Bab 2: Linfel

The Wisp's energy began to flicker more, indicating that he could barely keep himself floating at the moment. The old man noticed this and found it peculiar. "Are... you alright?"

The Wisp quickly responded, "I'm lacking energy. Without energy, I can't keep myself floating, so I will soon sink to the bottom of the ocean at this rate. Would you mind if I stood on your boat for a while?"

The old man scratched his head, still finding the situation quite odd. He had encountered many sea beasts in his life, but never a floating ball of colored energy. "Well, I suppose if you had malicious intentions, you wouldn't have waited until now to ask."

"I might simply be without enough energy and could attack you as soon as I recover, you know?" The Wisp replied, once again noticing his tendency to speak whatever came to mind. 'Why do I always do that?'

"Will you?" The old man inquired.

"Not really," The Wisp truthfully answered.

"Then come on board," the old man shrugged.

"I think you trust others way too easily..." The Wisp couldn't help but comment as he floated to the deck. Right after, his energy release immediately stopped, and his core fell to the ground. 'Hmm? Wait, am I not doing exactly the same?'

The Wisp closely watched the old man, who also observed him with a curious gaze. At the very least, it didn't seem the old man knew what a Wisp was. "So, old... thing, what are you?"

The old man was taken aback for a moment and laughed. "Seems like we are indeed in the same boat."

The Wisp looked around. "Isn't that obvious?"

"Hahaha!" The old man laughed even more. It was clear the Wisp didn't understand the meaning of his words. "'Being in the same boat' means we are experiencing something similar. In this case, I don't know what you are, and you don't know what I am, so we are in the same boat, you see?"

"Oh..." The Wisp felt confused but decided to simply accept it. "So, what are you, in the end?"

"I'm a human," the old man answered, "and my name is Lucau."

The Wisp took the chance to ask for something. "Nice to meet you, Lucau, and thanks for allowing me to recover on your boat. I have no idea what a human is, so I hope you forgive me for that. Just one thing... I can't feel any primordial energy in the environment. Do you have anything that could help me recover some of my energy? At this rate, I will eventually die."

Yet, Lucau was as confused as ever. "Primordial... energy? What is that?"

The Wisp felt helpless. "How can someone not know what Primordial Energy is?"

Lucau pointed at the Wisp. "You also don't know what a human is."

"Fair enough..." The Wisp had no words to answer that.

Lucau then pondered a bit and looked back inside his boat. "I don't know what Primordial Energy is, but I do have some Magic Stones that I use to power the boat's engine and equipment. Would that be okay?"

"Magic... Stones?" The Wisp was confused once again. "Never heard of them."

Lucau was already accustomed to all these 'never heard of them' exchanges, so he simply stood up and went back into the boat. After a minute or so, he returned with ten pieces of partially transparent stones that shined with a gentle yellow color. "Here you go, Magic Stones."

The Wisp used a little of his energy to grab the stones and bring them closer. Using that same energy, he infiltrated one of the Magic Stones and became even more confused. "What a strange energy. I've never felt it before."

"Never?" Lucau found it hard to believe. "The whole planet uses Magic Stones to power everything. How come you've never seen them before? I'm starting to think you aren't even from this planet."

"Even I can't tell that," the Wisp answered. "Still, this energy... it's not like I have much choice, so is it okay if I try to use it? Of course, I will try to compensate you as soon as possible if I manage to do so."

Lucau didn't mind. "Oh, don't worry about that. These are the lowest grade Magic Stones you can buy. They're very cheap. I literally have hundreds of them down there."

"Thank you," the Wisp didn't waste time. Just the process of thinking and speaking already used the little bit of Primordial Energy he had in his core. He used his own energy to extract some of the Magic Stone's energy and absorbed it into his body.

Immediately, a change began to occur in the Wisp's core. Its colored features slowly changed, being replaced by a yellowish color instead. The remaining Primordial Energy in his body also transformed, easily taking the shape of the magical energy from the stones. "This..."

Finally, his core lit up again, and his energy spread around it. The rainbow-colored features disappeared completely, being replaced by the same yellowish energy instead. "So many impurities. I've never felt such terrible energy before." The Wisp couldn't help but complain.

Lucau shook his head in response. "I told you, didn't I? These are the worst type of Magic Stones you can buy. They're terrible for pretty much anything other than powering some simple machines like the engine and the other equipment in my boat. If you want anything better, you'll have to get it yourself."

The Wisp didn't mind. "It's fine, Lucau. I'm still immensely grateful for your help. As impure as it might be, it still was enough to save my life. I wouldn't have lasted more than a few hours if you hadn't appeared. My race has always been extremely weak, but I will try to make it up to you somehow. This is a great debt."

Lucau faintly smiled. "Well, I don't really mind since I didn't lose much, but I'm looking forward to it." Finally, a question popped into Lucau's mind. "By the way, Wisp is the name of your race, right? That won't do. What is your name?"

"My... name?" The Wisp's memories went back to the past. That being who put him inside the capsule. The Wisp pretty much only had interactions with him his entire life. "My old friend always simply called me Wisp... so... I don't think I have a name."

"No name?" Lucau didn't like that. "How can that be?" However, before he continued to speak, Lucau remembered something. "Anyway, come inside the boat. We can talk on the way."

The Wisp followed Lucau inside and saw many pieces of equipment he had never seen before. Yet, he could feel that magical energy from his body present inside the equipment. "So strange. What are all these for?"

"Hmm?" Lucau looked around. "This is just a Fishing Boat, so I use the equipment to find where to fish. It's that simple."

Lucau then turned on the boat, which once again began to produce the strange noise the Wisp had never heard before. Of course, he wasn't an idiot; he could tell that magical energy was being used somehow to move the boat... It's just that he had never seen such concepts before. 'There are no runes in this boat, so how is this all working...?' The Wisp couldn't help but wonder.

At that moment, the Wisp saw a charm hanging at the top of the room, right by the front window. It had the shape of a little man, although it was different from the human in the boat. It was more like a little spirit in humanoid shape instead, quite cute. "What is it?"

"Hmm? This?" Lucau touched the charm. "This is just a charm my son gave me. It has the same shape as his Familiar."

"Familiar?" The Wisp asked.

Lucau looked at the Wisp. "Now that I think about it, aren't you also a Familiar? You see, Familiars are some kind of spirits given birth by their owners. Any Level One Magus is able to create one, and they will follow their owners for the rest of their lives. Pretty much all of them have more or less a humanoid shape, just like this one, although they also have their own specific appearances. That's why I didn't think about it when I saw you since you didn't have a humanoid shape. They are very autonomous, just like you, though. They can go around and do all the things their masters ask. Some Magus created such great Familiars that they can even join the Magus Circle on their own."

The Wisp quickly denied. "I don't know what a Magus or the Magus Circle is, but that's definitely not the case. Wisps are born from the Primordial Energy of Heaven and Earth when the conditions are just right. No one created us."

It was then that his energy body began to change shape, taking a similar form to the little charm hanging on the boat ceiling. "Yet, this is good information. How about this, do I look like a Familiar?"

Lucau was surprised. "At the very least, I would definitely think you are a Familiar now. Even the energy around your body is the same after you absorbed the Magic Stones."

Then... he had an idea. "Right, your name! Do you have any preferences?"

The Wisp thought about it. The only thing he knew was that he definitely shouldn't keep calling himself Wisp. This old man doesn't know about Wisps, but what about others? "I don't have any preferences, to be honest, but I do think I need a name."

"Great!" Lucau nodded. "How about Linfel?"

"Linfel?" The Wisp felt it had a nice ring. "Seems good."

Lucau agreed. "I totally agree! My son's Familiar is called Felia, but your personality seems more aligned with males, so why not Linfel? Of course, if you don't like the idea, you can forget it."

"Linfel, huh..." The Wisp thought for a moment. It wasn't like it mattered that much. "Alright, Linfel. I like it."

*Plun...*

Suddenly, a sound came from one of Lucau's equipment, catching the old man's attention. "Oh, seems like I got some fish on the radar. I can bring you back to the land later, but I still have work to do if you don't mind."

"That's definitely not a problem," Linfel answered with a smile. He decided it was better to keep this humanoid spirit form, and it was quite useful to express emotions, too. "I can help if possible."

"Hahaha!" Lucau laughed. "That's only if you can attract the fish to the net, that is. Anyway, we are here, let's go outside."

Lucau then went outside and activated another piece of equipment. Immediately, a feeble wave of magical energy emanated from the boat's hull, spreading into the ocean. Following that, several nets were released.

"What are you doing now?" Linfel was curious about all those pieces of equipment.

"It's quite simple, actually. I'm a Whiskers Tuna fisher, and these tunas are sensitive to magical energy. However, you can't use too much, or you will scare them. Anyway, I use the magical energy to attract them into the net area and capture them. If we are lucky, we might catch three or four before they all get scared away," Lucau explained.

"Sensitive to magical energy?" Linfel felt the energy spreading through the ocean, understanding the logic. The tuna indeed seemed to get interested in that magical energy, but they also seemed very cautious about approaching its source. "Oh, I see it. Can you stop that thing that is spreading the magical energy for a moment?"

"Why?" Lucau asked.

"To be honest, this equipment seems pretty shit," Linfel answered, still speaking his mind as always.

"What?! I paid quite a lot for this Undersea Magical Wave Generator, you know?" Lucau narrowed his eyes.

Linfel didn't care, though. "What is shit is shit. What else is there to say? Anyway, trust this Wisp. If it doesn't work, you can just turn it on again. Let this wisp show you how to control this energy."

Ten minutes later, the Wisp and the old man were floating in the sea, holding to a plank of the now destroyed boat...

"Errr... See? This is how you attract fish."

Lucau's mouth twitched a little... actually a lot.