Alnea paused and followed Yuri’s gaze to turn towards the rest of their teammates. As she said, they were all glancing at him and the girls, with confusion written all over their faces. Zain even had hints of pity beginning to leak on to his. Though he did not blame the man. Or the rest of his teammates. Anyone would be confused if they saw a bunch of people looking at each other silently, making all sorts of faces. But that did not stop him poking some fun at them.

  “Now, can you tell what is so special about my Arcana?” Alnea said, raising the corner of his lips. “The first one to guess correctly will get to pick whom he partners with.”

  “Partner?” Karl mumbled, only to be cut off by Zain immediately after.

  “Wait, you have already used your Arcana?” Zain said, losing the pity on his face, as his confusion continued to intensify. But that only made Alnea’s smile grow wider.

  “What do you think we were doing just now?”

  “…I thought your casting failed…”

  “And I turned silly?”

  “…It would not be the worst outcome from a failed cast,” Zain said, trying to hide his embarrassment by looking away, but turned back to Alnea in the very next moment, when he felt a strange shiver along his back, only to find the girls glaring at him with piercing eyes. “But clearly, I was wrong. Congratulations on a successful cast, Captain. Now we can finally continue our exploration.”

  “…Anyways,” Alnea said, ignoring Zain and his strange antics. “As I said, I have my ways to ensure your lives even after we split up. And this Arcana that I just cast is the way that I was talking about. With it, we will not have to worry about finishing our Trial in time. Neither will we have to worry about getting ambushed by the Lotus clan and their allies. Of course, my Arcana cannot stop them from ambushing us.

  “On the contrary, once we split up, you are almost bound to experience quite a few things that might threaten your life. You might even get surrounded by our enemies from all sides. But you do not have to worry. With the life saving measures that I have given everyone, you should be able to hold on for a while. Enough for the rest of us to come to your aid.”

  “I do not understand,” Norren said, scratching the back of his head. “If your Arcana cannot stop the Lotus clan’s ambush, and it cannot prevent us from getting injured either, then how exactly is it going to help us?”

  “Mostly by letting us know who is in danger and pointing us in their direction.”

  “So, like Yuri’s Arcana?” Ralph said. “Will it let us share our senses too?”

  “Not exactly,” Alnea said. “But it is similar. That is quite a good guess, Ralph. Does anyone else want to guess? No one? What about you, Zain? I thought that you were our greatest expert in Arcanas.”

  “I am.”

  “Then why not try taking a guess what my Arcana can do?”

  “…I just wanted to give these ignorant people a chance to see if they can guess. But it looks like they are even more ignorant that I thought…”

  “So, can you guess now?”

  “Guess? I do not need to guess. Because I already know exactly what your Arcana is capable of.”

  “And what is that?”

  “Long distance communication,” Zain said, glancing at the girls. “Long distance telepathic communication.”

  “…You are right. It is only part of what my Arcana is capable of, but you are right. It can help us communicate telepathically over long distances, and that is the key to finishing our Trial on time.”

  “I told you,” Zain said, shrugging his shoulders, as he glanced over the rest of the Star Seekers, with a smug smile on his face. “No Arcana can hide from my eyes.”

  “…Although Captain’s Arcana sounds perfect for our situation, why do I suddenly feel that it would have been better if it was something different?”

  “…It is not just you,” Norren mumbled to Ralph, patting his shoulders, and as he had expected, was soon met with Zain’s snort.

  “Ignorant people, jealous of the achievements of the Star they can never reach…”

  “…No, we just do not want to hear the ‘Star’ speaking so much nonsense.”

  “You truly are ignorant,” Zain said, shaking his head. “Do you know how big of a Fortune it is to be able to hear my wise words?”

  “…We thank you for your concern, but we do not want this Fortune.”

  “…Why am I even talking to ignorant people like you?”

  “You…”

  While Zain was playing around with Ralph and Norren, the rest were not sitting idle. Especially Aren, who had quite a few questions rising at the back of his head.

  “…This long distance telepathic communication… I am assuming it is not without its limits.”

  “Of course. It is just a False Ranked Arcana. Even if I place it to be of the Perfect Grade—

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  “Perfect Grade?” Zain said, staring at Alnea with wide eyes, as did the rest of the Star Seekers. “You created another Perfect Grade Arcana?”

  “…There is no need to be so surprised. It is not like I have not created a Perfect Grade Arcana before. And just like the previous one, this one is also an auxiliary Arcana. Not to mention that I have not had either of them Graded through proper channels yet.”

  “Still,” Ralph mumbled. “How can you keep creating one Perfect Grade Arcana after another…”

  “…It is not as if you have never created a Perfect Grade Arcana either.”

  “…Me too?” Norren said, pointing to himself, before glancing at the rest of the Star Seekers, only to find them doing the same, with just as baffled a face as his. “Why did I not know that I was so awesome?”

  “…We did not know it either,” Ralph mumbled, echoing Norren’s confusion. But not all the Star Seekers were as clueless as him.

  “He is talking about the Arcana Trials, idiots.”

  “…That makes much more sense,” Norren said, nodding to himself, before doubting himself once again. “Can the Arcanas we made truly be considered as Perfect Grade Aranas?”

  “…What do you think?” Zain said, rolling his eyes at Norren, before turning back towards Alnea. “You can fool them, but you cannot fool me. How did you manage to create another Perfect Grade Arcana just months after you created your first one?”

  “…Practice?”

  “…Practice?”

  “Lots and lots of practice.”

  “…I do not know whether you are just making something up or telling the truth.”

  “The truth, of course.”

  “…Forget it. Let us get back to what we were talking about.”

  “I do not know what to say to convince you,” Alnea said, shrugging his shoulders, before turning towards Karl. “You were about to say something?”

  “…How long is the effective communication range of your Arcana?”

  “Twenty, thirty kilometres? Maybe even a hundred? I have not tested the limits yet. Still, as a precaution, we will be staying within ten kilometres of each other.”

  “Ten kilometres,” Karl mumbled. “And how many people can use it at the same time?”

  “That depends on a few factors, like everyone’s accomplishments in Mysteries, their reserve of Spirit Power, their will, and a few other things,” Alnea said. “But mostly, it depends on how many people are using my Arcana.”

  “So, four?”

  “…At the moment, yes.”

  “In other words, we are splitting into groups of two?” Karl said, as he glanced at the girls.

  “That’s the plan for now,” Alnea said, nodding back to Karl, who, in turn, was just about to say something, when Zain interrupted him once again.

  “Groups of two, is it? Hey, Captain. You did not forget that I get to pick my partner, right?”

  “…That is what I was about to get to next,” Alnea said, before glancing at the rest of his teammates. “Since there are nine of us, and only four who can use my Arcana, we need to split into three groups of two, and one group of three. And for the sake of balancing the groups, I will be making the decision of who gets to partner with whom. Except for Zain, that is.”

  Alnea paused, waiting for voices of dissension. There were none. So, he glanced back at Zain and continued.

  “Which of the four of us do you want to partner with?”

  “You,” Zain said without any hesitation. “I want to partner with you, Captain.”

  “…Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Very well then,” Alnea said with a nod, before glancing back at the rest of his teammates. “Before I decide the rest of the groups, does anyone have anything else they wish to say?”

  “About the groups, or—

  “About the groups.”

  Everyone shook their heads.

  “Do you not want to express your opinion about whom to partner with.”

  “We trust your decision, Captain.”

  “Hey, what do you mean? That I do not trust him?”

  “We did not say anything like that. But if you insist…”

  “It is alright, Zain,” Alnea said, before the man could start another fight. “You earned this privilege.”

  “…You bastards heard it, right?” Zain said, showing his teeth in a wide grin. “This is a privilege that I earned. I earned. Not…”

  …Maybe he should have let the man fight, Alnea thought for a moment, before quickly reigning in his thoughts, and taking over the conversation once again.

  “Anyways, let me divide the group first before discussing anything else,” Alnea said, interrupting Zain, and drawing everyone’s attention to himself. “Like I said before, there will be three groups of two, and one group of three. Since Zain can support me in all kinds of situations, and can even act as scout if needed, while I take charge of the vanguard, we will form a group of two. For similar reasons, Cecilia and Karl, and Yuri and Aren will also form groups of two.

  “Norren, on the other hand, cannot provide much support. While Ralph is too lacking in his means to take care of himself if left alone in the back. And though Vestia can act as both, a vanguard, and a rearguard, she is more suited to act in middle, where she can change her position according to the needs of the team. So, I am grouping you two together with Vestia.”

  Alnea paused, and waited for his teammates to digest his words, before continuing.

  “Does anyone have questions regarding the arrangement that I made?”

  The Star Seekers shook their heads once again, this time, with much more confidence.

  “…Good,” Alnea said after a moment of silence, and nodded back at his teammates. “Then would anyone like to add anything else?”

  No one said anything. At least not immediately. It was only when Alnea was about to open his mouth, and change the topic, that Karl forced himself to speak out.

  “…Not add, per se, but I would like to confirm something.”

  “About my plan?”

  “Do not get me wrong. I am completely in favour of your plan. Even if it was not the only plan we had right now, I still would have preferred it more than any plans these idiots could come up with. There is just one thing that I think you are missing,” Karl said, trying not to mind the eyes trained on him. “What if we are all ambushed at the same time? How are we going to come to each other’s rescue then?”

  “…That is a very reasonable concern, Karl, and I am glad that you can think of my plan from all possible angles, but I think that you are also forgetting something,” Alnea said, spreading his lips into a wide grin. “Long distance telepathic communication is only a part of my Arcana’s capabilities. My Arcana… the ‘Path of Stars’… is much more than just a means of communication. It is literally, a ‘Path’…

  “You will understand what I mean later. If we are forced to use the second form of my Arcana, that is. Let us just hope that we never encounter any situation that would force us to that point in the first place. But if we do face such a situation, if all, or many of us fall into danger at the same time, then rest assured, the second form of my Arcana would be enough to save our lives.”

  “…Since you have also considered that part, then there is nothing else I would like to add.”

  “Good. Then prepare yourselves. I will give you half an hour to readjust your Heart and rest your Spirits. After half an hour, whether you are ready or not, we will all split up and resume our exploration…”