"I ca to discuss our next Beyond Expedition. You’re the most sociable person in our little group, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble planning everything out with the others. Soph and Grumpy can help, too, if you’re willing to talk to them. CarrotCake joining could work as well, but I know if I try to speak with him personally, he’ll only want to fight . I would appreciate it if you organised everything and helped us set a schedule," I tell Leticia after Luna brings to her.
The young woman sighs, "And I thought you ca to catch up and chat."
"I'm busy."
"You keep dying, even as we speak."
"Why is it that everyone can tell?" I complain.
"Not everyone. I'm just that skilled," Leticia smiles. "But I don't mind organizing things. It is a request from one of Earth's most powerful, so why not, if only to maintain good relationships."
"Sounds good to . I’ll make sure to pay you back for all the trouble."
"Well, first, maybe be a bit nicer to us during the events. Luna and I might get traumatized," Leticia says, looking at the golden retriever who imdiately starts nodding in agreent, before looking back at . "It’s just a joke before you decide to take it too seriously."
"Got it."
"You know, you got all curious. A lot of people know you can use kinetic energy pretty well, but what you showed during the last event... that was sothing else."
"It's not sothing I want to talk about."
Sothing in my tone seems to startle Luna. She whimpers softly and, with lowered ears, pokes my side, forcing to look down at her. She nudges repeatedly until, with a sigh, I pet her.
Luna said she used to be a guide dog for Leticia, who was blind before the tutorial. Still, isn't she a perceptive little thing?
"Well, I won't press you for information then. Just a warning though: there are already other rounds conspiring against you, and..."
"It doesn't matter," I say as I get up from the chair. "Thank you for the warning, but I don't even care if they co at all at once. I'll see you later."
I wave them off and teleport away, finding myself back in my workshop, where I take a mont to think about what I’ve just been told.
Yes, I don't mind even if the other rounds gang up against . In fact, in my current state, I would probably welco it.
Lily, Sophie, the twins, Savant, and I are all sitting in our living room with the Sword of Aeons laid out on the table.
The most cowardly guy in the world is acting like everything’s perfectly normal, but he still looks completely out of place sitting here. I’ve barely interacted with him, and from what the others have said, he rarely speaks to anyone else. Every now and then, he shows up to make a trade, always offering so obscure bit of knowledge or so item he’s picked up on the floors.
He never gives anything away for free. He never helps out or throws in anything extra, always sticking exactly to what was agreed. I can't say I mind that. A purely transactional relationship works fine for .
I still have two more two-hour-long lessons in kinetic energy with him, according to our deal. In exchange, I get mana stones with various bits of knowledge, mainly related to inscribing items and the usage of thermal energy he got from who knows where.
And we’re still helping him with the Sword of Aeons as well. He wants us to fix so of the lted inscriptions on the blade. As far as I’m concerned, just having the opportunity to work on the best mana battery on Eladore is enough to be worth the effort. Not that I’m going to tell him that.
Lastly, and this part is mostly for Lily, he needs help with his hand, the one that once belonged to a lumoran Champion. I doubt he absorbed it just for the Champion grade bones and whatever else ca with it. From the way he spoke, I have a strong feeling that he did it to make handling the Sword of Aeons easier, though I still don’t understand how. I’m relying on Lily to figure that out.
At first, I thought it might be dumb to rely so heavily on an item, but the more we work and talk, the stronger my suspicion grows. This maniac of a cowardly man seems determined to repair the Sword of Aeons as much as possible for one reason.
To absorb it later.
What a brilliant idea coming from soone so cowardly.
Of course, I'm sure there are things he wants to gain by working with us, beyond the services he’s commissioned. The asshole is very, very intently observing everything that happens, and I'm even sure he’s planning to absorb bits of Lily's healing to examine later, the sa way he did with that tiny piece of black mana.
He’s very shrewd, so I observe everything that happens carefully and maintain communication with the others through our link. I have to keep Lily, Sophie, and the twins from giving him too much after all. If he wants more, he’ll have to pay more.
At the sa ti, I also try to gain as much as possible from him. I keep my eyes active at all tis, paying special attention to every ti he uses [Absorption] or so other skill.
As for the reward for helping with his hand, I'll leave that to Lily to decide since she'll be the one dealing with it. I just need to make sure our silly terminator doesn't get scamd or choose sothing that'll end up being a gift for later. She is very capable in that regard.
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Days pass like this. It’s the biggest break yet leading up to the last event, and everyone is training or preparing as much as possible.
Lissandra hasn't contacted since the start of the 4th event. It makes nervous, but also more determined at the sa ti. While I'm sure that Izzy and I understand her properly and she won't call out for the way I dealt with the 4th event, but at the sa ti, both I and our empath are fairly certain that she’ll punish for the offense by making the last event that much more difficult for .
Victoria visits often now that both of us have a bit more ti. It still feels strange seeing her here, but not in a bad way. I can tell she's holding herself back a lot. She and her group should be able to do so much more during the events.
Other than that, Myrra is spending a lot of ti here as well. She trains and spars frequently, revealing more and more of her real strength. She’s stronger than Maya; she can beat Sophie, the twins, and Min-Jae quite easily. Only Lily causes her trouble.
One day, Jean even cos by, but not to challenge . He warns that a bunch of people from his group have asked him to join forces with them to take down group 4, but he rejected it and decided to do whatever he wants. After saying that, he notices Myrra and challenges her to a fight.
Even though it is close, Myrra loses three tis in a row because of his ridiculous strength and that physique of his that counters mana users.
Surprisingly, they actually seem to hit it off because of their similar personalities, and despite being surrounded by others, they continue to shout their la jokes and laugh at the dumbest things they can think of.
The arcane item I’ve been making for Channeler is nearly finished, and as promised, I’ve invited Miwa to observe whenever she wants. She’s already committed to working exclusively with group 4, and Channeler simply acts as if it were the obvious outco.
Channeler and Maya are the ones who deal with people most of the ti, now that Tess isn't here. They both turn out to be really good at it, and Maya’s taken to calling herself my knight and claiming that she has the ability to summon .
It isn't even entirely wrong, thanks to the Ley Lines, I’ve connected to everyone.
anwhile, the other attendees avoid Sophie as much as they can, even most of those in Hell difficulty. She doesn't seem to mind and seems just fine being with her sister and the rest of our group.
Tent Creep is still ranked first among crafters, with so guy nad Mateo in a close second. Miwa is now in 8th place, probably dropping from 5th because she spends so much ti observing my work. But she doesn’t seem to regret it in the least.
A few tis, I try to reach the 7th round zone to find that gray kitten, but I can't find it. It's gone, and no one seems to know where it went. I co across a few more animals in other zones: a horse, a hawk, so more cats and dogs, a few rats, and others. So of them can talk, others can't, and their strengths vary a lot. A few are on the sa level as Luna, but none are as strong as Biscuit or as unsettling as the gray kitten.
I also find out from Lily and Izzy that Tacita will likely be cooperating with the other rounds during the final event.
It seems she wasn’t too happy about us working with Savant.
POV Myrra
The feral one's sister sits there in her usual fashion, perfectly straight, with her clothes neatly arranged and her hands resting in her lap as if she were posing for a portrait or simply pretending to sit like a normal human without really knowing how to pull it off.
While we wait for the feral one to return from his workshop, the rest of his group seems to be handling her with a sort of awkward tension. They try to make conversation, and she follows along effortlessly. She answers questions, asks her own, always with perfectly asured politeness. Not once does she seem annoyed, upset, or bothered by any awkward silence.
I hate it. I hate it so much. It's a facade I can see right through, even if it manages to fool so of group 4’s mbers. She's always polite and pleasant, always knowing exactly what to say or ask.
Then, as if it were planned, she shifts the direction of the conversation. “There is sothing I felt the need to say if you do not mind.”
"Sure, you don't have to ask," says the mindblender girl, as the feral one likes to call her, smiling.
"Thank you, Sophie. It is a bit more serious than our normal conversation." Victoria looks around, as if making sure that everyone’s listening, then nods. "This tournant is coming to an end, and I won’t be able to see you anymore, so I want to make sure that things are clear. If I co off as offensive, I would only ask that you not take it as a sign of hostility. I just want to make my stance obvious, and you are free to ask as many questions as you want to confirm it."
She looks around the room again, and the atmosphere grows colder.
"While I do respect my brother's decision to befriend you all, it is not the sort of thing I think will be ideal or optimal for him, but it is his decision to make. Even though I am personally against it, I still like to see him having fun. To , he is like a child discovering new things, but unlike him, I do not think this," she gestures around, "will work out. Not in this place and not in this tutorial. But it is his mistake to make and his lesson to learn, so I will be there for him when it all breaks down in the end."
Victoria adjusts her already perfect clothes, always so composed and logical.
"Please do not take this to an that I bear any ill will toward you in particular. While I think so of you may be using my brother for your own safety and would otherwise be dead without him, I also believe you that you are offering him sothing he thinks he wants in return. Rather than acting as simple parasites, you are living in symbiosis with him. Even though I still think you may be taking more than you give, my brother seems to believe the opposite, so I can accept that."
No one else speaks as she looks around the room. "I do understand that it might co off as insulting and offensive and that your emotions might lead you to dislike because of it, but I believe it’s sothing that needs to be said. Simply put, I want my brother to be happy, even if only for a few weeks or months, and I want him to experience the kind of things he missed out on as a child. But I also want to give you a warning: do not abuse my brother's nature."
She doesn’t say what will happen if that were to occur, but the implications are more than clear.
So of the others look at her as if they’re seeing her for the first ti. Others glance around nervously as if waiting for soone to say it’s a joke. One or two, though, seem like they were expecting this.
I then rember her interaction with Lissandra when they t just a few hours ago. Even then, Victoria didn’t seem to hesitate, not even in the face of that woman, going so far as to say, "No, I refuse to do what you ask to when it cos to my brother. You might think I stand against you so easily because I cannot die within the tournant, but I can assure you I would say exactly the sa thing even if real death were possible."
Lissandra said, "I can see that you aren't lying."
"I am not. While I do not wish to die yet, I am not afraid of it. Do not think I have not seen what you have done to my brother. I have overlooked it to a point because I believe it will help him to grow stronger and because he has not asked for my help, but at the sa ti, I cannot help but deeply dislike you, Lady Lissandra."
"I thought of you as a more logical person."
"But I believe this is entirely logical. My brother is a person I love deeply. So, is it not reasonable that I would see things differently when he is involved?"
"This is sothing I can sowhat agree with," Lissandra said as if dissecting a theory. "Protecting soone often requires more than words. I am curious. How far does your logic take you when it cos to removing others? How many deaths would you accept to ensure his safety?"
And back then, with the sa calm tone she’s always used, Victoria replied, "I do not count things like that. It suggests there is a limit."
She said this so casually that it took a mont for to realize what she’d actually said.
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