Wearing a hood, the scent of distrust was something you could sense even without seeing their faces.

They quickly waved their hands in denial.

"Ah~ ah, don’t look at us like that." "We know it looks suspicious, but just hear us out."

The two men first introduced themselves.

"I'm Burke. A martial artist." "Shawn. An elemental mage. My main attribute is wind."

They briefly demonstrated aura and wind elemental magic to establish some credibility.

Judging by the flow of magic, they weren't deceiving us with illusions. Aura and magic cannot coexist. Considering that, it was clear they were revealing more than half of their power.

"What rank are you?"

"Ah, I’m a senior candidate. This guy is just a regular."

Burke answered. So, a senior candidate, huh? That still just meant he was a regular, didn’t it?

It felt like a student bragging about being admitted to a prestigious university but still having to pass the final exams. If they failed, they would just be another regular applicant.

"We’re also not officially tied to any guild or school. It’s hard to find work that way." "We?" "People who walk around in hoods are usually freelancers, you know? Those with backing tend to show it off. The more solid the backing, the more they flaunt it."

Burke’s explanation made sense. Indeed, if you had strong support, there was no reason to hide it.

"But can three novices even be of any help?" "Hmm, I think so. Right, Shawn?" "Yeah. What we need are people to supply magic alongside me. All three of you are mages, right? It’s good to have automatic magic defense, but you should also remember that it reveals you as a mage."

Just from a few words, it was clear that they were experienced explorers, sharp in their observations.

"And why do you need magic…" "Stop right there! Any further and you're asking for trade secrets."

Shawn cut me off.

Trade secrets, huh? Were they worried we’d take the information and run?

"Let us think about it for a moment."

With that, I led my team a bit away from them. At this point, it was a well-practiced routine. Leif quickly set up a barrier to block sound. It wasn’t as perfect as something from a specialized barrier mage (Sanctuarier) like Holson, but it was enough to block sound.

"Are we really going to follow them?"

Ray asked, shrugging her shoulders.

"It doesn’t seem like a bad idea. We were planning to head to the floating island anyway." "My gut’s telling me they’re up to something."

Ray crossed her fingers, which, though usually a gesture for luck, also meant "false" or "deceptive" in explorer's sign language. It was a signal between explorers meaning, this is a trap, or they’re lying.

"I think the same." "I know."

They had tried to deceive us by showing their aura and magic, but only an idiot would believe that without question.

Having been enslaved once due to blind trust, I couldn’t trust so easily anymore.

"Well, if something goes wrong, we can just run."

With Axis and teleportation, I could measure the coordinates and take both of them with me if need be.

"True. At worst, Leif and I could handle them ourselves."

Ray was being her usual stubborn self. She could have just admitted she wanted to see the floating island.

"You're really just trusting Roman, aren’t you? You know that, right?"

With that, the decision was made.

"Ah~ you made the right choice."

When we agreed to join them, Burke greeted us with a cheerful and enthusiastic welcome.

"When else would we get a chance to visit the floating island?" "That’s true."

I casually played along with Burke’s words.

"The floating island we found is quite a distance away." "Hmm." "Hey, don’t be like that. It’s not a trap or anything."

Burke was a surprisingly easygoing guy.

Even over the course of several days of travel, he managed to keep things entertaining by telling us amusing stories of his experiences. Shawn would occasionally chime in with comments, showing that the two had been a team for a long time.

"You’ve been with Shawn for a while?" "Yeah, it’s been three years now." "Four years, actually." "Already? Time flies, huh. We basically teamed up right after getting our licenses." "More or less."

As their trip down memory lane continued, we also started talking amongst ourselves.

"We’re getting close, aren’t we?"

Ray pointed upwards. Floating in the sky was the island. We were definitely getting closer.

"It’s pretty high."

Leif, with one eye closed and holding her staff, stretched out her hand like a surveyor.

"Oh… Leif, I didn’t know you could do triangulation."

Leif was a mage too. I always thought she was just a typical caster relying on spirits, but she was actually calculating magic formulas through proper measurement.

"Eh, I’m just copying what I saw…."

Ah…

"Hey, we’re almost there. Let’s get started."

Unlike Burke calling us over, Shawn was busy drawing a magic circle on the ground.

'Is that a summoning circle?'

It looked somewhat different, but it resembled a demon summoning circle in its overall design. Of course, it could just be a magic circle meant to amplify a spell.

'Are they planning to use us as sacrifices?'

As I was carefully observing the magic circle, Ray asked Burke.

"Couldn’t we get closer to the floating island?" "Yeah, but keeping this distance is better. That guy over there—" he pointed to Shawn "—said so."

Having finished drawing the magic circle, Shawn began explaining.

"I’m going to summon my familiar, and we’ll ride it up." "A familiar? You’re a summoner too?" "Elemental mages often take on a second job."

Just like Alejandra, who mastered multiple elements, or others who dabbled in different classes. Elemental mages usually didn’t just focus on a single element.

"Anyway, my familiar is costly to maintain." "So you want us to supply magic?" "Exactly."

Shawn stepped aside and guided us to the magic circle. Within the outer ring of symbols, there were three empty spaces.

The structure was such that we’d inscribe our names, contributing our magic as a collective effort.

"There don’t seem to be any traps."

Leif whispered to me.

I agreed.

Shawn wasn’t pulling out of the circle, and we’d be splitting the magic load evenly.

"Alright, let’s do it."

Ray seemed to agree, quickly writing her name. Leif and I followed suit, completing the magic circle.

"Great! Let’s begin."

Shawn began chanting. As soon as the summoning was invoked, a massive shadow loomed over us, accompanied by a burst of magical light.

Something diamond-shaped was floating above us.

While we stared up at it, Shawn proudly introduced it.

"You’ve never seen anything like this before, huh? Understandable. It’s a creature from the third layer of the Abyss. This guy is…." "It’s a stingray." "What?" "It’s a stingray."

It was larger than usual, but its appearance was unmistakable. If I had to describe it, I’d call it a gigantic, charismatic stingray.

'I’ve seen documentaries about whale-sized stingrays before. Is it one of those?'

However, this creature had a significant difference from a regular stingray. This one was flying through the sky.

"No, you're wrong! It’s a Stormray." "Stormray…?"

Leif whispered the name and glanced over at Ray. Ray, noticing Leif’s gaze, snapped irritably.

"I know what you're thinking, but say it and I’ll kill you." "…Pfft."

Leif, unable to contain her laughter, covered her mouth under her hood.

That was the last straw for Ray.

"You’re dead!"

Ignoring their bickering, I focused on the stingray.

"Can we really ride that?" "Yeah, I’ll use my magic to lift us up. Aren’t you going to stop them?" "Kids grow by fighting. They’ll stop on their own."

Those two could be so childish. I definitely wasn’t imagining Ray saying Stormray crash! in a storm.

"So, we’ll ride this to the floating island?" "Exactly. I could fly myself with wind magic, but taking others with me would be too much. I don’t have that much mana."

That’s why they needed us as magic suppliers.

"Hey, Leif, Ray, cut it out and come over here. We’re heading up."

"…Fine, we’ll settle this later." "Stormray…" "Argh! It’s spelled differently!"

With some effort, we all climbed onto the Stormray. Landing it directly would’ve taken more mana, apparently.

Once everyone was on its back, the Stormray took flight.

Not long after we started flying, Burke and Shawn’s attitudes suddenly changed.

"Man, those guys were exhausting." "Well, it worked out in the end."

Burke grumbled, and Shawn chuckled.

"What’s wrong? Tired already? Those guys don’t have much mana, do they?" "Seems like beastfolk aren’t that special after all. They’re just beginners who couldn’t even figure out the structure of the magic circle."

They were speaking as if we had already been neutralized.

"Shall we relieve some stress now? Acting all nice was exhausting." "Take it easy. They’re probably out of mana by now. Without magic defense, one hit could kill them." "I know, I’ve done this enough times."

So the magic circle wasn’t just to share mana, but to drain more than necessary? I thought the magic circle looked a bit off.

But they were out of luck because we had plenty of mana left.

"You shouldn’t have messed with us."

"Huh?"

As water from the atmosphere condensed into Undine’s form and Ray’s fists glowed with silver light, it was clear that our supposed mana exhaustion was far from reality.

"Wait, what? What’s going on?"

Finally, Shawn seemed to realize what was happening, but his reaction was far too slow.

Although he tried to channel his mana, nothing happened.

"What’s wrong, Shawn?" "M-my mana, my mana is… gone!"

The magic circle took more mana from us than from Shawn. If we contributed nine units of mana, Shawn only had to supply one. But that also meant if I gave nine units of mana, Ray and Leif didn’t need to contribute anything, and Shawn would have to provide ten units.

"What’s wrong? Out of mana already?"

I asked mockingly as Shawn gasped for breath. He couldn’t even answer as he desperately tried to undo the summoning, but it was too late.

A summoner without mana has no control over their familiar.

The moment Shawn lost his mana, control of the familiar passed to the one who contributed the most mana.

In other words, this stingray now belonged to me.