Oh, you mean Hart Riner? I know him, he was nice to my sister and I. I didn't know he was that strong though," Responded Raven in surprise.

"Yeah, Magic Power has no link to your physical capabilities. Your Magic Power only affects the level of Spells you can cast and the size of your Aura. And with your record-breaking Magic Power, you should easily be capable of casting any and all Recovery Magic Spells. Pure Commoners can only use Level 1 Spells, you need Magic Power of at least 25,000 to be able to cast Level 2 Spells, and pure Commoners usually max out at 15,000, while the lowest ever recorded in a Noble was 20,000. It's extremely rare to come across a Noble who doesn't have the potential to use Level 2 Spells, though. And for Level 3 Spells, you need a minimum Magic Power level of 50,000. Incidentally, all five of us are comfortably over that threshold, though not all of us have mastered Level 3 Spells yet," Explained Lexia, as Raven paid close, thoughtful attention, absorbing the information that was being thrown at him.

"I think I get it, Magic Power only really affects your Spellcasting potential and the size of your Aura, it doesn't have an effect on anything else," Nodded Raven, his interest piqued.

"Actually, there is one other advantage you can gain by fully mastering control over your Mana. I mentioned Aura pressure before; the greater your control over your Mana, the stronger the pressure exerted by your Aura becomes. Now, unleashing your Aura for long periods of time wears out your stamina, but you can still make use of it in battle...particularly against opponents with weaker Aura pressure, your Aura pressure will be able to slow down their movements while they're within the range of your Aura.

The greater your Aura, the wider a range it covers...I believe it's around a one meter radius per 50,000 Magic Power, so each of our Auras cover a radius of somewhere around one point five meters, more or less, and if my estimate of your Magic Power level was accurate, your Aura should cover a radius of around ten meters. When a person is exposed to an Aura with greater pressure than their own, their bodies will feel heavier under that pressure, though Auras of equal or similar pressure cancel each other out.

Also, your Magic Power level determines the ceiling of how high you can raise that pressure...for instance, take a person with Magic Power of 10,000 and one with 20,000. If the former has fully mastered control over their Mana while the latter has only mastered fifty percent of it, their Aura pressures will be the same. And it's impossible to increase the quantity of your Magic Power naturally, the amount you possess when you first awaken your Magic will be the amount your possess for the rest of your life. The only thing you can increase is your level of mastery and control over it. Of course, you're an exception to that, thanks to the Homunculus Ritual you were put through," Remarked Aster thoughtfully.

"Maybe we should slow down, this is turning into a real info dump. Were you able to follow all that?" Celia asked Raven.

"Yeah, I think so...it's easy to pay attention when it's a topic I'm interested in, and since I need to get stronger as fast as possible, I'm very much interested in all this," Nodded Raven in response.

"Well, I think we just about covered everything, anyway, so yeah. Now, then, let's go outside...there's a shortcut to increasing the pressure of your Aura, which will subsequently make your Spellcasting more effective too. It's a bit of a risky method, but you should be able to handle it," Remarked Aster, as he opened the front door and nodded at Raven to follow him.

As Raven headed for the doorway, the other three followed too, curious to see how this play out.

Aster stepped onto grass and gestured to Raven to stand in front of him. Raven obliged and walked over, facing him with a curious look on his face.

"Okay, so what exactly are we doing here?" He asked Aster.

"It's simple...I'm going to demonstrate what it's like to stand in the midst of an Aura pressure greater than yours. I'll release my Aura bit by bit, otherwise you could end up getting injured since your Aura pressure is so low...alright, get ready, here it comes," Stated Aster, as he unleashed about a third of his Aura, Raven's eyes widening as his knees buckled, an intense pressure pushing down on him.

"W-woah, I can barely stand...," He uttered shakily, spreading his feet out slightly to get a sturdier base.

"Not bad, you didn't fall, and you're maintaining your balance. Alright, then, I'm turning it up a notch," Aster informed him, before unleashing another third of his Aura, Raven's legs wobbling under the sharply increased pressure before he collapsed onto his knees, gritting his teeth as he struggle to get back up.

"I...I can't move...!"

"Here it comes, I'm unleashing my full Aura, brace yourself!" Aster warned him, right before an even greater pressure hit Raven, his palms thudding against the grassy ground, his hands and knees sinking into dirt as he felt like his back was about to break.

"H-how exactly i-is th-this supposed t-to increase m-my Aura p-p-pressure?" Stuttered Raven, his teeth chattering as he struggled to speak under the heavy force pushing down on him, his entire body trembling as he strained himself to avoid being crushed by the pressure.

"It's simple, really. You need to get a feel for your Aura under the pressure of mine, and then focus on pushing back against it. Now, there is a limit to how far you can sharpen your Aura pressure using this method, but it's a hell of a lot faster than doing it the normal way. I believe the limit with this method is about 50,000, that'd normally take months to reach that level of mastery, but using this method, it should take a couple of weeks at most, though some have done it within four or five days. The more pressure you gain into your Aura, the more freely you'll be able to move under the pressure of my Aura. We'll move on to sparring and deciding your Combat Template once we've refined your Aura as much as possible using this method," Remarked Aster, as Raven continued to struggle under the immense pressure of his Aura.

"D-damn, it's...it's hard to think straight when I'm so focused on making sure my body doesn't fold in half! How has my spine not snapped already!? Wait, that's it!" Raven's eyes widened as an idea hit him, before he laid down flat on the ground, the pain in his back easing.

"Oh? I see, that's pretty smart, you're minimizing the force of the pressure on your body by laying down, not bad, that should help you concentrate a lot better," Aster nodded in approval, before adding as Raven closed his eyes and focused, "Now, unleash your own Aura and try to push back against my Aura with it."

"Okay, concentrate...I have no problem suppressing and unleashing my Aura, I just need to control in a different way. I've unleashed it, but I can't feel it at all under the pressure of his Aura...I know that visualization is an important aspect of Spellcasting, maybe it'll help with this too. Picture it...the pressure pushing down on me, imagine pushing back against it, little by little..."

"Woah, he's doing it, that was fast," Remarked Colt in surprise, as Raven managed to exert a small, shaky bit of pressure against Aster's.

"Yeah, not bad...but it's pretty unstable so far, he's barely at the starting point. I'm honestly surprised that he can properly use the Heal Spell when his Aura pressure was basically nonexistent," Mused Lexia in response.

"Hey, look...it's starting to stabilize and increase. Woah...," Trailed off Celia, as Raven's Aura pressure suddenly spiked sharply.

A person's mastery over their Magic Power and the corresponding pressure of their Aura is closely tied to their instincts...the stronger a person's instincts, the faster they're able to master their Magic and refine their Aura.

And Raven's instincts had grown exponentially stronger following the Homunculus Ritual, beyond normal human instincts. And it was those very instincts that helped him get used to his new body and abilities in such a short time.

"I see now...when they first approached me and I sensed them, I must have been detecting their Mana. Now that I'm being exposed so such dense, Mana-based pressure, I can tell. Yeah, I can even sense how much Mana each of them have...or at least, I can tell which of them have more Mana than the others. I don't fully understand it yet, but I think I'm on the right track, it feels like I'm making slow but steady progress," Raven thought to himself, feeling encouraged.

He was in a deep state of focus, and while he hadn't dulled his hearing, he was tuning out the voices around him so that he could fully focus on the task at hand, so he didn't realize that he was actually progressing at an unnaturally fast rate. He'd also fully tranformed into his Homunculus form, without even realizing it.

Within just about ten minutes after they began, Raven's Aura pressure was more or less a third as intense as Aster's was, he was more than halfway through to reaching the limit of sharpening Aura pressure using this method.

"This is incredible...I bet he'll be able to learn new Spells without too much trouble either," Remarked Aster in awe, as the pressure of Raven's Aura continued to steadily grow.

"So, this Homunculus Ritual, it's probably a form of Ancient Magic, right? I can definitely see why Ancient Magic is forbidden, just imagine if the kingdom decided to use it to create a Homunculus army," Frowned Lexia warily.

"Yeah, that's a scary thought...glad he's on our side," Nodded Celia in agreement.

"Not to mention, he's also a Recovery Mage, that could prove invaluable once he masters higher level Healing Spells," Added Colt objectively.

About five minutes later, Raven had just about reached the ceiling of how much he could refine his Aura through this method, he was no longer able to increase the pressure.

"Hm? Weird, why can't I do it anymore? My concentration hasn't wavered...maybe it's the kind of thing that gets harder and harder, like walking up a hill or something? Or maybe-...?" Raven thought to himself in confusion, before his train of thought was cut off as the pressure beating down on him suddenly vanished.

"We're done, kid, you can get up now," Aster called down to him, tapping his shoulder.

"Huh? We're already done for the day? It didn't feel like it was that long, I think I can keep going for a while longer," Responded Raven, as he got back onto his feet.

"No, no, that's not what I meant. It's not that we're done for the day, I meant that we're done with this part of your training. You did it, you can't benefit any more from this method. From here on, to refine your Aura further, you'll need to master and cast higher level Spells," Aster informed him.

"Seriously? I guess more time must have passed than I realized..."

"Uh, maybe...if you consider a little under twenty minutes to be more time that you thought it was."

"Huh? I thought you said it'll take at least four or five days upto a couple of weeks," Responded Raven with a bewildered look on his face.

"Yeah, well, I don't know what to tell ya, you did it in less than twenty minutes," Shrugged Aster, as the others came bounding over.

"Dude, that was amazing!" Grinned Colt, giving him a pat on the back.

"Uh, yeah, thanks..."

"Yes, despite how dumb you looked laying facedown and still on the dirt like that, it was still pretty remarkable," Added Lexia with an impressed nod.

"Sorry about her, she has trouble with being sincere and complimenting people without slipping in an insult or two to balance it out," Laughed Celia, as Lexia rolled her eyes with a slight huff, averting her gaze as she let out a slight mutter.

"Oh, uh, I see...I'll keep that in mind," Replied Raven, before thinking to himself in bemusement, "Well...that was easy."