"Yes, but it's nothing serious. Foster father needn't worry." Aria gently tugged on his hand and said, "Let's go in and talk."

After a while, both father and daughter pair were sitting across a small table. Old man Raku had a grave expression on his face as he gazed at her abdomen area where a ghastly black wound could be seen.

While she was travelling outside, she came across a five-star demon fighting against two humans near the southern border.

The two human mages were also five-star mages, but even then, they weren't able to kill the demon. The forest, mountains, everything around the border had been destroyed in their fight.

Seeing that it was a demon they were up against, she couldn't just ignore it. So, she joined them to kill it.

The result was as expected. Although the five-star demon was stronger than an average five-star mage, it amounted to nothing in front of a six-star mage.

After a few exchanges, the demon at his death's door, but before Aria could land the final blow, he detonated his demon core.

Self-detonation of a five-star being is usually akin to a natural disaster. It instantly killed one of the two five-star mages and seriously injured the other one.

As for Aria, because she was in the close proximity of the demon, she was subjected to full powered battering of the detonation. But as a strong king-ranked mage, she was mostly unharmed and only got a minor injury to her abdomen.

"Those damned demons! They haven't started the invasion just yet, have they?" Raku's tone was grave.

He knew every time the demons invaded, there would be massacre and destruction everywhere. Most importantly, the Greenleaf kingdom and a few nearby kingdoms would be the most affected since they were bordering the vast ocean, the entrance to this continent where the war would take place.

"No. He should be here on the reconnaissance mission. The main forces had yet to arrive or it wouldn't have been this peaceful now." Aria shook her head, her expression also grave.
She then added, "However, foster father, we have to hasten our preparation for the incoming war."

"Yes, I'll inform Ryan about this." Raku nodded.

He exhaled deeply and, glancing at her injury, he asked, "This injury, you got it because you were trying to save those human mages, right?"

Aria didn't say anything and only looked down like a kid who had made a mistake.

The old man sighed, "You girl, how many times I have to tell you, you don't have to be so kind hearted? Your life is most important."

"Now you got this injury and the demonic energy is constantly making it worse. Without a special medicine capable of cleansing this demonic energy or an emperor ranked mage's assistance, healing it would be almost impossible."

Aria nodded. She knew this injury was serious and if not treated in time, it might turn her into a mindless zombie.

"You are right, foster father. Maybe I shouldn't have done that. Not only did I get this injury, but I also wasn't able to save one of them and the one I managed to save. Well, I don't think he would survive for long, given the scope of his injuries." She sighed dejectedly.

Old man Raku didn't comment on that. He was worrying about her daughter's injury.

Seeing this, Aria smiled, "Foster father, you shouldn't worry. I know an emperor mage. I'll go to the central region and get her help."

"Oh? You know an emperor mage? That's good." Hearing this, old man Raku was relieved and smiled. If she knew an emperor mage and had his help in forcing out the demonic energy from the wound, she would be fine.

"Hmm. Oh, by the way, foster father, what did you want to talk about?" Aria asked.

"Oh right." Old man Raku remembered about Rima and smiled. "I have someone who I want you to mentor. She is like you, a sonic elemental mage."

"Oh? Who is she? How is her innate talent?" Aria's eyes gleamed, hearing that he found a sonic elemental mage for her to mentor.

Because very few people awakened the sonic element since the ancient times, despite being one of the most powerful elements, there weren't many spells related to it available which made caused the ones who did awakened this element and had good enough talent to remain mediocre for the rest of their lives.

She was the same. When she awakened her sonic element, despite having the then city lord Raku as her foster father, she couldn't find a good sonic spell to practice.

However, because she wanted to become strong and help her foster father look after the Ninam city, she started experimenting to develop her own spell. Some of her experiments almost killed her, but she never stopped and kept going.

Eventually, she developed three spells. One defensive and two offensive spells which helped her rise above her peers.

When the beast hoard attacked where the old man Raku was crippled and lost his cultivation, she had only broken through to the four-star realm, but she could easily kill a few peak four-star beasts taking no injury in return.

When the elves from the central region found out her talents, they offered her to join them there and in return, they would provide her with resources she needed to progress further and competent opponents to fight against and hone her skills, but she refused since her only dream was to help her foster father to take care of the city, especially now when he had lost his cultivation and was just a normal person.

There was another thing she wanted, which was to pass on her spells to other sonic elemental mages so they wouldn't have to go through to the same period of powerlessness. However, she never found someone who awakened the sonic element in the city.

Seeing the eagerness in her eyes, old man Raku smiled. "Her talent is not bad, and she is someone who I know very well..."

He continued to tell how they met her and how her friends saved them from certain death. "So, after I found out that she also was a sonic elemental mage, I decided to return the favor by letting her learn under you."

It enraged aria beyond limits when she heard how her beloved foster father, foster mother and little Arya were captured and were about to be sacrificed by the dark mages.

If it wasn't for her foster father sitting there in front of her alive and well, she might've gone crazy right there.

After she calmed down, old man Raku smiled and asked, "So, would you take her as your disciple?"


If it was someone else instead of Rima, a human, he wouldn't have to ask this question, but since she was a human, the race which Aria hated the most for killing her family and kidnapping her to sell off, he wasn't so sure if she would accept taking her as her disciple even if she was a sonic elemental mage.

This was why he mentioned how her friends were their saviors and he intended to return the favor by doing this.

****

Merry Christmas guys