Alert: are you sure you want to activate item - “Life diviner”

We settled down in the room, I was sitting opposite her. She had made two cups of coffee.

"I want to know why you took a hit from basically a B-ranked monster and stood up like it was nothing." She is staring at me intently, her eyes trying to read me. I don't really want to explain it. I'm going to check my items and the reward I got. The windows formed in front of me. I put all my skills into strength and speed. In my inventory there was a set of armour and a sword that was the loot I got from the knight. The gear was amazing, it gave me a ten point boost to my speed and a twenty five point boost to my defence. If this is the kind of loot I get from a gate like that what would I get from a B-rank gate? And what does it say about what's coming that I need this much gear. I closed the window, and looked back up and met her steely gaze.

"Ok just now what the hell were you poking at and swiping at what can I not see? Are you just crazy? Is this all some kind of insanely intricate prank? Are you really a demon?"

"you're a human right?"

"Yes obviously."

"Heh, you'd think, but to me there is very little distinction between the monsters we fight in those gates and the people out here."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, never mind. Speaking of the gates. Why do we clear them? What's the threat?"

"You mean you don't know? You really are stupid. But fine I'll tell you even though it's common knowledge. One day eighty years ago people started being able to suddenly use magic. It was raw and pure but also wild and unrefined. However, unlike now, gates weren't easy, they started with S ranks dotting the world. And something you might not know is if you enter agate and die the monsters can leave. So when rookies who had just gotten magic entered and understandably died the monsters left their gates. S-rank and A-rank monsters were released. Villages and entire countries were decimated, the ruin was unimaginable and the human race was almost exterminated. so you see we need to clear gates to get magical materials and weapons to use against the monsters""

"But what changed? how come now we get E and C-ranked gates?"

"Well, fifty years ago one man single handedly killed every S rank monster clearing the entire world of danger, that man was the first and only SSS ranked adventurer. But sadly afterwards he then sacrificed his life setting up bubbles, pouring every ounce of his mana into them. That did two things: the first was to stop gates from spawning inside them, this was paramount to protecting ordinary people. and second was stealing mana from the surroundings to power the bubbles, this is why around towns and villages D and C gates spawn because there isn't enough mana to spawn an S-rank gate. But in extreme cases where the bubbles cover cities, there can be cracks letting gates spawn inside. The most recent example is the capital's bubble broke and a huge demon army invaded, killing anyone who was less than S-rank. At least 1000 people died but the damage and death is unimaginable, but the greatest SS-rank mage cleared out the entire town defeating over two hundred demon knights. They say that he's going to be the next SSS- rank and defend everyone, but that's not true, since I'm going to become the best summoner and become the next SSS rank. So then it won't ever happen to anyone again."

"What won't happen?"

"Hahah don't mind me, I'm just rambling. Anyway once we get strong enough we're going to head for the capital and then we can make some serious money and become crazy strong since the capital needs constant protection now. However they say SS ranks are currently fighting for dominion of the city and it's like a warzone with everyone wanting to become the next king now that the old monarchy is over. It's a pretty scary place."

"You said people had magic, how does magic work here?"

"You gave me a grimoire and you're saying you don't know how magic works?"

"Uh yeah, I've seen tons of different ways from just learning to having a set number of spells or miracles."

"Just how many weirdo worlds have you been to?!? Anyway the way it works here is the world is infused with magic that flows through the gates and mages spend years learning to manipulate it and write it down into grimoires so they can be passed down and modified through generations. There are four different types of magic: support which is the weakest, summoning which is what I practise, battle which is using offensive magic and finally the strongest magic necromancy."

"Necromancy? I've never heard of that being the strongest before."

"What? That's insane. It's always been the strongest, an army of undead monsters that grows every time they kill something. How could there be anything better?" she was so intense, her eyes glowed with burning passion.

"If you love necromancy so much, why would you want to study summoning?"

"Um well that's um, you see dead things really creep me out, to spend my entire life surrounded by corpses….. Egh, Instead I want to stand upon the back of a dragon whilst thousands of soldiers who have submitted to my command fight for me, that's how I want to be the best. But um well that didn't really work out the way I expected when I summoned you." Her ambition is scary, but the way she talks about magic and becoming an adventurer it's almost….. Cool.

"But anyway we should get some sleep. I intend to go out tomorrow night, that is if you really are ok."

"Sure."

I lay in the dark sprawled on the carpeted floor, a thin sheet covering my body.

'Alert: are you sure you want to activate item - "Life diviner" '

The window glowed in front of my eyes. I extended my two fingers and clicked the yes button and everything went black.