The Seven Demon's Tamer

Silence stretched as Ryder delivered his question. Frankly, the moment he had heard of an affinity that could reincarnate the dead, his mind couldn't help but trail instantly to the image of his mother.

Her corpse had suddenly come to his mind, which made him ask his first question. "Does your affinity work on every single human being?"

The answer that had been given made his mind ponder. With a glimmer of hope from his heart, he asked his next question.

"Can you... bring my mother back?"

Mika paused for a moment, with her gaze fixed on Ryder before she responded with a question of her own.

"If I may ask, for how long has she been dead?"

"Should be around two weeks now," Ryder responded, his hope still palpable. "However..."

"I am sorry, but my affinity doesn't work like that," Mika responded, throwing all hope Ryder had gotten through the window.

"My affinity has its conditions," Mika explained. "In order for it to function, I must have activated it on a person before their death, or just a short while after the death before all the body organs completely stop functioning."

"If it had been hours or even a single day, then I don't think it would be possible to bring back the deceased."

"Oh." Ryder responded, his expression unreadable, almost impassive. However, Leo noticed the subtle movement in his hands as his fists clenched. "I guess I am out of luck on this one."

"There's still my father, you know." Ryder forced a smile to his face. "I'll search for the responsible forces and make sure they pay."

Everyone fell silent, almost as if they could feel Ryder's pain in their hearts despite how much he was masking it. The sober mood didn't last too long though, as Master Sung quickly brought back their focus.

"All you are meant to do is climb on this platform," Master Sung spoke as he slowly descended from the platform using the stairs that led to it. Along with him came the three exclusive members of his guild.

"All you should do is climb to the platform one after the other so Yuki can fill you with all the necessary knowledge you need."

They all hesitated cautiously, and the silence stretched long this time. They could all hear their own heartbeats in their own ears. Finally, after the fleeting moment, Brok voiced out what they were all feeling.

"How would you expect us to believe that your guild members' objective is to fill us up with the necessary intel?" he asked, trying to keep his tone reasonable, purposely requesting more conviction.

"What's so hard to say that makes you want to resort to using sketchy affinity to inform us about something you can say with your mouth?" Brok added.

"Do you really think we are so nonchalant? We are allies; we don't really trust each other. What guarantee do we have that you won't scramble our brains while we're up there?"

Master Sung chuckled in amusement, the sound echoing strangely in the white room. "Oh, certainly not. I'm not surprised you all are cautious, especially after Mika's demonstration."

"It made it seem like I expected some violence and chaos," he continued. "But you shouldn't be bothered by those thoughts. You guys are extremely valuable to us, and we wouldn't do anything sketchy."

Master Sung's expression didn't change as he delivered the vital piece of information. "Believe it or not, you are all more valuable to us with all your current knowledge intact than with it messed up. Dead allies are useless allies, and brain-damaged allies are almost as useless."

"We would have shared everything orally, but unfortunately, it won't be possible for everything," Master Sung continued, beginning to pace in front of the platform with slow movements and both hands behind his back. "Yuki over here also wants to imbue some knowledge of Japanese into you."

"Remember I told you she could either add or remove knowledge? Well, she can add more complex knowledge than you can imagine by cloning her own knowledge into yours."

"Yuki is Japanese just like me, and she will be cloning our language into you," Master Sung clarified. "Unlike me and the other Red Eastern guild members around, you will rarely ever find someone who can speak English there, so you'll need to learn the language."

"Teaching you verbally is not even an option," he continued. "It would take months of intensive study to learn basic speech alone, and would be a waste of time as we need you functional immediately."

The explanation made sense, Ryder had to admit, but it still felt like they were being asked to let strangers play with their minds.

"You shouldn't be worried about it. I can protect you if they try to cause any harm," Luxy's voice was calm and reassuring, carrying the hint of pride Ryder recognized. Luxy would show pride only when he was highly confident.

"Oh, that's right," Ryder replied mentally, causing Luxy to pause in surprise.

"A lot has changed in Ryder, far beyond what I initially observed," Luxy realized inwardly. "Just how was it possible? All I did was temporarily eradicate all of his emotions holding him back, leaving calmness to allow him to think deeply with more reasoning for a brief moment, and now, he is so mature."

"Did Ryder realize all I was doing was for the best during that short duration? If that's the case then... I don't even know what to say."

"I'll go first," Ryder spoke, climbing towards the platform by its stairs.

The others wanted to protest, but they quickly restrained themselves. If anyone should go first, it should be Ryder.

Of everyone among them, he was the strongest, and his familiar was an intelligent type, a rare type of creature that many thought never even existed.

Climbing to the platform, Ryder stood at the center, waiting for them to proceed.

Master Sung turned towards Yuki and nodded slightly. Immediately after, the ground began to tremble, and from it was unveiled a stone altar.

Ryder was expecting Yuki to climb to the platform and place her hand on him to activate the affinity, but surprisingly, she didn't do anything related to that.

She simply walked towards the risen altar and placed a hand on it.

"I thought you could only activate an affinity by placing her hands on the subject."

"Yes, that's right," Master Sung replied. "The runes on this platform also amplify affinities in order to increase efficient manipulation."

Master Sung paused for a while, and during that time, he waited for Yuki to place her hands on the altar.

He then continued. "By placing her hand on this altar, she automatically activates the affinity and connects the altar to the platform."