9 The print part 1

Mika suspected that Alanis would say something like that so he said to him, hoping that this opportunity now that it had come to him would not slip through his fingers, "My word won't be enough to convince you obviously so what exactly do you want from me."

Alanis looked at him approvingly and he then said, "Smart and right to the point, I like that... Here's what I'm going to do, I'm going to put a print on your body, this print will make you stronger, it will help you heal faster and most importantly it will make sure you don't give up half way because I'll be able to kill you with it.

I will of course take care of all your expenses and not only those related to your activities as a Guardian, I will also take care of your everyday life expenses so take advantage of it and don't worry about the money.

In exchange I just want you to promise me that you will keep fighting and that you will become a level 12 Guardian as soon as possible."

As a proof of his good faith, Alanis connected to his dimension and a medium sized magic crystal appeared immediately in his hand, he handed it to Mika who took it a little surprised that this crystal suddenly appeared in his hand, and then he said to him, "That's how I'm going to pay you, check its value, I'm sure you'll be fine with it, and I have thousands like this one, so you'll see yourself that you really don't have to worry about money."

And Mika who was too curious to hold back, positioned the magic crystal over his bracelet and when it was sucked in, he went to the Guardians' market again but this time it was to sell, and after selecting the magic crystal of grade 3 that was in his inventory, his eyes widened in surprise.

[Magic crystal, grade 3, its value is 20,000 gold coins, would you like to sell it? Yes / No]

Mika immediately agreed, if Alanis really had thousands like this then indeed he wouldn't worry about money anymore, he could even use money to directly buy experience points if needed, it was so damn cool.

He saw that Alanis was waiting patiently for his answer so he said more determined than ever, "I accept! You can put your print on my body."

Mika wasn't afraid, Alanis really didn't seem to want to hurt him, and as long as he fulfilled his part of their deal he had nothing to fear from him, on the contrary, as he had already assumed, Alanis would make him stronger and allow him to heal faster, and if something went wrong in a dungeon he was sure that he would protect him.

Alanis, as for him, was really surprised, he had clearly just told him that with this print he could kill him at any moment, but Mika hadn't shown any hesitation and he had accepted with obvious excitement.

And now that Mika had accepted to help him, and as it was the man that the dimension had chosen for him, he only had to put a temporary print on him.

Alanis found him rather intriguing, earlier he had heard his heart pounding when he had approached him, and he had wondered if it was of fear or if he found him to his liking, after all Alanis was aware of his own beauty.

All phoenixes were breathtakingly beautiful creatures and even among his own kind he had been very popular, so it was no surprise that Mika reacted the way he did, as it was rather obvious that this boy wasn't afraid at all.

Still to check if he was right he decided to get closer to him than what was necessary, until their noses almost touched, and he smiled when he heard Mika's heartbeat quicken again.

Curiously Mika said to him in a detached tone, "You really have to be that close to put your print on me."

If Alanis wasn't able to hear his heartbeat he would not suspect anything, Mika hid his game well, his beautiful blue eyes didn't let anything appear about his true feeling.

He then decided to tease him a little bit more and he said to him, "No, this is just for my personal pleasure... I warn you, it will be painful."

And just when he finished his sentence, he slipped one of his hands under his sweater and t-shirt and he put it directly on Mika's abs, more precisely just above his navel so that his print can spread throughout his body as quickly as possible.

But then he felt something unusual, something that blocked him, and when he looked into Mika's eyes surprised by this human, he had visions of his past lives.

He saw Mika in different bodies, in different worlds, but one thing never changed and that was that he had always been a warrior. Through the visions he realized that Mika had been a great leader in all his past lives and that could only mean one thing... Mika's soul was a Wandering Soul.

He had heard of it of course, but Wandering Souls were considered a legend, a story about heroes that was told to children before bedtime.

Alanis then slowly moved his hand up almost unconsciously to Mika's heart and as the visions were over, he finally decided to change his temporary print into a permanent one.

Having a Wandering Soul by his side would be an asset he could never have dreamt of and he had no intention of letting this chance go, but to do a permanent print on him, he was going to have to trick Mika, because a permanent print will link their energy together and it was a kind of wedding ceremony for Phoenixes, after that he wouldn't be able to remove it and him and Mika would be linked forever together.

He knew it was unfair to Mika but they would have plenty of time to get to know each other later and he would especially have time to convince him to go with him to Nihava, so he said to him, "Mika, for the print to work, you have to give me your consent, otherwise it won't work."