163 Mana strings (1/2)

They barely made it in time. When they arrived at the training area, the others were already waiting.

”Hey Ivan, you are late.”, Pia shouted towards him when she saw him coming.

”Hey everyone. And I'm sure that I'm still in time.”, he first greeted the others, before answering Pia.

”Everyone else is already waiting for you, so you are late.”, she insisted.

Seeing that he couldn't win the argument, Ivan just accepted the accusation. ”Alright, if you say so.”

Having won the short argument, Pia nodded in satisfaction.

”Hey everyone.”, Celine who had smiled at their antics greeted the others as well.

”Hey Celine.”, the others greeted her back and Irena asked, ”How come you are here?”

”What? Am I not welcome?”, adopting Pia's style of bantering, Celine joked.

”Of course you are. I was just wondering since we enter as a five-man group and you wouldn't fit in.”

Although Irena's words may have sounded unpleasant if heard by the wrong person, Celine understood her correctly. ”So you already guessed that I came to train in the dungeon together with you. But you are wrong that I wouldn't fit in. Technically my status is the same as Vlada. I count as a part of Ivan's strength, so I can enter.”, she told her.

”Is that so?”, Irena asked in surprise.

”Yes. Just like slaves and pets only use up the slot of the master, servants like me do the same.”, Celine explained.

”That's great.”, Irena exclaimed. ”Then can you maybe teach us some things?”, she asked eagerly. She too knew that Celine was much more experienced than they were.

”Of course, that is one of the reasons I am here.”, Celine agreed happily. She truly liked Irena and the others, so she was really happy when they accepted her so readily.

Hearing her response the others cheered as well. This was just like having a private teacher just for themselves.

”Then did Ivan already tell you what we have planned to do?”, Irena asked. As the team leader, it was her job to make sure that everyone was on the same page.

”Yes. We already talked about it. For now, we should go into the entrance hall for the dungeon and then we can change our gear and talk some more.”

She then entered the dungeon and the others followed her lead.

After appearing in the entrance hall of the dungeon, Celine mentioned for everyone to sit down on the floor.

”Sit down first. I'm going to teach you a formation first.”

”Really?”, Greg exclaimed. Until now he had been uncharacteristically quiet, but hearing this he got livelier.

”Right, why were you so quiet? Are you still tired from the training?”, Ivan poked fun at him.

”The better question would be, why are you so energetic?”, Greg shot back.

”Because I had a great relaxing massage.”, Ivan responded smugly. In response, he got envious looks from everyone. ”Alright, let's start learning.”, he hurriedly changed the topic.

Celine repeated the background story for the formation, she had told him before, so the others knew it as well.

”Such a useful formation and the school doesn't even teach it.”, Serge sighed.

”That's because it isn't free for them to do so.”, Celine explained.

”Then we have to pay for it?”, Greg asked worriedly.

”No.”, she laughed when she saw his worried face. ”Although the school can't teach it for free, I can.”

”How come?”, Greg asked curiously.