Chapter 663 - Just one more day

“You can pet Biscuit twice if you tell me what those lines are,” I tell Maya.

“Sorry to tell you, but Biscuit is surprisingly cheap. He lets us pet him just for a few pieces of any smoked meat. He tried to make some on his own, but it went badly, so he relies on us to do it.”

As she talks, her [Focus] completely turns off, and her expression shifts back to her usual one. A bit sarcastic in her way of speaking, but easy to talk to, and someone who likes to smile.

Biscuit’s terrible sense of economy aside, I'm really curious. Maya was the first to come up with mana armor and later, mana mecha. The [Regalia] I used to have, along with most of my mana weapons, armor, and similar tools, could be traced back to her.

It’s probably surprising from an outside perspective since she doesn’t even invest many stats into mana. But there's a reason she started with [Focus] and [Armament] as her initial skills.

While it's safe to say I’m probably developing Armament or Regali–if you want to call it that–type skills faster than she is, she shows more talent for them. And as awkward as it might feel, I always find myself coming back to her for new notes while sharing my own.

So it’s not like I’m a parasite or anything.

Now that I think about it, I do that quite a lot, learning from others and borrowing ideas. I wonder where I’d be without them. While I refuse to say I would be weaker, it’s safe to say my arsenal would be very different.

“Did you buy two mid arcane passives to help with that stuff?” I ask, taking my best guess.

“Yup. One of them probably isn’t that different from your Reservoir, but it’s more like storage. It helps to store some mana, blueprints of my armors and weapons, that kind of thing. The second one helps with mana flow and my control over it. Combined with the rest of my shards spent on mana batteries and some low arcane items I stole from the Academy, it works pretty well.”

“Plus [Focus],” I add.

“Plus [Focus],” she sighs. “I still don’t like it that much, but I learned to be more selective about how I apply it and used some upgrades to help me learn faster. And before you start having a heart attack, yes, I’ll use a detachment token and get rid of those upgrades as soon as I have a better grasp.”

“Good. Those tattoos look nice. So that passive helps you to store anything? Isn’t that way too good? What’s it called? I want to check it in the shop.”

I step closer, eyeing her forearms, where pale blue and purple lines are arranged in elegant patterns. On Maya’s darker skin, they look cool enough that I start thinking maybe I should get some of my own. I know there are tattoos classified as items in the system shop.

“Mana Archive, it...”

“The hell, that sounds cool. How did I not notice it?”

“...it, as I said, allows me to store mana, though not as much as your passive does. And it helps me to store the blueprints. I think you mentioned you wanted to store your arrays and constructs in your brain or something.”

“I’m a romantic, so I might change my mind and store anything mana-related in my heart to show my love for the best attribute.”

“Alright.”

“Alright,” I nod.

Even though I know she’s fighting it, she sighs and smiles. “You can be such a childish ass sometimes.”

“I blame my environment and my subconscious need to catch up on all the things I missed while growing up. I think Izzy said something like that.”

“Doesn’t sound too much like her. But seeing you bullshitting like this and in a good mood, did everything go well?” As she speaks, she reaches out her hand so I can examine part of the blueprint archived there.

“For a perfect point, I’m missing one dead feylith and a thylarin, but there’s still time for that.” I turn more serious. “Sophie left a piece of herself in Faora’s mind, and she says that piece would, in a few years, erase Faora and take over her body, and I believe her.”

Maya shrugs. “We all know how scary Sophie’s abilities can be. If you think about it, with us letting our guard down around her and trusting her, she could probably, slowly and carefully, turn us all into her slaves before the tutorial even ends. And then walk away with some of Earth’s best listening to her every word.”

“It sounds disturbing, but somehow also cool.”

“You’re the only disturbing thing here. But if we believe she won’t enslave us, it’s more than likely that, before the tutorial ends, our group will have the best mental defenses on Earth after training with her.”

“Sounds about right. Izzy is with Sophie, who is putting fragments of her mind back together. She should be up and running soon. There might be some injury or side effects she’ll have to get through, but I don’t think it will be too serious.”

Maya sits on a fallen tree nearby, and I sit next to her. “So in the end, she was lucky. It could’ve been much worse. And how’s Beyond?”

“I’ll talk about it later tonight, but it’s not bad. There’s a lot to do, a lot of information to gain, and plenty of opportunities. Do you regret not trying to get there?”

“Not really. If, after the tutorial, Earth ends up with 10-50, or however many people who survived Beyond, I believe I can still make it into the top thirty of those who only went through Hell difficulty. That’s enough for a very comfortable life.”

“I think you’re underselling yourself.”

“I’m trying to be modest these days.”

“And if you don’t try to be modest?”

“If I count out some of Group 4 and a few monsters like your sister, Tacita, Savant, Jean, and the Kings, I don’t think there are many people from Hell difficulty who could stop me if I really tried.”

"And are you really trying?" I ask.

Looking at her hands and the lines covering them, she closes and opens her fists a few times while searching for an answer to that question.

When she looks back at me, she says simply, "I am."

What a nice expression.

Maya doesn’t talk about the training or the effort she puts in, but I can sense it all from her expression and hear it in her voice.

Ever since the first floor, she has always liked to rely on others to make decisions and just follow along. It’s a part of her I don’t like that much, but I also don’t dislike her for it. I’m sure the others have things they hate about me, too.

But over time, I have seen how Maya picked up the slack, and the personality that once needed to follow someone became more confident in itself.

Her subclass is Patience, the same as Savant’s, and it shows in the way she now patiently decides what she wants to do and then sticks to it. That part I have seen in the way she trains.

Once she decides on a target, she makes schedules she sticks to no matter what, and progresses that way with an impressive level of determination. Out of group 4, she is also the most "technical" when it comes to using weapons or martial arts, and likely when it comes to creating mana armors. Everything is well structured, prepared, and practiced.

I don’t know if it’s partly because of her previous job as a personal trainer, or maybe it’s a remnant from the time she first started exercising and sculpted her current body from the previous version she still calls a sad slob. Or maybe it’s a result of her love for music and her ability to play multiple instruments.

Even after all this time, I find it fascinating how these little thoughts keep appearing in my mind as I learn more about these people.

***

I decide to stay a day longer. During that time, Izzy stays near Sophie, who continues to do that mindblender stuff and still hasn’t awoken. Lily shows me the progress on her skele-suit, even though for some reason she still refuses to call it that. It’s not something she wants to use primarily, since she has her mantle, and her body alone is currently more durable than the armor made of her bones that she can quickly create. But she says she’s doing it so that in the future, she can create a multi-story tall mecha made of her own flesh and bones that she would grow. Possibly something as tall as mine and Maya’s.

It’s something we had talked about before, and I mentioned mostly as a joke. To my horror and fascination, this petite, black-haired maniac actually wants to do it. I respect the determination to make her powers as creepy as possible.

Her [Disintegration] has also gotten stronger again, likely progress inspired by whatever Fragment Luan used against her during that fight.

While we're talking, I overhear the twins joking that in a year they'll be as old as I was when the tutorial started. A sudden, shocking thought hits me. I do the math and realize Lily is now 19, almost 20, but as I get to that number, my brain just refuses to accept it, and almost shuts off.

I know close to two and a half years have passed. I know she was 17 and a classmate of the twins when the tutorial started.

But there’s just no way.

Maybe it’s because she’s still petite, even though she’s grown a little. Or maybe I just still see her that way. Or maybe it makes me feel old, since I’m also approaching 24 years old?

It’s straight up stupid. Why am I here, panicking about age when I’ll likely live hundreds, possibly thousands of years? The construct ticking time bomb problem aside, of course.

Also, isn't Min-Jae almost 18, and Izzy almost 13 as well?

I quickly cut off these thoughts and reject that reality.

We spend some time together in the living room, where I tell them as much information as I can and gather some from them about this floor.

We, mostly Tess, make some plans. I leave some left arms with Lily so she can use them later if needed, and as she takes them from me and puts them into the bag, the twins still call The Armory.

I look at Lily and wonder. Would I still look the same as I do now if I had an ability like hers to change the structure of my body? Or maybe there would be someone with looks comparable to Lioren and Channeler, possibly surpassing both of them?

I come to the conclusion that I’d stay the way I am now, maybe just tweak a few small things. A bit wider shoulders, slightly bigger calves. Nothing too unreasonable, I think. Everyone knows calves are fair game. Those things just refuse to grow properly. I mean, why is my ass getting rounder and firmer as I exercise, but my calves stay nearly the same?

With Maya, I examine her Mana Archive. It’s cool and I think it fits her, but it doesn't make much sense for me to pick up. With my [Manifestation] and the mental exercises I’m progressing with, it only makes sense for me to store them in my mind.

While I talk to the twins, Tess with Biscuit, and Maya and Lily share with Min-Jae ideas he could use, things she learned from the demon’s body, it finally happens. I sense two figures approaching the room we’re in, and I’m not the only one. Gradually, the conversation dies down as everyone’s different form of senses picks up on it, and we all turn toward the door.

Izzy opens them wide and, holding her hand, she pulls Sophie inside. Izzy’s eyes are red, but she has the prettiest smile I’ve ever seen on her.

And Sophie herself is a bit pale and slimmer than usual. Her green eyes seem a bit wet, and she also moves somewhat awkwardly.

As the others rush in to greet her, I watch her, and for a moment, she looks my way. That short moment is enough for me to confirm one thing. And as Lily crashes into Sophie and nearly throws her to the ground, I step slightly back to avoid the commotion and noise at least a little.

***

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