Chapter 253: Catch Up

"Millie?!!" exclaimed both Jayna and Blue Phoenix at the same time.

"Huh??" as everyone was surprised at their sentence.

Then, Blue Phoenix and Jayna take off their helmets simultaneously. In the meantime, in the audience seat, Angus feels a familiar mana signature near Jayna through his detection.

"This mana... Anna, let's go meet Jayna." said Angus.

"Okay." replied Anna shortly while keeping playing with bubbles.

Before long, Angus and Anna arrive at Jayna's location. Currently, Jayna is chatting with two girls. One is Millie Golberg, and the other is Mia Nostrand. 

They are Angus and Jayna's friends that go into this Endless Battlefield dimension before being separated by the seventh-grade beast attack. Looking at Millie and Mia's healthy condition, Angus is glad that both of them are fine.

Among their party, Angus's most worries are these two girls. Based on fighting capability, both of them are the lowest among the others. However, Angus could feel that they have already reached grade two, which shows that their potential is not lost to him and Jayna.

Having a grade two at the age of 15 is already hailed as a prodigy or genius back in the Heart Kingdom. According to the Heart kingdom rules, anyone who reached grade three before 25 could get an honorary noble title.

However, the only people who managed to get this title could only be counted by the finger up to this date. The primary reason is that most people usually couldn't pass the bottleneck of grade two or spend too much time on it.

For ordinary people, breaking through grade two is more challenging than breaking through grade three. This is because grade two is the first bottleneck for everyone to upgrade their mana core. As for breaking through grade three, it is easier and just a matter of time.

According to the expert, grade three is where mana cores become fully matured. Because of this, most people only need to wait, and their core will be upgraded automatically. 

The time for the core to fully mature is different for each person. The longest time for mana cores to mature after reaching second grade is ten years, while the shortest time is around two to three years.

So reaching grade two at the age of fifteen is the same as having an honorary title in the Heart kingdom, which shows the excellent talent someone had. 

In other kingdoms, they even give them more attention and resources. Basically, the one that reaches this level is called a prodigy and will have a certain prestige.

Angus and Jayna are quite oddballs since the first one has the help of system and heritage chi while the latter is merged with the primordial beast Fire Phoenix. Therefore, Angus is quite surprised to find Mia and Millie have already reached grade two.

Moreover, he also finds Mia's mana signature is quite different from before. If before he could feel a trace of the warm fire element, now he could feel warm yet also cold simultaneously. This is the primary reason Angus couldn't recognize her in the battle arena before.

Arriving in front of them, "Glad you are safe, Millie, Mia." called Angus.

"Angus, you are here." exclaimed Millie and Mia.

Then, the two girls look at Anna beside Angus, still playing with bubbles, ignoring everyone.

"So cute!!" said Millie as she approached Anna.

"Adorable!!" said Mia as she also approached Anna.

"Angus, who is this girl?" asked Millie.

"Ohh, she is Anna. Anna, this is sister Millie and Mia. They are friends." said Angus.

Anna then looks at Millie and Mia, "Blue Birdy." said Anna while pointing to Mia.

"Sister Ghost." said Anna while pointing at Millie.

Hearing Anna's remark, the two girls couldn't help but become speechless.

"Hush.. Anna, that's rude to give someone a nickname like that." rebuked Jayna.

"Bubble.. Bubble…" as Anna ignored Jayna's remark like usual and continued playing with bubbles.

"Err.. we actually don't mind, but it seems she could guess our nature accurately." said Millie.

"Yeah, now if I think about it, it's also true. But, it is still the first time someone calls me a bird." said Mia.

"Huh?? What do you mean?" asked Jayna.

"Lady Jayna, actually we…" as Millie starts to tell their story when they meet the Soul Keeper and their journey.

After hearing their story, "I see.. So, you get help from a Soul Keeper and become his disciple. Moreover, Mia somehow devours the soul of Blue Phoenix. Then, all of you are going through a journey until reaching Porros." said Angus, summarizing their story.

"Yeah, is there something wrong?" asked Millie.

At this moment, both Angus and Jayna looked at each other. 

"Mia, have you also received any memories from the Blue Phoenix during the soul transfer?" asked Jayna.

"No, is there anything wrong?" asked Mia.

"If I am not wrong, according to the master, normally the soul like Blue Phoenix contains a lot of memories. But, he managed to purge the memories and completely make it a pure soul. Therefore, Mia didn't have any memory of Blue Phoenix." explained Millie.

"So, that's the case. Actually…" as Jayna tells them about the Fire Phoenix.

After hearing Jayna's story, "Hmm… This must be the Fate that the master is talking about." said Millie.

"Fate??" exclaimed Jayna and Angus.

"Yeah, I am not sure either. Apparently, every single living being has already had a predestination path since they were born. There are many names for these things, such as the way of the world and destiny, but most call them as Fate."

"This Fate works mysteriously and is bound in every single living being. However, a powerful person like the seventh-grade combatant may change their fate, but they still could never escape from the fate." explained Millie.

"So, I suspect the Fire Phoenix merging with lady Jayna and summoning the Blue Phoenix incident is the work of Fate. Master said there is no such a thing as coincidence but only Fate that works mysteriously." added Millie.

"Hmm.. It seems your master is really wise." said Angus as he also agreed with Millie's words.

"Yeah, although the master's appearance is a little bit weird, he is kind to us. Without him, we will never survive and reach Porros." replied Millie.

Then, Angus and the others decide to go out from the battle arena and have lunch while catching up and telling their journey.

On the way outside the Battle Arena, "Hmm… I seem to forget something." said Jayna.

"Really?? Must be something unimportant since you forget about it." replied Angus.

Looking at the closeness of Angus and Jayna, Millie and Mia begin to whisper by themselves.

"Millie, do you think they are already doing it?" said Mia.

"Doing what??" said Millie.

"Doing that thing. You men and women together." said Mia.

"M-Mia… w-we shouldn't talk about this. Although they look like they have already done it many times, Lady Jayna and Angus are high nobles. T-They have proper etiquette." replied Millie while blushing hearing Mia's accusation.

However, Angus and Jayna could hear their conversation clearly since both of them had a high perception.

Hearing Millie's words makes Jayna blush red like a tomato. Rather than hide herself with her hand, her body subconsciously moves towards Angus to hide her face in his chest.

Looking at this action, both the two girls are convinced that Angus and Jayna must have already done it. In the meantime, inside the Battle Arena, Ilgor keeps fighting while being forgotten by Angus and his friend.

After winning his fight, "Hmm… Where is the master and Lady Jayna? Did that little shit make another problem?" said Ilgor as he didn't find Angus and Jayna on the audience seat.

Soon time passed by as Angus's group chatted with each other inside one of the nearby restaurants.

"Ehh… Angus, are you going to participate in the Endless Battlefield?" said Millie after hearing Angus and Jayna's story.

"Yeah, I feel something is calling me in that place." replied Angus.

"Are you su.." said Millie.

*BOM* Just as Millie wants to end her sentence, a small explosion heard from the outside gathers everyone's attention. Hearing this, Angus and Jayna ignore the explosion, but Millie and Mia decide to take a look.

"Millie, Mia, don't worry, it is a normal occurrence…" said Jayna as she was also going outside.

However, after going outside, she found a burning house not far from the restaurant.

"Lady Jayna, what are you saying again?" asked Millie.

"Ahh.. I said this is a normal occurrence, but…" said Jayna.

"I think we should check it out. This is not the normal explosion we usually hear." said Angus from the inside after paying the restaurant.

Then, everyone decided to come to the burning house with a lot of smoke. Around the burning house, some people are already trying to extinguish the fire before it spreads to other places.

Angus and the others also found one man with thick glass and strange machinery on his back, desperately trying to extinguish the fire.

"Mage, is there any water magician nearby?" said one of the people.

Looking at the fire that became bigger, Angus didn't waste any more time and began to chant a spell. A magic circle appeared above the burning house [2nd Circle - Water Torrent] a few moments later.

Unlike the usual burst of water, Angus controls it to have less power but enough to extinguish the fire in the house. Looking that the fire is finally extinguished under Angus's spell, everyone nearby begins to relieve.