I Refused To Be Reincarnated

"We can try," Adam said, his voice filled with reluctance and hesitation. Despite their victory against the dullahan, fighting any other tier-four creature would challenge their limits like never before. After all, they wouldn't have Morgane's weakening magic circle to help, and the Luminous Wildblade wouldn't be a game-changer. Experience tales at empire

'We just need not enter one of those five rooms before finding the grimoire,' Adam thought, drawing motivation from the statistics. With much lower chances of landing in trouble than the opposite, and with Nova's blessing, he believed they safely could explore for a while.

"So? What do you think?" Elysia asked, her green eyes shining with hope.

"Let us study the map for the day and explain how we'll infiltrate. We can try tomorrow at dawn," Adam replied, unwilling to waste time and let stress build up.

Following his answer, Elysia cheerfully balled her fist before detailing her ideas. Initially, she wanted to use a nature spell to make Adam undetectable by covering his aura. However, she frowned at the boy. With Julius added to the mix, she would have to spend more mana, limiting the effect's duration.

But to her surprise, Adam materialised his coat, proudly saying, "I don't need to cover my aura. I have special equipment of the four-tier that does that already."

"How can a ghost wear equipment?!" She asked in bewilderment, her eyes widening. 'Shouldn't it phase through his ethereal frame? Why did it look spectral?' She wondered, discovering soul equipment for the first time.

"I don't know. I'll study the topic next year," answered Adam before moving to make his long coat flutter to act cool.

"..." Elysia lost her voice momentarily, snapping her lips tightly. 'Do I tell him he looked much worse with that on?' She thought, doing her best not to explode into laughter.

Simultaneously, Julius shook his head bitterly, thinking, 'As long as he is happy, I should let him expose that ugly coat.'

After that brief pause, Elysia analysed the equipment's effects, nodding in satisfaction five minutes later. "Even if I focus, I can't feel you if you don't use mana after removing my earring," she said, new options popping into her mind.

With more mana at her disposal, she explained how she could cast another natural spell potent enough to turn someone invisible for five minutes. The time was short but sufficient for the duo to cross a few hundred meters while she wreaked havoc to draw the guards.

Excitement bubbled into the trio's hearts as time flew by. The rising sun rapidly descended, casting a beautiful orange hue on the enchanting natural city before Elysia clapped her hands. "I think we are done with the talking. I'll go out to bring back food. Then, we'll rest," she said, rising from her seat and heading towards the door.

***

After returning, she placed a strange dish void of animal proteins before Julius.

As the boy's frown deepened at the grains and vegetables on his plate, Adam said, "Where is the meat?"

"My family encourages a harmonious life with the flora and fauna. So, we rarely eat meat in this city," explained Elysia, taking her teacher's tone. After all, some vegetables were rich in protein too, making meat unnecessary with the proper diet.

"What's next? Are you going to tell us we should eat insects, too?!" Adam exclaimed, trying to slap the table in vain. "Imagine I did it!" He added before resuming his meat conversation.

"The boy likes meat. Chicken, beef, fish, monster. Bring him anything!" He said, imagining himself in Julius's shoes. He carefully planned the boy's dishes for as long as he could remember and couldn't tolerate seeing him underfed. Especially before such a critical operation.

"Teacher, why do I see you eat meat every day at the canteen..." Julius asked, feeling scammed. Vegetables were tolerable because he had meat on the side. Without it, he felt no different from a sheep munching grass.

"Tsk. I didn't know you spied on me during launch time!" Reproached Elysia before fishing wrapped dried meat from her robe's inner pocket. "At least I won't need to act," she added, smiling as she gave half to the boy.

Despite her family's encouragement, she loved meat and wouldn't renounce the pleasure of consuming it without good reasons. After all, who said elves were vegetarians? Most devoured several dozen kilograms worth of meat every month.

After a hearty meal, the group went to sleep, planning to wake up before sunrise the following morning to infiltrate the underground before the guard's shift changed.

***

Adam reached for the sleeping boy, shaking him gently as his voice sounded In the dark living room, "Wake up, Julius."

Snapping his eyes open, the boy said, "I'm ready, big bro. Let me put my equipment on." However, his face paled as his words exited his mouth. His brand-new items were still stored in his dorm's room!

"Took you time to realise it," snickered Adam, pointing his finger at a small magic circle drawn next to him. "Your negligence cost me two hundred gold," he added before pushing him inside.

The symbols came to life as a blinding white light engulfed the boy, forcing him to cover his face hurriedly.

Confused and afraid of this sudden development, he rapidly scanned his surroundings once the light dimmed, only to widen his eyes in shock.

"Hee?!" He yelled, causing an angry shout to echo.

"Let me sleep, or I'll slap you with a fire hand!" Screamed the somnolent Arun, turning on his bed because of the sudden noise.

Realising he wasn't dreaming, Julius asked, unable to make sense of the situation, "How are we back in my room?"

"Elena's mentor teleportation circle," Adam briefly answered, materialising two mages' hands to grab the boys' equipment before pushing him out and into the circle.

The same scene happened again. Upon reappearing in Elysia's living room, Adam rapidly blew mana on the symbols to erase them, unwilling to leave any trace of their existence.

Then, he explained, "It can only activate for around fifteen seconds with the material's energy." Then, he smiled playfully, adding, "What? Did you think I wouldn't try to use it? Naive boy."