C49: Skills With Women

As I walked toward the girl, I didn't feel anything special. There was no doubt she was pretty. She had golden blonde hair and a sweet look about her.

The boys were smiling from ear to ear, likely expecting me to get rejected.

Well, that was still possible. But I just had a near-death experience two days ago and fought a demon that could throw lightning around.

Compared to that, what was some rejection from a girl I will likely never meet again?

As I got close, the woman gave me a side glance and paid no more attention.

My teammates snickered even louder. I didn't blame them. When I was their age, I looked at girls like mythological creatures—the kind you must try hard to understand.

But as I grew older, I understood that girls were human too. I leaned against the bar. "My friends just bet me ten silver. I will give you half if you just walk with me."

When she heard that, the woman turned toward me, her eyes were like deep blue diamonds. She chuckled and used her hand to cover her smile. "Sure."

We got up, and she went one step ahead and interlocked her arm with mine as we walked out.

I couldn't help but glance at my friend's faces. They were staring at me with wide eyes. Of course, I was extremely humble and didn't make any weird faces or send mocking looks their way.

Who am I kidding? Of course, I did all that until we walked out. Their tears of jealousy empowered me even more!

Once outside, we went to the side of the building and away from the rowdy noise of the pub.

"Hahaha!" Suddenly the woman laughed, startling me a bit.

Maybe noticing my mood, she stopped laughing and only smiled. "Sorry, sorry. But this was the most fun I've had in a while."

The woman took out a pack of cigarettes and blew a cloud of smoke toward the sky. She tried to create rings of smoke but failed terribly. "Want one?"

"No, I don't smoke," I shook my head. "But if you don't mind. I will stay here with you for a couple of dozen minutes. That way, my friends can have their imaginations go a bit wild."

She chuckled. "What's your name?"

"Eman Eil," I answered with the fake name I had thought up.

"My name is Satella. Nice to meet you," she offered me her hand, and I shook it.

..

We continued talking a bit, nothing major, just about our lives. I mostly lied. There was no need for Stella to know I was an Exorcist. As the twenty-minute mark approached, I suddenly got an idea and asked. "Do you have a perfume bottle I could borrow? If you do, can I use it? I just wanna see my friend's minds go wild."

She stared at me for a couple of seconds. I left the option that she could lie and tell me no. "Sure, though I don't think any of your friends know how I smell."

"One of them has a good nose," either Agon or Bets was bound to notice.

"You're just so devious," she leaned back toward me.

She was probably trying to play a joke on me, just like I did with my friends. It might have worked if I was younger.

I took out the five silver coins and handed them to her. "Thanks for playing along."

When I returned to the pub, my friends stared at the table like zombies and said nothing.

"W -What did you do with her?" Gem asked. But his face and tone of voice said he didn't want to know the answer.

I smirked so wide that my face almost hurt. "A better question would be: What didn't I do with her?"

"You bastard! Tell me you're lying!" He grabbed me by the shirt and shook me around. Tears of jealousy flowed down his face like rivers.

"Oh, he has the same smell as her," Agon pointed out.

Gem flopped on his chair and looked at the table with soulless eyes. If this were a manga, his spirit would be flying away to heaven.

I clasped my hands and offered a prayer. "He died as he lived, a virgin. Never even touched a woman."

That insult brought him right back to life, with rage written all over his face.

During this whole time, Carpy just stared at our shenanigans. He was eating some of the meat I had chopped for him. Some high class eel demon meat.

…

Four days passed as we took the long route and rode our horses for only three hours a day at most. The trip was long but fun. It was what the team needed after such a fight.

Also, for whatever reason, the headmaster sent Agon with me to keep him away from the Academy. Why? I had no idea. But I'm sure the headmaster had everything figured out.

We were all in the front seat of the carriage, with Bets handling the reins. I had Carpy on my lap. He was still eating some high class demon meat.

We were quiet as we saw the field where the academy lay under. As we got closer, Agon got a wide smile.

During our journey, all of us grew closer as friends. Agon even saved my life. We were comrades in arms.

In the original story, Agon learned a way to grow stronger. But that would be after quite a bit of difficulty on his way.

He would break, cry, and burn before he would finally shine. That was what was called character development. But this wasn't just a Manga any longer.

Was this how I should repay someone who saved my life? By hiding things behind a smile while he suffered throughout the way.

But the plot…

You know what? Screw the plot! Since I already existed in this world, there was no need to try and keep things going how they would have. "Agon, have you ever heard of Hybrid Affinities?"

"What's that?" He leaned back and yawned.

I almost punched him and told him to listen. But the poor bastard doesn't know this will be his lifeline in the future. Because soon, he will hit another wall in his growth. "Hybrid Affinities are when someone has two, or in extremely rare cases, even three affinities above 30%. Meaning he can use multiple affinities."

Bets and Gem looked at me. This advice would probably benefit Gem too.

"Well, there are too many examples to give. So I will just give you the Blaster and Beast Master combination. Well, I will call Beast Master just Master for short, during the explanation." I sighed and got ready for some truth bombs.

The explanation from here on out would change everything. Because in the original story, Agon wouldn't learn this until after the Expert Exam Arc.

But now that no longer mattered so much. After all, I had already eliminated an Arc. "To be able to use the Hybrid affinity of Blaster and Master. You need at or above 30% Master and at or above 50% Blaster."

After making sure he was still listening, I continued. "That way, both a Blaster's ability to control their Ord outside the body and a Master's ability to control Ord to the extreme and control things. Those qualities mix and create an ability to control things, more correctly, a kind of elemental control."

Of course, I left out some gritty details. Because saying that one needed harsh training to achieve this would be an understatement. After all, exorcists couldn't make this type of elemental control through conditions. At best, they would just make an ability that could shoot fireballs, or something along those lines.

It required one to be obsessed with that element and slowly turn your life force to match it. Also, there was compatibility with the component. "Reaching the peak of hybrid between Blaster and Master, one would be able to produce said element out of their own Ord."

Even within the first stage, this mastery over Ord was inhuman. There existed only a handful of such people who could do this.

"Wait, doesn't imbuing Ord on the element and controlling it sounds like Gem's ability?" Bets caught on quickly. He was always a sharp guy.

"Yes. The Kuro Clan was rumored to be the first to discover this Hybrid Affinity. They've been creating shadow abilities for so long that they can create it easier than others." After all, the Kuro Clan was born with a dark life energy. Controlling shadows came to them easier than eating. They're the exception to the rule in this case.

Suppose it wasn't for the shadow's weakness to light. The Kuro Clan would have taken over the world long ago. Compared to the average exorcist, they started about ten steps ahead.

In RPG terms, they got the skill at the end of the skill tree while still at level 1.

"Do I also have a Beast Master affinity of 30%?"

"Even if you don't, the Kuro Clan has more wiggle room since they're bred into a shadow ability. So you don't need to have exact percentages." I tried reassuring him.

"Yeah, but my ability's weakness is quite big. I couldn't even stop the eel demon's lightning as my shadows dissipated when they came in contact." Gem looked at the sky with a reluctant gaze.

"As long as you can learn to create shadow from your own Ord. Then the weakness of light will disappear from those shadows. In exchange for that weakness to disappear, the Ord consumption increases tremendously." Of course, the Kuro Clan had already created somewhat of a countermeasure. But that was the kind of information that if said out loud and anyone knew, the Kuro Clan would do everything in their power to kill me.

"Really? Hell yeah!" Gem jumped with joy.

Information about special abilities was more precious than gold. Some secrets are better left buried. "Well, Agon, I think you should see if maybe you have another similar affinity. You might not be able to have affinities above 30% since we know from the test. But there might be another at that level."

There were three, all at 30%. What seemed first like a curse will always be a blessing for Agon.

***

Headmaster Meleo leaned back on his recliner chair. He stared at the red-haired, red-eyed, and red-shirted man in his office. Everything else about the man except his black shoes and white pants was red.

The man was tall and in excellent shape. Showing he wasn't a stranger to a scuffle.

'Way too much red. He doesn't have a sense of fashion at all.'

"Where is the weapon?" Asked the man. "I've been waiting for six days."

His real identity was Emer, one of the 22 Special Exorcists. Ranked 19th strongest Exorcist. Epithet: The Sun Exorcist.

"Weapon? What're you talking about?" Meleo knew exactly what the brat was talking about.

Thankfully, Agon had been away for over a week. No one in the academy knew their mission's location except for the headmaster himself, of course.

"I'm talking about Agon. The vessel of Yamata No Orochi, and the weapon that will allow humans to exterminate Ultimate Class Demons!" Emer's hand twitched as if he was used to clenching it into a fist. But he didn't want to show anger.

Meleo noticed his 'guest' was not as calm as he looked. 'What a troublesome situation this is.'

Emer sat down, taking breaths that were a little too even. "Also, the higher-ups have gotten even more nervous. We know you have been having communications with the Dark Sword Clan."