5 Chapter 5: Anima

Dirk's silver armour glistened as he dashed forward with a fierce charge thrusting his spear into a goblin's face, piercing through its skull with a brutal crack. 

He twisted his spear, tearing off half its face; beside him, two goblins slashed down towards his flanks with sharp, rusted swords that whistled through the air.

However, two blazing bolts of flame shot out from Odette's hands, blasting the goblins as they burned into ashes and dropped small crystals.

Vincent's body felt loose despite having low agility as he stayed on his toes.

His eyes watched the battle, taking in the sights, clenching his fists, ready to try.

A light sweat coated Felia's beautiful tanned skin as she hopped around for better angles, shooting four goblins within seconds, the poor goblins unable to dodge as they moved forward.

Her shots seemed homing as the iron tips pierced the exposed goblins' necks, causing them to crash with a thud.

'These guys are in sync, don't tell me they've fought together before?' Vincent thought as he watched the three protecting each other's flaws.

Odette would cover the flanks of Dirk, who focused on the enemies straight ahead, and Felia eliminated the reinforcements or ranged threats.

'No wonder they were the top three candidates this year; they seem to have practised together quite often.' Violetta thought while focused on their safety and nodded, feeling these children probably received a lot of guidance thanks to being of noble and royal descent.

Swish! With a silver flash, she spun a short dagger with a crooked blade and narrow tip, her swaying body moving towards the goblins before she turned back, looking over her neck.

"Now then, when you explore dungeons alone, you may or may not know that you might have to carve some monsters to earn profit." Violetta's eyes narrowed as her husky voice resounded through the cave.

The students came closer, taking a deep breath after the first combat and smiling at each other before focusing on the dead goblins with arrows in their necks.

"Watch my actions; this is how dungeon scouts will carve most humanoid monsters to find their magic core; it usually resides in their chest or head but can vary depending on the type. The library should have books to help you with more exotic monsters."

Shlick! Her right arm swiped across the goblin's head, filled with a red glow. The knife sliced into the goblin's as its skull slid off in a diagonal line dropping to the floor with a deep thud.

"If you focus your mana along the blade's edge, you will use less mana and stamina this way." Violetta looked beautiful to Vincent as she sliced through the goblin's brain, grey matter splattered, before a shining black stone, around 5 centimetres in length, appeared.

She grasped the stone before holding it up to the party.

"This shiny black stone is your income source as an explorer. People call it a "Mana Stone", sometimes known as a "Mana shard" or "Mana Crystal", but they are for higher ranks. Take them to the adventurers guild for fast money but with less payout. The dungeon seeker guild pays a little more but takes hours, sometimes with higher-level cores."

Her fierce face showed a rare smile, enjoying the four kids listening intently despite being nobles, royalty and a merchant's son.

'Good, they are not arrogant.' Violetta thought.

Woosh! Her knife spun rapidly with a quiet howl before it cleanly slashed the goblin's ears off in a smooth, fluid movement.

"These are also handy for a smaller amount of money. A sign of your subjugation of the monsters, sometimes feuds or arguments can occur as people get greedy; with the ears too, the guild will take your side."

She wanted to add, "this is helpful for poor households for extra income…" but held it in.

Violetta sighed, before tossing the dagger to Dirk, giving him a nod, before returning to the rear, swaying her sexy ass that somehow entranced Vincent as his body reacted to her wonderful body.

Once she was out of their sight, her left hand began to twitch because she showed off, although slowly healing after a few moments, not affecting her ability to use magic to save the children if things got bad.

Violette gave a deep breath before she spoke in a husky, powerful voice, noticing them looking lost, "I shall answer any questions you have once we get back, let's move on; good work!"

"Yes, teacher!" all of them replied with energetic faces.

Vincent noticed that his teacher wore the same pendant as his mother, which probably meant this woman knew him or his mother at some point, as that dungeon group disbanded soon after his father died.

'I wonder why she became a teacher,' he thought before her voice distracted him.

"Because of the damn rules, you need to split into two groups now, as the first path has two roads; since you three have a good synergy, how about Felia, Dirk, and Odette take the left path? You should encounter at most six goblins."

"Eh!? I want to be with Vincent!" Felia pouted.

'I want to be with him too…' Odette thought as her body shuddered before avoiding the fierce look from Dirk, who seemed jealous, now able to notice when the shock affected her.

"Ah, don't worry, I will keep him safe; how about this… You can party with him next time, Felia?" Violetta replied with a lazy voice.

'Tsk! The damn old woman wants to seduce my handsome husband!' Felia thought to herself before realising she couldn't change the teacher's mind.

"Well, don't worry about him; he's probably very strong, just like his mother…."

Before they could leave, she spoke again as if remembering something.

"Oh, by the way," Her hand pointed towards the shining lights above each path. "The number of lights that blink shows the difficulty, nobody knows who made this system, but your way has two blinking lights while ours has one. So don't worry, it should be quite easy."

"Also, the colour indicates the power of the monsters; blue is of the weakest grade, followed by purple, then red. If you want more details, check the library, I don't have all the information in my pretty little head."

Once she finished speaking, her eyes fluttered before taking Vincent's arm, which caused Felia to shout as Odette dragged her away like a criminal.

"Ah!? Darling! Don't be seduced; her tits must be fake!"

Dirk followed behind, the jealousy in his chest smouldering like a raging fire, 'this little cunt; I hope he dies along with that slut of an instructor!'

Felia skipped away after speaking. Dirk followed her, nodding to Vincent.

Dirk's thoughts were twisted by his biased opinion, feeling that any woman that showed goodwill to Vincent was just a size queen or a filthy whore.

Silvari still snored on Vincent's shoulder like a small royal ice fairy, her drool dripping down his tunic.

"Let's head out, Vincent. Although I said this side is easier, don't expect me to help you pass!"

'Don't worry; emergency tutors are in place should anything go wrong. Although I can't tell you this, we are considering your safety. The nobles paid for it themselves, so let's abuse that for the general students too! Haha,' Violetta mused to herself.

"Understood, teacher!"

Vincent walked towards the dark passage to the right, narrow walls filled with slimy fluids and sharp rocks; his mind became worried that other monsters existed on this side. 

"There are no slimes, right?"

"Hahaha, silly boy, why are you so cute?" Violetta laughed her last words out of his hearing.

"This floor is a goblin-only floor; the strongest person in the city made it this way."

Her words were rough but allowed him to relax as they proceeded forward, their feet tapping on the slightly wet flooring.

Suddenly, Silvari began to move around after having woken up. 

She rubbed her eyes, and as they opened sleepily with her tiny hands, Vincent noticed her horn was a little bigger, and its ice now covered the right eye with a rose-shaped crystal of ice.

Plop!

Suddenly, a drop of the slimy fluid dribbled down from the cavern roof and fell into her mouth.

A few moments passed after she swallowed the sticky good before she began gagging and almost vomited over his shoulders.

'Disgusting!' Vincent thought, almost feeling the urge to vomit after watching her.

Silvari was oblivious to his worries; her little mouth opened with a loud burp afterwards, and with a pleased smile, she turned towards Vincent.

Her right eye began to sparkle like a wonderful gem in the sun as she pointed forward, her finger now shimmering blue as countless blue shards of ice began to form around her wrist, swirling rapidly.

'Master, there are five goblins. Four are useless trash, and one is slightly less useless trash.' Silvari whispered to him, her hand still summoning more ice.

"Be careful, Vincent; this group is a little stronger than normal; one is a level 2 goblin and will be faster and more powerful!" Violetta warned him; her left hand seemed to buzz as magic began to swirl around it.

'Don't worry if you cannot handle it; I won't let them hurt a hair on your head. V!'

Vincent's eyes glowed with a vibrant blue light as he used "Identification" to see the big goblin's current skills and power.

-Goblin Scout Level 2 | Rank 1

Skills: Blunt Weapon Mastery (Rank 1), Increased Stamina

[Demonic Choice Triggered!]

[Fight the goblin without Assistance!]

[Allow Silvari to show her true power and assist you!]

[60-second time limit!]

Vincent looked towards the cute little fairy, wondering if she would return to that wondrous form that caused him to awaken as a male sexually.

'Should I choose to be selfish? Or work together with her part of me wants to show off! I finally got this power, yet my attributes are so low, let's not be stupid here.'

[53]

Violetta waited; the goblins slowly moved around, seeming to have not noticed his presence yet; thankfully, her spells were ready to be unleashed instantly.

'Let's trust my summon; if a summoner cannot trust his guardian, isn't he useless?'

He cleared his throat before thinking to himself.

'Let me trust Silvari. She will be by my side until I die!'

[As expected of you…]

'Hmm?'

[Choice Accepted!]

The words seemed to have entered Silvari's mind thanks to the System's help as she blushed with purple cheeks before feeling strange throbbing inside her body.

[You have unlocked Anima, a special source of life and magic that allows your Summons to return to their avatar form, scaled down to your level!]

[Your affinity with the Ice element has increased.]

[Silvari gained affection towards you!]

[Unlocked Anima, you can let your spirits return to their original form scaled down to your level.]

'Anima? What's that?' Vincent thought.

Suddenly, a cold wind began to swirl around her body.

He felt like time had stopped as the goblins stopped moving in their private world.

Vincent watched as her cute 30cm body lifted into the air above, growing over 200 centimetres, with countless ice crystals rising from her body, as his eyes locked onto the soft white fur between her hips.

She was no longer an ordinary cute girl next door and became a fascinating blue-skinned Ice goddess!

After the blue light faded, a thin black cloth fluttered down, barely covering her private areas; sometimes, a purple nipple would slip for him to see.

'Fufu~ such a cute master, only you can see me like this.'

She wore a thick blue dress crafted of ice to other people, hiding her entire body.

[Anima is the beginning of mana and life, something the divines used to create  various worlds in the past.]

Silvari floated before him, now a little taller than him; her beautiful blue body swirled, showing him her curvy body, plump ass, and wonderful breasts swayed in his eyes.

After a few moments of looking at her, he started to look at her other parts, the large horn with crystal rose looked elegant and fierce simultaneously.

"My dear summoner, those words have reached my heart. Let this Silvaria work hard to earn the honour of being trusted by you until I die!'

Her body began to spin in circles at rapid speeds as it shot out towards the goblins around 50 metres away; her body danced in the air as blue ice particles and wonderful glistening gems appeared around them.

The goblins noticed the woman, as small tents formed in their pants; however, no matter how much they jumped or swung their clubs, she was ethereal, like a spirit dancing on the horizon.

Her beautiful purple lips opened as she avoided their lustful and enraged attacks as a soft, gentle song reverberated. 

A depressing snowy scene covered the goblins and 40 metres around them.

—In a land before the great fall~

—Dreaming of snow and frost~

—A lone girl sang towards the sun~

—She hoped to see the snow again~

The ground froze in the area surrounding the goblins. They tried to break free but could not as the ice grew.

—The girl prayed and prayed~

—Her body of ice melted~

—O'Sun O'Sun return my snow~

The moment her strange voice ended, something ethereal and solemn. Sang in a language that neither of them could understand.

They both saw the same scene—a girl made of ice, dancing in a blazing desert filled with ruins and dragon bones, hoping to restore the long-lost winter and days of joy with her family.

In despair, she could only pray and sing as aeons passed by.

Crack! The ice curtain vanished, revealing a group of frozen goblins, faces filled with horror and anguish.

"Hehe! Praise me, Vincent~!" Silvari said with a joyful face.

Her powerful spell drained her power while sapping most of Vincent's, as it was too powerful at their current level as she misjudged the power.

Silvari's song ended, and her figure became like a phantom before shrinking back to her fairy form, slumping on Vincent's shoulder, leaning against his neck and falling asleep.

The goblins all cracked a moment after her power vanished, turning into a cloud of beautiful blue dust, their magic stones dropping to the floor.

"Silvari is amazing…her power scaled to my level!"

Silvari killed four Level 1 Goblin Scouts | Gained 12 experience points!

Silvari killed a Level 2 Goblin Scout! | Gained 4 Experience points!

Unlocked Anima Overdrive | Gained 10 Experience points!

-Vincent Schwartz

Summoner | Lv4 Exp: 11/30

Strength 4 | Agility 2 | Stamina 3 | Wisdom 3 | Intellect 4