Chapter 76 Meriel Heijor

Nathan felt something strange when he heard that dark elf girl's voice. She spoke slowly and softly, but he seemed to listen to her whispering directly into his ear.

"Meriel?" Nathan said and stood up. "My name is Nathan. It's nice to meet you."

Nathan offered his right hand to shake hers, but she didn't move. She just kept staring at his hand.

"Master, Nathan." Luna called. "They are not used to getting acquainted by shaking hands. They usually hug each other instead."

'Thanks for the advice, Luna.' Nathan said in his mind and lowered his hand.

"I'm the leader of this party. Can you tell us about your abilities at a glance?" Nathan asked.

Meriel raised her head and stared at him for a moment before nodding silently.

"Okay, I'll start with my main skill: Dark Magic..." she said but halted because someone interrupted her.

"Stop!" Muramoto stood up, "Hmmm... Meriel-chan, you know....." Muramoto said and grinned. "You don't need to go into details, because we aren't officially at the same party yet. It would be best for you to withhold until we can agree on one thing."

"Okay," Meriel replied calmly. "I have an affinity with the dark element and can use blood magic efficiently. I can act as a damager as well as a debuffer. But I only have a low tier healing spell, so I won't be of much use in this part."

"And... I'm level 70." she continued.

"Hmmm..." Nathan murmured. "That's interesting. I'm a melee fighter with two spirit beasts and a golem under my control."

Meriel still kept her head down and nodded slowly.

"Okay, let me have a quick discussion with my team. I'll let you know as soon as possible."

Meriel nodded, "thanks," and walked away from them.

"She's a dark elf, and she has two different spells. One is Dark Magic, which allows her to cast dark spells easily. The other one is Blood Magic, where she can manipulate blood." Muramoto said.

"So, what do you think? Should we recruit her?" Nathan asked.

"Nathan Oppa, I don't really care about whatever decision you make. I agree, no matter what." Linda said.

"Me too," Muramoto agreed. "I also think she's worth taking into our team," he added.

"But there's something that intrigues me." Linda said. "I wonder if that girl isn't hiding something. I mean, why did she choose to party with humans when they came in groups? That's strange, right?"

"I guess so, but it's fine, even if she hides anything." Nathan answered. "Everyone has their own secrets, right? If you look at it that way, maybe she has some special reason for joining us. Or can we ask her to tell us the reason?"

Luna floated over to Nathan and whispered to him: "Master, I think she might have a hidden motive for wanting to join us. Like, maybe she wants to marry a human?"

"But," Muramoto interrupted. "From the data here, it can be seen that the races from Yunatea mostly joined human parties. So it doesn't seem like something strange either, right?"

"Okay then." Nathan nodded and then called Meriel back.

"So Meriel, we have a little time to form a party, and we think that the abilities you have are quite suitable for our team. And one more thing. Would you mind telling us why you joined us?"

Meriel nodded and said something. "My group has an excess of mage. I'm left behind. That's why I find anyone who might need my ability. In the end, I found your party."

Nathan thought for a while and said: "We're going to leave soon, so if you want to join us, come with us."

Meriel nodded. "Thanks..."

"Welcome Meriel-chan... My name is Muramoto.... Eh hehe... You can call me Onii-chan... That's a term for someone older than you."

"Huh?" Meriel raised her head, looking at Muramoto. "Hmm... actually, I might be older than you imagine. I'm sorry... Our appearance does not clearly reflect our age, unlike humans." She said, lowering her head and blushing.

"I see," Linda said. "Then I guess it's better if you call him stupid Muramoto instead. That's a term for someone as stupid as him."

"My name is Linda." she continued.

"Then I'll call you Meriel Onee-san, if you don't mind." Muramoto added with a big smile.

Linda pushed Muramoto back, "Stop it, Muramoto." Then she stood right in front of Meriel. "We have a Dragonkin, Faebeast and even some spirit beast companions. People don't need to be of the same race to work well together. Welcome to our Party, Meriel."

Meriel looked at her and smiled gently. "Thanks..." She said softly.

Luna giggled quietly. "She's so cute."

They then chatted casually and waited for other potential candidates. However, after several interviews, they could not find a suitable applicant.

"We only have 30 minutes left." Muramoto said. "Let me take a walk to try to find anyone who might be a good fit to join us." He said and walked away.

"What should we do now?" Linda asked.

"I guess we just wait for Muramoto to come back?" Nathan suggested.

"Yeah... We'll wait for a while longer." Linda said. "Isn't our party already enough, Oppa? I mean, we have a melee fighter, a tanker, a healer, a mage and even a debuffer. What else do we need?"

Nathan laughed. "We'll follow our original plan, Okay Linda?"

Luna hovered over to Nathan and whispered to him. "I'm sure you yourself can do this, Master. This is the best way to get stronger quickly."

Nathan turned to Luna and whispered, "by making trouble for myself?"

Luna chuckled at Nathan's answer.

After some time of waiting, Muramoto returned with someone with him.

He was a young man who looked the same age as Muramoto, but there was something strange about him. He looked like someone tall from his stature. However, he was only as tall as Muramoto's ear.

"I brought someone for our party," he said.

"Hi, why don't you introduce yourself first?" he said to the young man.

The young man bowed deeply and spoke slowly. "My name is Yudan Graycoat, but please call me Yudan. I'm a dwarf, but I'm not a blacksmith or that kind. I love all things about alchemist, and I want to learn more about what this academy offers me."

"Nathan-san, an alchemist, will really help us in recognizing environmental situations from whatever dimension we come to. They can use their knowledge to make something that might be useful for us. And they are also quite flexible with the various kinds of potions they can make. And in particular, he was also a battle alchemist." Muramoto added.

"I see." Nathan replied. "Well, welcome to our team, then. Do you have questions for us?"

"No, I've been listening to Muramoto since I met them, and I feel that is enough for me."

Nathan nodded. "Okay then, let's go!"

They all stood up and walked toward the teleportation gate.

"Tell me Muramoto, how many participants are in this test?" Nathan asked.

"About a thousand people," he replied.

[The new Party entering the challenge]

[Party Name: Vensalor]

[Party Leader:]

[Nathan - Beginner Lv. 51 (Treasure Hunter)]

[Members:]

[Muramoto - Beginner Lv. 79 (Spell Enchanter)]

[Linda - Beginner Lv. 65 (Chaos Warrior)]

[Meriel - Lv. 70 (Blood Mage)]

[Yudan - Lv. 85 (Battle Alchemist)]