Kapitel 22: The Floating Blades Faction

"Wait! D-Did you say Father?" Alvin was definitely shocked. "You mean... senior Lutian?"

"Yes." Milia nodded, still serious.

"The 537 Lutian Frondor, THAT Lutian?" Connor asked this time.

"Yes," Milia confirmed once again.

"The patriarch of the Frondor Family?" Felia also had to be sure.

"I already said yes!" Milia was already losing her patience.

There wasn't a single Familiar or Person in there who wasn't surprised by that revelation. "T-That's unexpected..."

Alvin quickly apologized. "Sorry, Milia. It's just that we truly never heard about it."

Connor quickly followed suit. "Yes, yes! We are talking about the patriarch of the Frondor Family, after all. I hope you can understand."

Milia nodded, not pursuing the topic. She didn't go around telling it to everyone, and it wasn't exactly publicly disclosed. Nonetheless, it wasn't a secret either. These kind of reactions always happened when others found out, so she was already used to it.

Well, there was one single Familiar who wasn't impressed or shocked, though. "According to human biology, males continue to produce sperm up to the day they die. Is it really that shocking this Lutian you talked about got to be Milia's father?" Linfel truly saw nothing strange in there.

Milia looked at Linfel with a slightly gentler expression. At least one of them took it seriously. Well, Linfel was simply thinking logically, as always, casting common sense to the wind.

"Whatever," Milia changed the topic. "You are here to visit the Floating Blades Faction, so let's carry on with it. But first..." milia narrowed her eyes as she looked at Connor and Tratil. "What are these two doing here?"

Connor quickly introduced himself. "Hello, Miss Milia! I'm Connor, Alvin's best friend. I have the duty to report to his father everything that happens to Alvin in the academy, so I have to accompany him and make sure he doesn't get into trouble. You could say I'm his second father as well."

*Pah!*

Alvin slapped Connor's back head. "Like hell you are! Where did you bring this bullshit from? Miss Milia, you can totally kick this guy away if you want. I don't even know why he is still following me."

Milia turned around, moving in the Faction's headquarters direction. "So be it. Just tag along and don't cause trouble." There was a slight smile on her face that she didn't show. These kinds of interactions and weight-free exchanges are truly rare in her circle, so she found it a little funny.

Connor smirked at Alvin, who felt helpless. Nonetheless, their group quickly followed Milia.

The Floating Blades Faction occupied a three-story building a few hundred meters away from the founder's statue. The entrance had its five swords in a half circular manner emblem on the top and the name under it.

Inside, an attendant saw Milia entering the building and quickly came to receive her. "Welcome back, Miss Milia." Your Faction could have your own attendants allocated by the Academy. After all, you needed to keep everything in order. However, the members would have to pay for all the expenses regarding them.

Milia nodded. "Who is around today?"

The attendant took a look at a device he was holding and spoke. "Pamil, Rin, and Natalie."

"Almost everyone, it seems," Milia mentioned.

Linfel was taken aback. Almost everyone? The guy only spoke three names! Alvin and the others thought the same thing, although no one mentioned it aloud.

"Follow me," Milia brought their group through a corridor, finally entering an area with a few platforms on the ground. One of the platforms was occupied, with a woman who seemed in her twenties sitting down with her eyes closed. Linfel and the others could see the Brown Color of Magic Energy around, her showing her status as a Level Three Magus.

Milia stopped with her group in front of the woman's platform, speaking, "Natalie, I've brought him."

The woman opened her eyes and looked at their group. She took out her MCOM and pressed a few options. The platform the deactivated, allowing her to come out. "Oh! We are quite lucky, it seems. To think we would get our fifth member so soon. Welcome, welcome! I'm Natalie, one of the Faction's members."

Right after, her bracelet suddenly changed form, quickly becoming a Familiar that looked more like a humanoid bird. "And I'm Vigrus, Natalie's Familiar, independent! Welcome!"

"Fifth?" Linfel asked. "I thought Factions had a lot of members."

Alvin and the others nodded. They were expecting at least several tens, perhaps a few hundred. That was the usual number of members in a faction.

Natalie smiled, already expecting that question. "That's because we are new. You see, we have just formed this Faction at the start of the last year. Because of that, not many have shown interest compared to the more established and older Factions."

Vigrus quickly jumped in. "Besides, our rules are a little too unorthodox with what kind of members we accept."

"Unorthodox?" Linfel and Alvin were curious.

"Yes," Vigrus nodded. "You see... Our Faction only accepts Maguses with Independent Familiars."

"This..." No one expected such a rule. "That pretty much excludes more than 99% of all students, no?"

Natalie shrugged her shoulders. "Now you see why it is so hard to find members."

Suddenly, a Familiar entered the room, quickly landing on Milia's shoulder. It was Nori, who stayed behind in the Faction when Milia went out to fetch Alvin and Linfel. "Yes, pretty much all Maguses are out of the question. Not that we care about it, mind you."

Linfel looked at the platform Natalie was using and asked. "What are they used for?"

"They are Magic Energy Gathering Devices. They can extract the Magic Energy of Magic Stones much faster while keeping it all within the platform's range," Natalie explained. "It is very convenient."

"And expensive!" Vigrus added.

"Only Factions have those?" Linfel wondered.

"No," Alvin shook his head. "The Academy also has them for the students. It's just that they cost Academy Credits to use."

Natalie patted his shoulder. "Well, here, you don't need to pay anything. They are free to use. Aren't you happy you joined us? Hahaha!"

Milia decided to continue with the tour. "Anyway, let's go to the next place."

There were quite a few different training facilities inside the buildings, but they were all just a few. Most Factions would have several tens of each piece of equipment, but there wasn't much point in acquiring that many for the Floating Blades. With their Familiar Rule, they would always have a low number of members.

Linfel didn't mind any of that. If anything, he was more interested in training equipment for Familiars. It was called Soul Core Enhancing. For Familiars, the strength of their Soul was everything. They didn't have a body to train, after all. That equipment allowed the Familiar to train the soul itself through a stress-related method.

That type of training wouldn't increase a Familiar's Level regarding Magic Energy, but it would definitely make it easier to control, store, and release it. Linfel was basically a Core and a Soul, even if he wasn't a Familiar, so it probably had good benefits for him as well. As for the rest of the equipment, they were mostly Magus-focused.

Alvin couldn't help but get a little excited as well. Most of the equipment they had here was free for use. And none of them required Academy Credits. The ones he had to spend something were the equipment that required Magic Stones to work, so he had to fork the Magic Stones himself. Nonetheless, it was definitely a great deal.

Milia then brought them to a recreation area. "That's pretty much all of it. I just need to add your ID to the Faction's System, and you are now free to come and make use of everything."

Alvin, Linfel, and Felia nodded. Let's not forget Alvin's condition to join was to accept Felia as well. Felia could definitely make good use of them as she is truly Alvin's Familiar, not Linfel. There was even equipment that helped with the strengthening of Master Familiar Connection.

At that moment, two other people entered the room. A man who seemed to be around Natalie's age, around his twenties, and a very young girl, definitely someone who had just joined the academy this year.

"Well, well, well! So this is our new friend, uh?" The man smiled as he spoke. "I'm Pamil, the Floating Blades Faction Leader. Just call me Pamil, though. I hate formalities. Besides, this thing about a leader is only on paper. I won't go around ordering you like a boss or anything."

Pamil then patted the young girl's head. "And this is Rin, our second newest member. She is my cousin, so get along well with her, please."

"Master, you can't ignore me!" A familiar with the same brown color as Natalie's Familiar suddenly came from Pamil's back. "You can call me Qanda, independent. I'm the one who truly keeps everything in order in this Faction. If my Master causes you trouble, just tell me."

Pamil shrugged. "See? I told you I'm only the leader on paper."

"H-Hi..." Rin finally spoke, although she seemed quite shy to interact with the others.

Milia showed a rare smile as she looked at Rin, too.

"Last but most important, you have me!" It was then that a hairpin on Rin's head changed shape, becoming another Familiar with a horned humanoid shape. It's just that this one was Yellow, showing it was also a Level One Familiar. However, it was already possible to see a few tinges of Red on his body. He definitely wasn't too far from becoming a Level Two Familiar. "I'm Sasoli, Rin's Familiar, also independent. If you cause trouble to my Rin, I'll have your heads. Be advised."

Pamil ignored Rin's Familiar. "Alvin, Linfel, and also Felia. We are few, but we are definitely a united Faction. We will have your backs as long as you have ours. So... PLEASE DON'T ABANDON US AND SELECT ANOTHER FACTION BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE AS MANY RESOURCES OR AS GOOD EQUIPMENT!"

Linfel's group was taken aback. Shouldn't this kind of thing be left unsaid at first and be slowly revealed to not scare your new members?

"Sigh..." Qanda shook his head. "And now you know why I'm the one in charge of everything. Truly, I'm almost having Rin take the leader seat instead of you. Just the fact she keeps quiet would already be a great improvement."

Rin looked terrified about the idea, though.

"Errr... Ahem!" Alvin finally decided to talk. "It's okay. I joined because you didn't mind my other Familiar. That is enough to show you care about your Familiars."

Linfel took the chance to ask. "By the way, why the rule about independent Familiars?"

Indeed. Alvin, Connor, and the others were curious about that too.

"Why not is the question you really want to ask," Qanda spoke. "Why should we accept Maguses who don't trust their Familiars enough to set them free? You are connected by the soul, for fucks sake!"

Milia and Rin nodded. They also agreed with that principle.

It was then that Connor raised his hand. "Excuse me. If I set my Familiar Free, would I be able to join as well?"

"No," Qanda shook his head. "We are, after all, a Faction of Maguses and Familiars. Unless you have something that sets you apart from the rest, what's the point in spending resources on you? In Alvin's case, he has a great Master Familiar Connection, and such a connection is sure to help the Faction. That's why we invited him."

Linfel looked at Tratil. "Can you even pass the independent Familiar test?" He didn't see much difference between Felia and Tratil. That's why he asked.

Tratil didn't hide that fact either. "Master. I'm also sure I can't pass it." He looked at the others right after. "But just so everyone knows, Master had asked me before if I wanted to go independent once I got strong enough for the test. He is a good Master."

Pamil looked at his Familiar with pledging eyes. "Look how good they are. Can't we make a little exception?"

Qanda's mouth twitched. His Master was too soft. "We are already struggling for resources, and you want to make an exception? Absolutely not! End of discussion."

"Tch..." Pamil could only give up.

Alvin didn't know what to expect from this Faction, but at least he was close to Milia, so he just decided to go for it. "I thank you all for receiving me. By the way, what exactly are my duties as a Faction member? I've never been in a Faction before, so I don't know what you would expect me to do in here. It's not like I can just use everything truly for free, right?"

Qanda nodded. "Exactly."