Danmachi – Card Wizard

"Well, in the end, we managed to explore half of the fourth floor. By the next time we enter the dungeon, we will have completed the beginner floors." Exclaimed Aidan happily.

"According to the guild, from the fifth to the seventh floor, we need at least G in our stats." Added Ais as they walked back to the Loki familia. The executives left to complete their duties after notifying them that they would train the next day.​​

"Well, in that case, how about the next time we enter the dungeon, we complete the fourth floor, and we train a bit on it? Afterwards, we can go and see Loki-sama to update our status to enter the fifth floor." Asked Aidan.

"Hum." Nodded Ais as they finally arrived in front of the Loki familia manor.

"Alright, it's already late, and I'm tired. Good night. I'll see you tomorrow morning at the training ground." Said Aidan as he waved Ais goodnight and entered his room to get ready for sleep.

---

The following day, after a quick breakfast at the cafeteria, Aidan made his way to the training ground of the familia. He could already see about a dozen members of the familia sparring each other or simply preparing for their dive as they reverified everything they had in their bags while waiting for their teammates.

After waiting for about ten minutes to strengthen his cards, Ais arrived, quickly followed by Finn and Riveria, who had decided to spend some time training them during the morning.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" Asked the pallum as he approached them with his spear swung over his shoulder.

"Good morning." Answered Aidan as he nodded his head at his question.

"Alright. Before we start, do you have any questions?" Asked the captain of the familia as he stared at the two seven-year-old adventurers with a smile.

"Yes, is there a reason why the two of you train us? We are only new adventurers of the familia, and the two of you are executives. I'm sure you have more important business to deal with than to train us both." Asked Aidan as he was genuinely curious about this matter. He and Ais were both new adventurers who had never even had the chance to enter the fifth floor of the dungeon. However, both executives had spent the entire day the previous day accompanying them and offer them bits of advice, and they would spend even more time during this day to help them train.

Aidan was sure that there were almost no other recruits if there was even one, who could enjoy this privilege. After all, the Loki familia had thousands of members, mostly level 1 and 2, but there were effortlessly a few level 3 and level 4. There was no way every single one of them had the chance to be privately taught by two of the most influential members of the familia.

Being stared at inquisitively from Aidan, Finn only showed a complicated smile while letting the bottom of his spear touch the ground. "Indeed, it was Loki who asked us to do this. She wants to make sure that the two of you want to stay with the familia and sign the contract."

"The contract?" Asked Aidan once again as Ais fixed Finn to hear his answer.

"Yes, a contract. The biggest familia such as us, the Freya familia, the Hephaestus familia, the Ganesha familia, and most of the other big familia make the adventurers sign contracts a week after being accepted.

This contract exists so that the adventurers who received many benefits from a familia don't simply jump ship to another one after profiting from a familia. The first week in the familia shows what you could gain from us while also understanding the recruits' nature and potential. It also allows us to see who we are more willing to invest in." Explained Finn as Riveria interrupted a few times to clarify some points.

"Do you understand?" Asked the captain as he looked at both children, who were a bit taller than him.

"Yes." Answered Aidan as he nodded his head in understanding.

"Alright then, let's start." Said the pallum as he took his spear from the ground. "Well, firstly, do some swordsmanship training for the both of you. Now, I don't use a sword, as you can see. So, we will spar together as this is the best training for the two of you currently." He continued, restraining his power to a level 1 and suddenly rushing towards Aidan and making a piercing attack with his spear.

Aidan only had enough time to take his still sheathed sword and block the attack with the sheat as he rapidly moved back to draw his sword to parry the second attack. He immediately threw his scabbard in Finn's face, who immediately evaded only to see Aidan's sword piercing directly towards the middle of his body.

With a smile on his face as he was once again surprised at Aidan's talent as he didn't hesitate for a moment to use his scabbard as a distraction to try and land a hit, he continued to attack the young boy who did his best to evade the strikes or block them with his sword.

As the small captain was increasing his advantage, Aidan focused on his sheath, and it immediately appeared in his left hand as Aidan used it to block the strike and took the chance to almost scratch Finn, who was too surprised by the appearing scabbard. However, even if he was surprised, he still evaded as if nothing was wrong as he took some distance from Aidan.

"How did you make the scabbard appear in your hand again?" Asked the captain, who had been extremely surprised.

"Well, my equipment which includes my clothes, my deck of cards, my sword and its scabbard, are all linked to me. As such, I can call them back whenever I feel like it so that I don't lose them." Explained Aidan with a smile as he was pretty proud to have managed to almost hurt his captain, who had restrained his powers back to level 1.

With slightly widening eyes, Finn hurriedly spoke. "Do you mean that you can call them whenever you want? For example, when you threw your scabbard at me, you could have immediately called it back?"

"Hum? Yes, I can." Answered Aidan simply as he threw his scabbard to his right but called it back before it touched the ground, making it appear back directly in his hand.

"Hum, I see." Nodded the captain as he held his chin in deep thoughts. "If you can recall it whenever you want, then you could use this function to make surprise attacks which would work on both the monsters and adventurers as no one would expect a sword or a scabbard to materialize in someone's hands."

"Alright, let's continue fighting." Said the pallum as he immediately charged at Aidan, this time being more careful of being distracted with either his sword or scabbard.

---

Two hours later, as Aidan was panting heavily due to the non-stop fighting they had done, the captain stopped attacking and motioned at Riveria, who was training Ais's 'Wind slash' magic to trade of students.

With a nod, the beautiful elf stopped Ais, who was training to increase her magic release rate, increase her accuracy and its destructive power.

"Alright, Aidan. You did well in those two hours. You will go with Riveria, who will help you with your card magic while I train with Ais." Said the pallum as he turned towards Ais, who was walking towards him.

Taking a water pouch from his storage card to drink a bit, he stored it back after seeing that everyone else was still okay as he had been the only one to use a lot of physical energy during the fight as Finn was playing around with him. Ais's training with the elf focused on the magic portion, which didn't impact the body much.

Immediately walking up to the green-eyed elf, the two sat down on a small table on the side of the training ground as Aidan's magic training would only focus on creating cards and strengthening them.