Last week

I came to see Syvis with the intention of telling her that I would choose her as my mentor for the last week, but I did not expect that I would be welcomed in this way. Syvis seems serious and somewhat nervous. During these few days that we've been seeing each other, at times, she seemed like she wanted to tell me something, but she ultimately stopped. Or maybe she is upset that I didn't come yesterday even though I said I would!? I think it is better that I explain what happened.

"I-I don't know if you found out that I was taken with the healers last night and that's why I couldn't come..."

"I found out this morning. Are you feeling better?" Syvis responded nervously, avoiding my gaze.

"I'm better now! I think it was just a little faint from all the training I've been having. haha... ha..."

And saying that, an awkward silence began.

"Drax, there is something I have to tell you."

"Of course, tell me."

"You see.... well...., ...p-please sit-down and I'll make some tea first."

Syvis seemed to have a hard time telling me what she wanted to say to me. I sat in front of the small square table against the wall waiting for Syvis to bring the tea. I wonder what she wants to tell me. After a few minutes, Syvis gave me my cup and sat across from me. And after taking a gulp of her drink, it seemed that she was finally ready to tell me.

"Darx....," Syvis said, totally blushing. "I need to tell you something about me that is quite embarrassing. After you listen to it, you can decide if you want to continue this or not."

"O-Okay..."

"As you know, people of my race have a need or rather a curse regarding the need for sexual pleasure." Syvis said, blushing.

"I-I know, I read something about it in a book before. I have no problem with that."

"I don't know if you really understand the magnitude of this need. A strong reason why Dark Elves don't leave their territory is to prevent other races from taking advantage of this weakness. And this weakness is especially **** in my condition."

"In your condition? What do you mean? You don't seem any different from a normal person. I didn't think that condition was that relevant."

"I can control my cravings with a potion that I create after researching ancient [Zrephia] documents. I have no problem living a normal life as long as I take that potion from time to time."

My eyes automatically went to the cabinet, where I saw that she had stored several of the same potions when I was cleaning her room.

Now that I think about it, I've seen Syvis drink that potion on several occasions and the first time was after Syvis discovered Gerald and his team member having sex in the library. I guess seeing these kinds of scenes triggers the effects.

"I've been using that potion for a long time and I can take care of myself, so I've never had problems." Syvis once again turned to see me and, with a completely red face, said, "But once things get to that point between us, I don't know how I'm going to react. I-I don't know if I can control myself."

Syvis always seems so mature and sure of herself that it is as if she had the answers to everything. Even so, she gets to have these little moments in which she is more delicate in front of me. It's very cute and makes me like her more. But what she says makes me wonder if I'll really be up to it when that time comes. After all, I have no experience in that kind of thing. I think I'm the only one of those who left the village that is still a virgin... It's not like I haven't had a chance in the past since I had opportunity with Mia and some other girls from the village. Maybe even with Amelia... If I understood correctly, Syvis is worried that once we start, she will not be able to control herself, but on the other hand, I don't know if I will be able to do a good job satisfying her.

Cutting off my thoughts, Syvis speaks, "I just wanted to let you know this, so it doesn't take you by surprise. O-Okay... Now go. Tomorrow will start the last week."

"Ah? Y-yes..."

Syvis walked me to the door. I don't know how to respond to what she told me but what I am sure of is that I want to be with her.

Once outside the door, I turned around and said, "By the way, I decided that you would be my tutor for the last week."

"Of course, there was no other option, or else you would have to deal with my rage."

"HAHAHA!"

We both laugh.

"Well, good night!" Syvis said.

Before I left, I held her hand and pulled her against me.

"Darx, wait..."

Without saying anything, I kiss her. Syvis seemed surprised by my sudden action, but I wanted her to be sure that I was serious about her. After all, she might feel insecure after what she told me. Syvis closed her eyes and responded to my kiss. I stuck my tongue into her mouth as our heads changed positions. After doing it a couple of times, I think I'm better at kissing now.

After we separated, I just said confidently. "See you tomorrow." to which Syvis replied, blushing, "S-Sure..."

The next morning I met my friends in the dining room. Until now, we had not talked about the issue since perhaps we did not want to face the reality that we will take different paths. After all, the mentor we choose will likely be the guild we will join. But now that it is time to choose, there is no other way.

"So who will go first?" Ryul asked.

No one answered anything instantly and after seeing that no one said anything, Ryul was the one who spoke.

"After thinking about it for a long time, I decided to choose Dante as the mentor with whom I will be this week. Because of our classes, I think he is the one from whom I can learn the most."

"For me, it was also a difficult decision." Shalia spoke, "But I decided to choose Kiara since I was impressed by how even though her class is magic, she can defend herself so well in physical combat. As a healer and supporter, I know that I will be the focus of attacks. I know that one of the tasks of the party to which I will belong as a member will be to protect me, but I want to learn to defend myself in case of a situation in which I cannot depend on others."

Ryul and Shalia's decision is understandable, after all, they are looking to train with who they have more option to improve.

"For a reason similar to Ryul's, I also decided to train under Dante's tutelage." Leona said, looking ahead.

I see, Leona and Ryul were still members of the same team.

"What about you, Darx?" Shalia asked.

"I decided to train with Syvis this last week."

My three companions looked at me with a serious countenance.

"Are you sure about that?" Ryul asked.

"I don't think you are compatible with a guild like Oblivion," Shalia added, "You've already heard the rumors. Only suspicious people or people from wealthy families join there."

"I have nothing against Syvis, but are you sure you are making the right decision?" Even Leona asked.

"Yes! I don't plan on joining Oblivion, but as Syvis is a summoner like me, I think I can learn a lot from her."

"Are you sure that's the only reason?" Shalia asked, mad.

"H-Hey, there's no need to fight. What Darx says makes sense, plus he already said he wouldn't join Oblivion." Ryul interrupted.

Shaila, after sending me a threatening look, crossed her arms. Is it my imagination, or has Shalia been acting jealous of Syvis!? In some instances, she makes me think that, but maybe I'm just overthinking.

Once the atmosphere calmed down, and it was time to leave, Ryul spoke.

"Even if we are not on the same team, let's do our best. Cheer up!"

Ryul stretched out his hand to the center and stared at us, hoping that we too, would do the same. Although I know that Ryul doesn't usually feel ashamed of anything, I thought it would be a bit embarrassing since there are still several people in the dining room. Shalia was the first to stretch out her arm with a smiling face and put her palm on Ryul's hand. When I saw that, I thought that I had ****, and I did the same. With the three of us already in this position, we turn to see Leona, with her ears raised, was still undecided. "F-Fine," Leona replied, closing her eyes and stretching her arm with a completely red face. I always find it funny when Leona feels embarrassed for some reason.

Despite the laughter of others, we raised our arms in unison, "Let's go!!"

With that, each of us went to the meeting points with their respective mentors with a high spirit.

Walking to the place where Syvis would be, I could see the other two groups in the distance. Quite a few chose Kiara, unlike Dante where there are only four counting, Ryul and Leona. Now it is clear to me that no matter how good Dante is at the end of the day, the guild's reputation is what attracts the most people.

Arriving at the place, Syvis is waiting under a large tree and just as I expected, a number similar to Kiara's chose Syvis, being mostly noble and troublesome people. Gerald is here but separated from his group. It seems that after what happened, he distanced himself from them. Besides Gerald, I recognized other two familiar faces. Wendy and Miranda. After the trip, I didn't talk with them again, but they seemed friendly. They don't seem like the type of people who would join Oblivion. I wonder why they would have chosen to be in this group.

"Listen up!" Syvis started talking, "At this point, all of you should already know all the basics and in theory, everyone should no longer have problems doing regular quests. What you will learn this week is what comes next and what is expected of adventurers of your rank. High-risk quests that include facing other high-level adventurers who have taken the wrong path or legendary-class monsters. In addition to providing adequate support to S-Rank Adventurers in the unfortunate event of facing a Divine-Beasts. That is unlikely, but still, you must be prepared. And finally, be ready in case of war."

"Hahaha! What does a Dark Elf knows about war if they are the greatest cowards in history." One of the nobles spoke up, interrupting Syvis.

"If you don't want to be here, you still have the chance to change teams." Syvis replied coldly.

"I'm not on this team because of you. Even if you don't invite me to Oblivion, I have a direct pass through my family, so I don't care what you say. I would never lose to a cowardly elf."

That bastard is going too far. But before I could say anything, Syvis took for herself.

"Then let's test if you really wouldn't lose to me. A noble like you wouldn't back down on his word, right!? I don't care what you think, but either you shut up and follow instructions, or you leave." Syvis reply.

"Bitch! They all heard it. She permitted me to attack her so there won't be any repercussions."

The nobleman drew his sword and attacked Syvis, but she defeated him in just a few seconds. Speaking of embarrassing. He talks too much, but he's pretty weak. It doesn't seem like he ever trained. But after all, they are always lounging around and think that they are invincible just because of their rank.

Even not accepting defeat, the nobleman spoke, "That didn't count; I wasn't ready yet."

"Shut up for once!" Gerald spoke up, "You are a disgrace as a noble. Accept your defeat with dignity and stop wasting our time."

"Che... I don't want to hear that from the betrayer's fiance." The noble reply.

"What did you said?" Gerald scream, angry.

"Enough of this or I'm going to kick you all." Syvis said angrily.

After all those interruptions, Syvis finally continued with the explanation, and the rest of the day was difficult but without more mishaps.

I became closer with Wendy and Miranda while we trained. I found out that Wendy has a rare skill called [Null Field]. It's a skill that permanently exudes a zone around her in which all magical value is brought to zero. This means that no matter how powerful the spell, no magic can ever touch her. It is amazing.

For her part, Miranda is [Beast Tamer]. It is the first time I have met someone with that class, leaving out the guild master of Midnight Dawn. They seem to use beasts in their fighting style, and her skills are tied to them.

Once the training was over, Syvis offered me help with my summoner skill and of course, I accepted. She wanted us to go to the temple to try to get me to summon something with my water affinity.

Walking towards the temple above the fountain, I noticed a small blue light that was prowling around.

"What is that?" I asked.

"Mh? What is what?" Syvis reply.

"That light." I said, pointing in the direction where the blue light is.

"I don't see anything."

"Really? Is there." I said while walking to the fountain.

When I got closer, the light started to leave. I wonder if it's some kind of firefly.

"It's a very beautiful blue light." I said.

After saying that, the light stopped and approached me starting to circle around me. Looking more closely and without the sun's reflection in the water, I can see that it is very similar to the lights that were in the temple when I was trying my first summon. I stretched out my hand and the light came into my palm. And just like with the owl, the blue light began to distort, making me close my eyes for a moment, but when I open them again in front of me was a summon. The summon looks like a person because of her human features. It is also definitely a her because she looks feminine. But her entire body is made up of water. Why did it suddenly appear?

"How did you do that?" Syvis asked.

I turned to see Syvis, who was stunned about what happened.

"Me? I didn't do anything."

I thought it was one of Syvis's summons for a moment, but it seems like it isn't. Also, this summon looks different from Syvis's water summon.

"You just made a contract with a spirit outside the temple. That is impossible."

"Wait, what?" I replied in shock.

"Summons are the spirits of creatures that once existed. Some of them form pacts with people with the summoner skill, but several things are required. It is not possible to do it just like that. Let me see your card."

"Ah, yes..."

When I gave my card to Syvis, I noticed that rank 2 was written in front of the summoner's skill. When did that happen?

"Incredible! You had a skill upgrade."

"R-Really!? That's incredible."

"Not only is it unbelievable, but it's also something not seen before. At least not in this way."

"What do you mean?"

"It is very little time for a skill upgrade. It even took me many, many years to upgrade my summoner skill. I can't explain how this happened."

I guess it happened last night while I was asleep training with Ophelia and that's why I hadn't noticed. Since I have the advantage of not losing mana in that place, I was able to practice my summoner skill quite a bit.

"So you can also form pacts outside the temple?" I asked.

"I can't?" Syvis replied, "A skill upgrade would depend on the person. We receive the basic skills from the goddess in the ritual but how they evolve depends on the wearer. Although we both started with the summoner skill, it does not mean that they evolve in the same way. For example, my skill upgrade allows me to combine summons to create stronger summons."

"I see, so my skill upgrade somehow lets me make pacts with spirits outside the temple."

"It seems. But that evolution is something I've never heard happen before. Normally summoners like me have a limit to how many different summonses we can have limited to one for each element we control. But maybe in your case, it will be different."

"You mean I have no limit?"

"I don't know, but it's a possibility. It seems that the temple will no longer be necessary for you to form any more bonds. Even so, I would like to ask the elders if they know something about your new ability."

Isn't that amazing!? Excited, I turned to the summon of water still in the fountain, just watching me. With this, I think I found my way.

After canceling the summon, I realized that I really have one more ability. Although at the moment I cannot use the owl, I can use the lady of water. This will help me a lot. That said, we walked to the temple where the two old men who take care of the place were. When they saw me, they were scared, more likely for what happened last time and even more after Syvis told them what just happened, asking them if they knew anything that could help, but they didn't know either. At night I asked Ophelia, but she couldn't give me an answer either. And with that, the days went by in which I continued training with Syvis in the morning to later meet my old friends Shalia, Ryul, and Leona as usual despite the fact that we were in different teams now. Besides them now Wendy and Miranda have also joined us since I have established a good relationship with them. After that, I train with Ophelia while I sleep, and I finally feel like I'm improving at a fast pace.

Finally, calmer days passed and in the end, we only had two more days left in the castle. Harold announced that there would be a farewell banquet on the last day, which made us all happy. Everything seemed to be going splendidly. I had more friends now, my training is going well, and I feel like I am getting stronger day after day. Furthermore, my relationship with Syvis continues to improve.

But everything would change in the last two days....