According to Freya, the bracelet had been restricting Atlas' ability since he was little, but the inscription seal seemed to have weakened a lot recently, and now he was at least at the level of a level one sorcerer.
If he wanted access to all his power, then he would have to take off the bracelet; Freya could tell he didn't want to do that, so she didn't press him on it.
She stared at the bracelet for a while with a frown before turning away.
"How strong exactly is a level one sorcerer?" Atlas asked.
He wanted to know if he would be able to protect himself with his current level of power.
"Have you seen fortune tellers or diviners?" She asked as she rubbed her forehead with her left hand.
"Yeah, I know about those."
"While most of those people might be scams, a few of them are actually level one sorcerers. They don't have the strength to deal with troublesome ghosts so they rely on that to make a living." She explained.
"So, level one sorcerers can't deal with ghosts?" The disappointment in his voice was clear.
"Not necessarily." She shook her head. "They can handle D missions with low-level ghosts."
That explanation didn't really offer any help to Atlas.
"We're basically saying the same thing." He sighed.
"Don't worry; as long as you pretend not to see, certain ghosts won't bother you, and to be honest, most of them can't touch you."
Atlas was about to ask why they couldn't touch him when a phone began to ring; he could tell it wasn't his because that wasn't his ringtone.
Freya quickly pulled out her phone from her pocket and placed it against her ear.
"Hm." She uttered. "I've taken care of it. Alright, senior."
She hung up the call after that and turned to Atlas who was now looking at him in a weird way.
She thought he wanted her to explain and she was about to do that when he asked a question.
"Do all sorcerers of your level go around dealing with troublesome ghosts?"
Hearing that question, the corners of Freya's mouth couldn't help but twitch.
"Do I look that free to you?"
"Huh?"
"I mean, nobody wastes their time like that." She said,
"Then why are you doing it?" Atlas asked, looking a bit confused.
Before answering that question, Freya couldn't help but sigh in exasperation.
"Because I get paid for it, see."
She raised her phone to show him the bank transfer she just received.
Atlas' eyes almost fell out of his eye sockets at the sight of those numbers.
"Twenty million storias?!"
"Hm." She nodded, nonchalantly.
Most people in the country couldn't even make up to five million Storias in a year no matter how hard they worked, yet this girl made twenty million Storias in a day.
Aware of what he was thinking, Freya said, "It wasn't made in a day; it took a while to track the ghost because it left after dealing with the people in this neighbourhood; luckily, it didn't kill anyone else."
'Then it took a few days then. What difference does it make?' Atlas thought.
It was absurd but his rationality could tell that it made sense given how dangerous a job like this is.
Atlas refrained from probing any further after that and went upstairs with her.
He showed her to the guest room, which was just beside his room, before retiring to his room, failing to notice that she wanted to say something to him.
Throughout the night, Atlas had a series and series of nightmares; one moment, he was falling into a bottomless pit, and the next, he was getting chased by a horde of ghosts.
When he opened his eyes the next morning, he found himself holding onto a talisman from which he could feel a calming warmth flowing into his body.
A subtle smile appeared on his face as he shifted his gaze to the door.
"Thank you." He muttered.
Normal people might not be able to hear a whisper that low, but Freya heard it very clearly, and she couldn't help but smile.
"You're welcome."
There wasn't much interaction between the two as they just ate a simple breakfast and headed off to school together.
At first, Atlas thought that since their destination was the same place, then there was no reason not to share a taxi together, but even after entering the campus, Freya seemed to be still sticking by closely behind him.
After walking for a while and discovering that she had no intention of changing directions, Atlas let out a sigh before turning to her.
"You…."
"We're heading the same way," Freya said before he could say anything.
"That's….."
"Atlas?"
The person who just called out to Atlas was one of his close friends, Henry Anson.
Atlas recognized his voice so he gave up the impending argument with Freya and turned to him.
"Hey….."
His eyes suddenly widened in shock as he felt his words suddenly caught in his throat.
He had prepared himself for what was to come after everything that happened last night, but seeing it again, he couldn't help reacting like this.
To ordinary people, all they would see is Atlas and Henry having a conversation facing each other but Atlas could tell there was another person.
A young girl of about five or six years old, she was sticking closely beside Henry and the lower part of her white dress was covered in blood.
"Atlas?"
Seeing his friend looking like he was about to go into a seizure, Henry couldn't help feeling startled.
He tried to reach out and touch Atlas' face but Freya reacted first, leaning closer to him.
"She's harmless." She whispered into his ears.
"Harmless?"
"Yes, she doesn't have any negative energy and will enter the path of reincarnation soon."
Although her words weren't enough to dispel all of his scepticism, he was no longer as apprehensive.
Seeing Freya move away from Atlas, Henry couldn't help but give them a strange look of suspicion.
"Um….you two…"
"We'll talk later, I have something to do."
Atlas didn't give Henry the chance to raise any questions and quickly escaped.
"See you, senior," Freya said before quickly following Atlas.
Watching the two of them fleeing, Henry could only sigh as he shook his head.
It didn't take long for Freya to catch up to Atlas who was now walking normally.
"Why is there a ghost around Henry?"
The question was for Freya but he kept looking ahead.
"Did anyone around him die recently?"
"Anyone around him? I heard his uncle's family was in an accident a week ago, and his five-year-old cousin passed away in the process….."
In the middle of saying that, Atlas couldn't help but gasp in shock before turning to Freya.
"Yes." She nodded to confirm the question at the tip of his tongue. "She might have died early, but she doesn't have any resentment, so she didn't gather any negative energy; she probably came to see her cousin because she missed him."
"Oh, they must have been close," Atlas muttered.
"Seems like it."
"Will she end up in a good family in her next life?" Atlas asked.
"I don't have any control over that, but seeing that she has done no wrong even as a ghost, it's most likely," Freya responded.
Atlas only nodded with a low "hm"
As they got closer to her destination, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a talisman.
"Here." She said, handing him the talisman.
"What's this for?"
"A calming talisman. The next time you see a ghost, it'll help your emotions from fluctuating too much; it'll take a while for you to fully adjust to all of this."
Atlas didn't reject her kindness and accepted the talisman, the corners of his lips curling up unknowingly.
"Thank you." He said. "I've seen your trapping and calming talismans. Are there any other kinds of talismans?" He asked.
"Hm. There are other kinds of talismans but you'll have to pay if you want those?"
"How much?"
"One hundred and fifty thousand Storias for the calming talismans; the others are a bit more expensive, and there's no discount." She flashed him a smile before running off to the building toward the left.
"It's expensive."
Atlas stared at the talisman in his hand and smiled before putting it away in his pocket.
This one gesture would end up making it to the top of the school forum and not in a positive way.