The Arcadia System

"Have you caught up with things now?"

Reve responded after diving his head in the bowl and taking a nice lick from the soup, "Yes. Apparently, before I died I released an unspeakable evil to the world which I'm guessing is you. I can understand that part."

He remembered opening a coffin prior to his death. That should have been where the erratic lady came out from.

If she was sealed in a coffin, then she must be bad news.

Realizing this, Reve positioned his body at alert.

"Your words hurt me, little thing. But you are right. You did unleash a great evil upon the world, hahaha," joked the lady.

She took a sip from her bowl and explained, "You didn't unleash me though. You just woke me up before my bodily alarm rang. Also, I wasn't sealed. I was sleeping."

Listening to her, Reve muttered the characters he saw on her coffin bed, "Herein lies the immortal witch...…she sleeps on the river of time.."

He took a good look at the lady and was enlightened, "That's you! An immortal witch...are you perhaps a vampire?"

"Negative. Vampires are extinct in Arcadia. It is sad as I liked those classy vermins," said the lady.

She finished her soup and laid lazily on her chair, "I'm the immortal witch, Circe. One of the five immortals that roam the world. As you have noticed, you disturbed my sleep."

She gave him no time to speak up as she continued, "I woke up to the sight of a half-dead cat. Normally,  I wouldn't have cared but you piqued my curiosity. Hence, I healed you. Brought you back from the dead and I have to say, it was worth it. You are very peculiar."

"A new cat species is not rare but one this unique is a different matter. However, you are quite weak.....what level are you? Level 20, huh? Hmmm….."

As she descended into deep thoughts, Reve asked, "How can you see my level?"

As far as he knew, [Appraisal] skill negates itself. So, if a user of the skill tries it on another user of the skill, he won't get positive feedback.

Nonetheless, he wondered if it was the same outcome if the user's skill rank was higher than the target's skill rank.

"Your level? I can calculate it. It's not that hard when you are an expert," boasted Circe.

What she said was most likely not something that Reve could accomplish. Yet, she spoke of it casually.

Reve was beginning to understand the identity of Circe.

"Well, apart from your uniqueness. The main reason why I saved you is that I sensed something familiar about you. Tell me about yourself," ordered Circe.

Reve had nothing to hide so he explained in detail his identity and his thrilling adventures.

He was hoping that Circe could shed more light on some parts he could not understand. If he was right, she was proficient in magic, which he was lacking right now.

After hearing his story, Circe became strangely quiet. It seemed a lot of thoughts were going through her mind.

A minute passed before she softly muttered, "Just as I expected…..Hey, little thing, you didn't see Zatius' corpse or grave?"

"Yes. I suspected that he might be on Earth. If that is true, then he is most likely dead," replied Reve.

By now, he knew of the connection between Mr.Owner and Circe. If there wasn't any, Circe's bed wouldn't be lying around in his abode.

Circe sighed, "Another one gone. That idiot. He should have known to wake me up before he went to Earth."

With the way she acted, Reve knew that her harsh words were just a way to hide her sorrow.

"Also, I heard of Khaos a long time ago. In the Ascension Era, he was covered with mystery. A secluded God living in his castle on the ice. It's not far from here."

She went on, "If he has designs for you, there is nothing I can do about it. You just have to get stronger to survive. Ahhh, by the way, what era is it?"

She saw the clueless look on Reve's face and chuckled, "I have lost touch with time. Meanwhile, you have no idea of time itself. Well, it doesn't matter. I have a backup for scenarios like this."

She clapped her hand and a blue light beamed in her body.

Moments later, a raven flew into the room. The raven sat on her shoulder and nudged its head on her face.

It seemed to be communicating with Circe telepathically as she kept quiet for a while, "Things have changed a lot, huh. The world is perpetually progressing. I used to think Arcadia lacked enough people with brains to pioneer eras."

She looked at Reve and introduced the raven, "Stop staring too much. She gets uncomfortable. Her name is Fyre, my contracted spiritas."

"Ohhhh," muttered Reve.

This was his first time seeing a spiritas. Heck, this was his first time hearing of a spiritas!

He could only quietly act like he wasn't weirded out by the raven, Fyre.

When he tried to send a friendly smile, she glanced at him with scornful eyes.

"She seems to not like me," said Reve.

"Guess you are too unlikeable," joked Circe.

After getting what she wanted, Circe stood up from her chair and motioned to Reve, "It is time to say farewell, little thing."

"Huh?"

"I want to sleep. Do you want to sleep with me?"

"N--No, I'm a cat," retorted Reve.

It was only later did he realize what she meant. Going by Circe's logic, she likely wanted to take at least a decade worth of sleep.

"Then that settles it, hehe, " chuckled Circe.

She guided Reve to the doorstep of the building, "It's been nice meeting you. Hope you don't die. Can't be sure in that one though….you are quite weak."

Her words were as sharp as ever as they gutted their way into Reve's head.

Before she could close the door, Reve acted on the spur, "Wait!"

"What is it, little thing?" curiously asked Circe.

Reve knew if he missed his chance he might regret it later, "You know magic, right?"

"Haha, to think there will be a day when an initiate asks me if I know magic. Do I know magic?"

"I will take that as a yes," sighed Reve.

He knew that the witch was a high-tier mage. He just wanted to confirm.

Now that he was sure, he begged her, "Please teach me magic!"

"Huh?"

"Please teach me magic," repeated Reve.

"Ahh….but I wanna sleep," said Circe.

"Please," begged Reve.

He offered to her, "Wouldn't it be interesting to teach a cat magic?"

The only thing that could make Circe not sleepy is something interesting. If not, she would have not healed him.

"Yeah, but.....I have high standards."

"I will learn. I can learn," affirmed Reve.

He chanted inwardly, 'I must learn. I can't be vulnerable again.'

He remembered the disdainful look on the terror lizard's face as it chased after him.

He could not hide his shivers as he thought of that terrific moment.

Circe saw it. She saw something familiar in it and sighed, "Fine, I will teach you.. If you don't pick up fast, I will chase you out."