Thirty Minutes

Poor Alvin didn't know it, but he had just got the credit for something he absolutely didn't do. Regardless of what happened, it is common sense that once a Master Familiar Connection is established, the one in control of the body is always the Magus. No one would believe that the one controlling Alvin's body was Linfel instead.

Alvin then heard some steps coming from behind, and they seemed to be trembling quite a lot. It was Connor, who couldn't make sense of what just happened. "A-Alvin... You... How did you do that? A Level Two Magic Beast! You killed a Level Two magic Beast!" Connor almost used his collar earlier, but when he saw Alvin connecting with Linfel and Felia, he held back. He couldn't simply abandon Alvin there. Little did he expect Alvin to actually win.

Alvin bitter smiled. He killed a Level Two Magic Beast? What a joke! He did nothing! If Linfel hadn't taken control of his body, he would have used his collar a long time ago. "Well... Err... I've been receiving quite some training in the Floating Blades Faction, you know? I just thought that I truly had a chance."

*Boom!*

Far away, Miranda struck a decisive blow against the other Rock Breaker after Donfin took its attention away. The Rock Breaker fell to the ground as a huge hole on its bely could be seen. Both Donfin and Miranda tried to escape several times during this battle, but the Rock Breaker simply wasn't letting them go. 

With their Magic Energies reserves dwindling, escaping later would be meaningless, so they could only shift their plans and try to kill it for real. If it didn't work, using the collar to escape would be the only alternative in the end. Fortunately, they were indeed experienced and knew how to fight. That's what you would expect from Classes A and B Maguses and their Familiars.

As soon as the Rock Breaker fell to the ground, Miranda and Donfin used their Magic Energy on their legs. They didn't even want to wait. That Rock Breaker that went for Linfel's group should already be on its way to attack them... or so they thought. Yet, when they gave one last glance behind so see the situation, the only thing they saw was another much bigger ROck Breaker fallen to the ground.

"Impossible!" Donfin's Magic Energy immediately canceled as he exclaimed, not believing what he was seeing.

Miranda, too, was shocked by that vision. "That... Is that an illusion?"

The two approached Linfel's group slowly, afraid that the Rock Breaker might actually be alive. Yet, the pool of purple blood on the ground made it obvious that the Rock Breaker wasn't alive anymore. The two looked at Alvin, Linfel, and Felia on the side. All three of them seemed tired. Lifelia and Linfel's ethereal bodies had disappeared, leaving only their cores with feeble waves of Magic Energy coming out. At least they could still talk.

"Alvin, give me some Magic Stones..." Linfel asked after stabilizing himself.

"Me too!" Felia quickly followed.

Alvin nodded and pulled out a bag from his back. Since he was a low-level Magus, he obviously would run out of Magic Energy more easily than others. That said, he and pretty much all Level One maguses brought some Magic Stones with them. Even Connor had a few with him.

Linfel and Felia quickly absorbed the Magic Energy, which allowed them to reform their ethereal bodies straight away. Alvin, on the other hand, just refilled his Core.

Seeing that, Donfin asked. "How did you kill this Rock Breaker?"

Alvin looked at him. "It was just luck. It opened its mouth, and we just had to attack the insides before it attacked us. We truly didn't expect it to work, though. I was ready to use the collar the moment it failed. Of course, we used all our Magic Energy at once to make sure we at least had a chance."

Connor glanced at Alvin. It was obvious Alvin didn't want to tell Donfin and Miranda about how he connected with two Familiars at once. He understood why and didn't mention it either.

"I see..." Donfin couldn't think of another reason for Linfel's group to have succeeded. "Simply put, it underestimated you because of your level and let its guard down. Nonetheless, it is amazing you were able to grasp such an opportunity. But then again, I can understand why you even tried. We are so far ahead in the exam, so giving up here just didn't seem right."

"Was that why you tried to flee? It looked to me like you tried to use us as a distraction but didn't expect another Rock Breaker to appear ahead." Linfel finally recovered a little of his Magic Energy before he turned to Donfin and Miranda.

Yet, neither Donfin nor Miranda tried to deny it. 

"Yes," Donfin spoke first. "Our Ranks depend on our results in the field exams. This one, specifically, has a huge chance of giving us a great score that could put me at ease for a while or that could send Miranda to Class A. We immediately understood it would be extremely difficult to take that Rock Breaker down, so we used you."

"He is right," Miranda confirmed. "We don't really have any obligations with each other. From the very start, it had been a marriage of convenience. We used our power as Level Two Maguses and Familiars to help keep you safe while you showed us the right path. Or are you saying we should have risked our lives for you?"

Alvin and Connor didn't like what they said. Yet, they know they would definitely have ran away as well.

Linfel began to float again and nodded with a smile, feeling satisfied. "That's the kind of answer I wanted. If you had tried to come up with some bullshit excuse, then we would go our separate ways from here." He saw nothing wrong with what Donfin and Miranda said. After all, he had come from a past where such things were extremely common.

Donfin quickly sat on the ground and took a few Magic Stones out as well. "Seems like your group isn't made of a bunch of naive kids. That's very good in the Magus World. Now, let's recover our Magic Energy. Thirty Minutes should be enough."