6 Emma Carlier

After bidding farewell to her companions, Emma Carlier returned to his room to get changed.

« My armour is ruined once again… », she thought bitterly

The life of a body refinement acolyte was not easy. Often, they would injure themselves in missions they undertook, preventing them from training. Without training, their bodies would not be able to grow much stronger, and thus their progress would be halted. Other acolytes did not face the same problem.

Besides training, body refinement needed to invest considerable amount of money into their gear, especially protective gear, since they were more exposed to injuries as close combat fighters.

Unclothing herself, she could see that her arms were filled with burn injuries

'If my sisters saw me in this state, they would mock me...', she thought with bitterness and relief.

Risking her life on a weekly basis was tough on her body, and the scars were accumulating. Yet, she was relieved to have escaped the toxic environment of her family, where her brothers and sisters fought for the inheritance of their family. Thankfully, she possessed magical talent and could enter the Ivory Tower, where she was independant and grew tremendously. She could tell already that her father, a mere knight, would not last long against her in a duel, even though he was the patriarch.

'I guess I have grown tremendously in the past four years...', she thought

Emma Carlier was not a very strong acolyte in the tower. After all, there were tens of body refinement acolytes with stronger physique and weird trump cards. However, she had found strong allies. Willliam Kaiser could cast destructive spells and rival some of the best beginner rank acolytes in the tower in terms of offensive power. Although he lacked talent and knowledge to become an influential acolyte in the Ivory Tower and contend with the best beginner rank acolytes, his best ability was perhaps his eyes for people.

After all, he had seen the valor and tenacity in her, when she was just a probationary acolyte with no ability whatsoever. He lended her knowledge and magic crystals, basically raising her to the state she was today. She still had a lot to do to become a strong acolyte, but she was uncomparable to her past self. Furthermore, William had recruited a true genius.

Greem Bluehill...

Despite having known the young teenager for four years now, she could not see through him. He spoke little about his background. According to his says, he came from a commoner's family, a family of merchants. However, he possessed outworldly medicinal skills that saved her life dozens of times already and allowed her to fight without worry. Although he always asked compensation for the medicine he used to heal her, he was not too greedy.

However, his surgical skills paled in front of his combat power. The beast he contracted was on par with those used by the magus heirs. To her knowledge, Magus Rutherford had never taken in a disciple, meaning that Greem had contracted the beast by himself.

Although this beast of his had suspicious origins, Greem was beyond trustworthy, and his strength far exceeded the average acolyte. Considering his age, it was frightening. Acolytes could sense spiritual force, and she could see the rate at which he was growing. She knew that contractors of magical beasts were benefitting from fast growth rate, but Greem's growth was abnormally fast. She could tell that he would break through the intermediate rank in a matter of years.

'Maybe he will become the fourth advanced acolytes to appear in the Ivory Tower and become one of its rulers...', she analysed, the image of Black, the war raven, tearing down the flaming boar with its sharp dark claws despite her sword barely making damage to it, still fresh in her mind.

Strengthening her resolve, Emma looked at the flower in her hands.

[Black Lotus]

It was one of the core ingredients to strengthen one's body.

She knew that the gift of William and Greem was not one made out of love.

Resources were precious, and neither William nor Greem were wealthy enough to casually give up on one single magic crystals, not to mention a rare magical ingredient that could be sold for ten of them. They gave it to her because the supply of body strengthening elixirs were low, and she could become much stronger by getting a high-quality one with the [Black Lotus] as its core ingredient.

If she became stronger, then they would be able to challenge the inner area of the plains of death, and their expeditions would become much more fruitful. Rather than a gift, it was an investment because she was their shield.

Later in the day, she decided that she still needed to train to some extent, so she went to the training grounds. A young boy with his chest and abs exposed made her gasp was using a knife to defend against a soldier's flurry of attacks. His blond hair, fair skin, and piercing blue eyes were too rare in the tower to go unnoticed.

"Greem...", she muttered in shock

Although Greem's movements were a bit rough, his foundations were good. Obviously, his tone muscles were far more trained than the majority of soldier trainees, not to mention the poor physique of acolytes in the tower.

Emma thought that even if she was not the most talented in the party, she could be the hardest working acolyte at the very least. She was fine with being a shield, so as long as she had a role. But Greem's presence in the training grounds proved something to her...Greem was not just a genius. He was someone who had talent and worked hard to achieve his current state of strength.