Floating stone 

Julian left Asta and Noelle to their own accord and went to the headquarters to take on a new mission. There was still a week to the ceremony so Julian had some time to get one mission done. Julian was 1st class intermediate rank magic knight so he had access to more important missions.

He had Secre on his shoulder as he brought her everywhere he went. Kirin was still working on the magic stone which should be done by the end of the week.

After going through the mission list, he selected a suitable one.

" Are you sure you want to take this mission? " said the person who registered the mission

" Yes, is something wrong with the mission, " asked Julian.

"No no, it's nothing "

He found the act a bit suspicious so he used Sharingan to put that guy under his control.

"Speak, what is wrong with this mission," Julian asked again.

"I don't know what is wrong with this mission but a lot of people had taken the mission but returned without completing it. "the man said.

Strange.

Well, whatever not like Julian was going to be having a problem anyways.

The mission he took was to help a researcher living in the common realm to create something. Normally this mission would be done by junior magic knights but due to the scientist having a good reputation the requirements were shifted to the intermediate magic knight.

Julian packed some food from a restaurant and started flying toward the house of the researcher.

The time was not specified so Julian took his time and talked to Secre about various things on the way.

Julian made a camp in the forest and slept there after scaring off mana beasts with mana pressure and setting up traps. As Secret was close to his body she was not subjected to mana pressure.

There was no need for carrying a tent as he could create one using mana.

The next morning Julian continued his journey toward the designated area. But when he reached the area, the house he was supposed to knock on was not there but in place of it was a crater.

' I am sure this was the correct address, maybe he shifted her house somewhere, ' thought Julian.

Julian sent mana into the ground to sense if it was there but he didn't sense anything.

"help me !!! " a faint voice reached Julian's ears.

'Tap'

A piece of rock fell near the feet of Julian which made him look above. The scene he saw above made his mouth open wide.

A glowing piece of land was falling towards him from which someone was screaming for help and from the sound of it was a woman.

' Oi Oi seriously ' thought Julian as he thought about what to do. He could let the piece of the land crash and save the woman before it but it seems that the lab of the researcher was on the piece of land was to save the thing from falling.

" Well no choice "

Julian released a large amount of mana into the surroundings and created a bird to bring down the researcher from the falling land. He had learned to share his vision with one of these flame creatures so it was easy.

With enough mana in place, Julian placed his hand on the ground and cast a spell. The ground cracked and numerous large hands emerged from the ground which held the piece of land and decrease its speed finally stopping it and placing it in the crater where it fit perfectly.

" Huff Huff I thought it was the end for my lab, " said the researcher.

That researcher was a beautiful middle-aged woman with brown messy hair which looked like she didn't comb for a while. There were dark circles under her eyes with various bandages wrapped around her arms and legs. She wore a white coat that had patches of different colors which seems to result in some chemicals falling on it. Even with all of these, her beauty could not be hidden.

" My name is Reina. Thank….you. for saving my lab " said the woman still taking a deep breath. The way she was huffing with her tongue out looked like she was tired from something else.

'You almost died and the thing you are worried about is your lab !! ' cursed Julian in his mind. He handed her a bottle of water which she emptied in one go.

" What were you even doing so high up in the sky, " asked Julian

Reina answered that the help he asked for didn't arrive on time so she began her experiment on a new subject which made her house launch up to the sky but midway the experiment failed and the house started falling.

"What do you mean didn't arrive on time, you never mentioned the time in the mission details "

"Oo I must have forgotten. Te -heh " answered Reina trying to make a cute posture which made Julian cringe very hard.

Julian wanted to say 'Don't te-heh me, it feels odd for a woman like your age to do that ' but decided against it.

" So what was the experiment ? " asked Julian

Hearing this her eyes shined " You want to know ? I don't mind telling when a handsome boy is asking so nicely " she made a gesture with a finger on her lips.

' This woman is seriously getting on my nerves '

Secre seeing that peeked on his cheek with her beak, ' oi what are you getting angry at, don't tell me you think this woman is serious '.

But going by her emotions she was serious.

"It may be tempting but I am not interested. Please tell me about the experiment " said Julian

"Un? Well, it's your loss. Come inside we'll talk there " said Reina