Genometrics Concert Hall ~Mrgrgr!!!~

We find ourselves in the first floor again and I take off my respirator. Without the respirator inhibiting my breathing, even the stale air of this old building feels fresh. I turn to the young girl who is looking at me while sitting on an old chair. I wonder what she is doing here? Is she this building's hologram? Some buildings back in Vetus have some that assist people with any questions they might have.

"I don't get many visitors. What brings you to this place?"

"I came here to see if there was anything interesting to see here. Sorry for the intrusion"

"Oh, no I don't mind. It's nice to have someone to talk to."

"I see. What were you designed for?"

"Designed? What do you mean?"

"You're a hologram right? What was your purpose in this building?"

"Me? I'm not a hologram. I'm a ghost." She says with a smile.

"...A ghost?"

"A ghost"

"...I see." I should probably be scared, but she doesn't look very frightening. White hair and red eyes are unusual features, but not scary. "And you say you can't remember your name?"

"No. I don't remember anything from when I was alive. I imagine I died here, though. One day I just remember waking up with the knowledge that I was a ghost."

"I see...how long ago was that?"

"Well, since I've never left this building and there aren't really any calendars to speak of in here, so I'm not sure but if I'd have to guess I'd say it's been at least 4-5 decades."

"4-5 decades? Must get boring."

"It is, but most of the time I just sleep. I wake up a few times a year or when someone comes into the building."

"I see."

"I see you see"

"What?"

"I said I see you see" She smiles.

"Is that so?"

"It is so."

"..."

"Haha, sorry. It's just that, like I said, I don't get a lot of visitors."

"If you're a ghost, you're an odd ghost" She must have died in that explosion back there. If she's been living here for as long as she says, then she probably figured that out at the very least.

"Can you leave this place or are you bound to it?" I ask.

"I'm not exactly bound here, but I can't really escape without help. That's why I decided to talk to you."

"You think I can help? How? If I can I'll try"

"Well, you see, I'm held here because this building is basically my tomb and even though I don't have any memories about this place, I'm held here by strong feelings from my past life. Despite that, I want to go out and see the world."

"Ok, so how can I help with that?"

"Well, I was wondering if...you could take me with you."

"Come again?"

" I know we don't know each other, but I want to leave this place. You wont even know I'm with you."

"You want to haunt me? I've heard of haunted houses and even haunted cars, but never haunted people"

"Please! I can be useful. I can tell by your rifle that you are a man of action. I could help you. I can turn invisible and go through walls. I could tell you where the bad guys are hiding"

"I don't know..."

"I don't even need food or a bed to sleep! I just want to get away from this drab place."

"When I came here I came expecting to find something interesting, maybe even a treasure. Not a ghost that would haunt me"

"Please?"

"..."

"Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseple-"

"Ugh, alright already! I'll take you, but you better not make me regret this."

"Don't worry, I wont!"

"Ok, now you said that you are held here by strong feelings. How can I take you away from here if that's the case?"

"Well, that's where your physical body comes in."

This better not be going where I think it's going

「Ostia seems bustling as ever. Then again, I have only left for half a month, it would rather be surprising if something had in such a short amount of time. The only thing that's new is the number of posters and screens showing off the announcement for the tournament. The me from before would want to participate in the tournament, but the me now feels like it would just be a waste of time.」

「Now, what should I do? I've come here without a plan at all. I should just keep walking until I find something to do.」

「I've been walking around for about 10 minutes now. Everyone seems to be excited about the tournament because of this certain Nagi taking the spotlight... Certainly, it must just be someone who just took the Thousand Master's name. That guy shouldn't even have an ounce of interest in this kind of event at his level. As I was walking, lost in thoughts, someone bumped into me.」

"Ah!"

「It was a woman with long blue hair and classy dress. She pats her head and looks at me with a shocked expression... It has been 3 long years since I've seen this face... She hasn't changed one bit, but for her, I've been gone for only 2 weeks...」

"Des...fel? Is that you? Is that really you?"

「Asked the girl with a confused and surprised tone. It was Yula.」

"...Yula... Hey."
"What are those clothings? You've already come back so quickly? Your trainings didn't yield anything? No... You... Feel like a completely different person..."
"...I see that you've been well, going around buying groceries?"
"Don't shrug off my questions like that!"
"Why are you getting flustered for?"
"...I feel like I'm talking to a different person... It feels weird..."
"Ah... Let's find a place to sit and talk it out, it's quite a long story..."

「I helped Yula gather her stuff and helped her stand up. We went to a cafe and ordered coffee. We sat at one of the tables outside. I explained to her everything that I went through, but I omitted the part where I learned Magia Erebea. She didn't really seem to get it aside the fact that I went through one hell of a training.」

"...I am surprised you're still alive..."
"...I won't die that easily you know."
"You call that easy?"
"..."

「We talked some more. I explained about my training some more and Yula briefed me about what happened during my absence. It seems that my companions came by Ostia and didn't ask too many questions about why I told them to disband. Instead, they chose to keep going on without me. I'm glad. After a few more hours of chit-chat, we decided to leave the cafe.」

"So what are you going to do now?"
"I don't know..."
"Hmmm...Why don't visit Stella, she would be happy to see you!"
"...Sounds like a plan. Alright, I'll go see her. Say hi to Lila for me."
"...It still feels weird talking to you when you reply with a serious tone. It also feels like you're distant..."
"...See ya later Yula."
"Ok..."

「Distant... It's understandable, even though it has been 2 weeks for her, it has been 3 years for me. My mind was set to only think about mastering Magia Erebea and nothing else at all. I've cut myself off from everything, I just kept focusing on moving forward. I left Yula, with an indifferent feeling to her words.」

"Frreie," I mutter. My body slowly returns to its original flesh form. I sit down on the chair, feeling tired. Damn... this is not going the way I want it to at all. I've perfected Burning Sky and Thousand Thunderbolts. They are my strongest offensive spells at the moment. Since Magia Erebea is the power to absorb the spells into myself, I figured I could obtain an elemental body like the manga I read in my home world. Of course I tried that with whatever spells I know haha. With Sagitta Magica it went very well for all elements. The result was so far from being elemental though. It felt more like a boost in movement with differing effects based on the element of the arrows. When I tried it with bigger spells, the result became more and more elemental. So naturally I'd expect a fully elemental body when I try to absorb either one of those...

Alas, life isn't so easy. When I try it with Burning Sky, I got the flame body I wanted. But it is so unstable and if I lapse even for a bit, it burns up too violently and depletes my mana like crazy. It is especially hard when I want to move because in that body, any motion is basically heat transfer. I would need to maintain the stabililty of the body while also allowing it enough freedom to move about. From the way it went I just know that mana control isn't the right way to do this. The energy I spent on maintaining the stability was too much. This transformation mode is imperfect in some ways. Gotta research...

As for Thousand Thunderbolts... oh damn, that has a whole slew of problems of its own. There was no stability problem, but damn it, it's very hard to move. The electric field helps a lot with holding the body together, but well, it doesn't seem to be very mobile... overall, both modes grant me intangibility and some elemental effects but they're definitely unusable in real battles yet. I need to train more and maybe gain some pointers.

Ostia library, here I come. I hope you have the hint I'm looking for.


***

As I fly towards Ostia, suddenly I stumble upon a group of four. "You guys are..." I say, stopping in front of them. "I know I've seen you somewhere..."

"Who the hell are you? We're busy here, scram or you're gonna get hurt," the bald guy says with an intimidating face. Hmm... I wonder if they're strong.

"Ah, I remember! You're the group that was totally curbstomped by the white boy right? Ahaha... that was funny! But hey, he merged with Jovis Tempestas Fulguriens, so of course you won't be able to floor him without some real speed."

The demon guy stares at me. "Perhaps you need to taste the powers of us pros... don't talk about things you don't know, man."

Aw, I'm in a pickle now. But hmm... they do have the pro feel, and when will I ever get a better chance to gauge myself compared to the residents of this world? I better take this chance while I still can. "Hah, you sure talk lots for the group that couldn't even handle a single boy. Who's the bragger here?"

"You better not regret this...!" the bald guy fires Sagitta Magica at me. Heh, exactly what I want. The battle's on, guys!


***


"Haa... haa... damn it, you're stronger than the boy..." the bald guy is panting on the ground. The others are doing the same.

"Heh, told ya. So what's your name?"

"Canis Niger. I'm the leader of this bounty group."

"Okay cool. Now help me with some stuff," I smirk at him, wrapping my fist with flames.

"Damn, that's threatening. What do you want?"

"Just some info. First, how strong are you guys compared to other residents of this world? Say, are you much stronger than magic school graduate?"

"We're bounty hunters, so of course we're much stronger," the demon says. "I'd say we're on the rank of those gladiators."

"Oh cool. So do you guys know someone very knowledgeable in magic? I need to perfect some moves, you see..."

"Hmm... does it involve the transformation you used earlier? If I recall correctly that's a forbidden magic, so I don't think there would be much info on it."

"Aww sucks. Damn..." I grumble.

"Speaking of which, the gladiator Nagi seems to be using something similar to you," Canis says.

"Nagi? You guys know him? Lemme see him!"

"No, we don't know him personally. But he's competing in the tournament so you might be interested to watch him."

Canis adds, "If all goes well he will be battling the war hero Jack Rakan. That should be a very great battle."

"Oh neat, and he uses Erebea too right? Awesome, gimme info on how I can watch it!"

"I was the runner-up last year so I can provide you free entrance, premium seat."

"Aw man thanks lots!"

Another Erebea user huh... this can't be going any better. I'll be sure to watch you closely, Nagi. I hope I'll get the hint I need from seeing you use Erebea in a real battle.

Well, at least it didn't turn out the way I thought it would. I thought she wanted to possess me. If that had been her plan, I would have just left her here.

"All you have to do is carry a few small rocks from the walls of the building and carry them with you in a bag or something. It will be like a mobile grave."

"How do you know this will work?"

"Once a crow came in here and picked up a pebble. It carried it outside for about two feet and then dropped it. The whole time I lived here, I was confined to the perimeter of the building, but when that crow came and took a pebble outside, I noticed that I could travel as far as that pebble was, and a bit further, but that's as far as I could go."

"So you think that if I carry a few rocks then you will be able to go wherever they go?"

"Mm, hmm" She nods.

"Alright, I guess we could try it." I pick up a few rocks from one of the damaged walls and I walk slowly away from the building, with the ghost following me. The further we get, the happier she gets.

"Yay! It's working! It's working! This is the farthest I've ever been!"

I stop.

"Ok, now let's test your range. Go ahead of me and see how far you can go." She nods and glides slowly away from me. She get's as far as about 5 feet before she has to return to me.

"Really? Only 5 feet from where I am? So much for your job as a reconnaissance ghost."

"Oh, please don't leave me! I'm sure I can still be of some use! Just please don't leave me" She's beginning to tear up.

"Calm down, calm down. You can still come with me. Maybe we can find a way to increase your range later."

" Oh, thank you thank you." She tries to hug me, but goes right through me. That seems to sadden her. I change the subject.

"So if you don't remember your name, what can I call you?"

"How about you give me a name? I'm sure I'll be happy with whatever you give me"

Giving names was never my strong point...

"I'll call you Ghost."

"Ghost? That's too plain!"

"I thought you said you would be happy with anything I gave you"

"Well, yes, but ghost is to plain!" She pouts.

"That's how I've always named stuff. My dog was called Dog, my cat was called Cat, and so on and so on."

"So you consider me an animal?!"

"No! I mean, ugh...What would you like me to name you?"

"I don't know, something cute!"

"Cute?"

"Yup. Cute"

"Specter."

"That's just another name for a ghost, and it sounds like a boy name."

Sigh.

"Luna? Your hair is white like the moon, so how about Luna"

"Mmmm" She puts her finger to her lips while she thinks.

"I like it!" She says.

"Good to know."

"And what's your name?"

"My name is Straha"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Straha" She says with a smile. I guess she's kinda cute now that I look at her. For a ghost, anyway.

"The pleasure is all mine. Now let's go back to my ship. It's starting to get kinda late and I don't want to spend the night outside."

"You have a ship? Ok! That means that we'll be able to travel more quickly. Let's go!"

"Yeah, yeah" I say without much enthusiasm. I wonder if I'm making a mistake by bringing her along with me? Time will tell I guess.