Chapter 613 - Murder birb

I wake up lying on my back, pulled away from the mess I made. I still feel a tightness in my chest, and as my sight clears, I realise it is just Biscuit lying on my chest, protectively facing the Vice Director.

That woman is holding one of her hands, which is now bleeding for some reason, and she keeps staring at Biscuit.

Checking the timer confirms I was passed out for only a few minutes, yet it still feels awkward. Lately, this happens quite a lot, even with powerful mental passives. I would not say it is the passives’ fault for lacking rarity; it is more likely that I keep jumping into situations where they cannot help much. A usual Hell difficulty or even Beyond attendee likely does not do these kinds of things.

Cowards.

"Who is the good boy?" I ask. Without turning around and still facing the selari woman, Biscuit’s tiny tail begins to swing wildly.

He then woofs.

“Yes, you are!”

The wagging speed increases even further, to the point where I worry he might lift off like a helicopter.

As I stand up, he floats into the air next to my head.

“Again?” I ask the Vice Director.

“One more time, and after that, I will provide feedback,” she agrees.

Our manas rise again, and I have difficulty not compressing mine until it turns black. Maybe next time, first I need to learn more about her.

***

After passing out once more, I wake to find the Vice Director again holding a bleeding hand, this time marked with tiny bites from sharp teeth.

After that, I receive detailed, well organized feedback along with a list of potential mistakes I may be making.

I consider all that feedback valuable, as she even tells me about methods she and her unit would use if forced to face a Champion with a capability set similar to mine, just on a much grander scale. It is all very fascinating: the arrays she mentions, inscriptions, items, materials, special metals used for shielding, and so on.

Just by listening, I can tell the depth of experience she has from facing much stronger opponents and the methods she had to develop just to be able to contest them. At first, I also thought she might have a concentration type skill, but in the end, I conclude it is her personality—laid back and only rarely showing interest. Years on the battlefield, never knowing when a Champion could appear and wipe them out, could cause that.

Of course, one thing raises my opinion of her more than anything else: she likely invested every possible point into mana, to such an extent that at around my level, she probably had only slightly less mana than I do now.

There is a slight difference, too. While I do it mostly out of fascination, stubbornness, and future planning, I think for her it was more logical and calculated. It was likely a decision she made after bonding with Lulu, who seems able to limit and help control that mana, and likely provides additional abilities the tiny owl has not yet revealed.

Such a cute, silent murder birb.

***

Back in my room, I wash up and change into clean clothes. It is still a suit, because apparently, Assistant Professors are expected to wear one constantly, for some supposedly important reason involving prestige and representation.

Biscuit climbs onto my lap without waiting for permission, and I let him.

My body still feels off. Not weak, just out of sync. Like some part of me is lagging behind, still stuck in the moment when her mana spiked and mine tried to match it.

I looked at the floor for a while, steadying my breathing, and think about what she showed me. About what I failed to notice until it was too late. Her movements were not fast, but they were modified to interrupt mine, to force me into reactions instead of control. I made her job easier by relying too much on my "scripted" frequencies.

That much is fine. I can adjust.

I should also test a few new interaction types between my support passives and how my mana behaves at different stages. There is one twist to Mana Cycling I have ignored for a while because it messes with my sensory balance, but maybe I should give it another try. If I start slowly, I can manage the side effects and get used to the change.

"What do you think?" I ask the corgi.

Biscuit makes a soft growling sound, and I take that as agreement.

We stand up together and leave the room without speaking. I head to the garden, where I meet Maya, Tess, and the twins, just as on the second day of our first loop.

So far, everyone is more or less keeping to the schedule we had during our 1st loop.

Even before we start talking, I notice something about Maya. It is quite a big change to her mana, and I am sure she is not hiding it on purpose just to show off in front of me.

“What have you bought?” I ask, knowing that is what she wants to hear.

“I am testing a passive that makes my mana creations stronger and passively compresses them, and then another that does something similar. I want to see how they stack up.”

“Rarities?” I ask.

“Both mid arcane. My shards are all gone.”

“Damn, I see you are going all in with testing.”

"You bet. And I have about ten more passives I want to test during the next loops. You have to meet up with all of us sometime. We hold a special dark brotherhood style meeting where we sit around candles and theorize about the best ways to use the shards."

"Are there human sacrifices involved?"

“We sometimes kick Dennis when he is too annoying.”

“Sounds good, I will try to join the next one.”

Tess, seeing we are done talking, asks, “So how was the Vice Director?”

"Quite strong. I think she could have beaten all of us at once in direct combat, but if we had time to prepare, I believe we could take her down. Then again, if she also had time to prepare, it could become even more dangerous."

“That strong?”

"Yup, and she still hides most of it, but I noticed some strange fluctuations in her mana. I will share the details later, but I do not think she is a Candidate or that she was the one who stole the thermonuclear warhead. But she could be involved in the Champion’s death, or will be, since it has not happened yet this round. You know what I mean."

Tess smiles. “No need to explain. But it surprises me, from what I heard, she seems fairly loyal to the current power structure.”

“Probably, but she could be pretending. Apparently, she worked directly under the Champion who fought for the spot of the Absolute, and after he died, she was forced to serve here or die herself. There could be some ill feelings.”

Raising her eyebrow, Tess says, “It is close to two hundred years since Champion Angar died. If she kept her mask on for that long and continued to plan, I would be very impressed.”

Maya shoves Tess playfully. “Are you sure she isn’t one of those spiteful ones?”

“I also know a few women like that,” Aaron mumbles quietly near me.

Before any of the girls can react, his brother says quickly, “We found one of the richest students and plan to steal all his stuff, and some from a few more people.”

Oh boy.

“Did you think it through?” Tess asks.

“Sure. Worst case, we get put into prison until the next reset, right? Before we end this floor, we plan to steal all we can, make a pile, and then leave with it after we solve out the Floor Quest and stuff with the loops. There are mid arcane items, materials, information, and much more. We can sacrifice a few loops, practice, and even pin it on someone else if we try hard.”

Ever the bad role model, Maya says, “Take some nice stuff for me as well.”

“Of course! We thought of selling it to the system shop to get rid of proof if needed, but we do not know when the system will judge that we have ‘ownership’ of it. Maybe only after a week, or after we bring it to the next floor, or out of the Academy. Plus the system shop gives only ten to twenty percent of the value, damn it.”

“Be sure to think it through and decide whether it is worth it in the end,” Tess warns him again.

“No worry,” Dennis says. “If we find no low to mid arcane items, we will drop it as it wouldn't be worth it then. Besides, it is probably better than Min-Jae, who wants to steal the library.”

I join in. “Tell me more.”

This time, Aaron answers. “He wants to be in the library at the end of the floor, possibly in sections we are not even allowed to enter. Then he wants to adjust gravity so all the books fall through the entrance to the ninth floor and use [Telekinesis] to help with that. He also said something about asking you to help with breaking the library´s defensive arrays. Unlike Dennis, I respect it. Just imagine yoinking the entire library of the top Academy in the world.”

“Aren’t the defenses too good?” I ask.

"Yup, but he partly relies on the idea that every time the floor ends, everything goes to hell and there will be huge fights or some other catastrophe, so people will ignore the library. Nat, I think he counts on that because he knows you, or because he saw how little you cared about thermonuclear warheads being stolen."

Instead of reacting to such accusations, I decide to stay quiet.

After giving me a funny look I do not deserve, Tess turns to the boys and reminds all of us, "Please also consider the possibility that if we fail this floor quest, we might be stuck in this loop until the end of the tutorial. While that might sound opportunistic, think about how limiting it could be for our growth."

As she speaks, I immediately think of these opportunities first. Three years here would allow for so much exploitation, with occasional trips to the Beyond. But what would happen if I go Beyond, level up, then return? Would my stats reset when the loop resets? And if they reset, would they reset to the new version or the "original" version from the start of this floor?

An unsettling option comes to mind. Would fully exploiting the opportunities here be more valuable than advancing through the remaining floors? After thinking it through, I reach the same conclusion Tess likely has.

I do not think so.

Maybe I should take this floor quest a bit more seriously, which seems to be exactly what Tess wants. Rather than constantly lecturing us, she nudges us just enough to reach the conclusion she wants us to reach.

I meet her eyes, and there are tiny sparks dancing in her grey irises.

***

Not much later, I sit in my office, still going over it all. The conclusion remains the same, so I speak.

"I want to use a one day Beyond stay token."

A notification pops up.

Impossible to enter Beyond at the current time.

That settles it. The system is still an asshole, and Tess is right. This floor, for all the opportunity it offers, is just as unforgiving. You can grow here, sure, but the tradeoff is huge, especially when it means missing out on Beyond and the other floors entirely.

I am not even factoring in the mental strain. Spending three years here, stuck in the same ten or so day cycle, would probably wear down quite a few people eventually.

At least the tournament still seems accessible, since Victoria told me she was on the 8th floor before entering it. I will have to ask her how the system handled her absence when I see her again. Two weeks is a long gap.

I close the notification window and start reassessing priorities. The floor quest is back on the menu. Not the top concern for now, but close. I should also check the Academy’s secondary facilities. I ignored most of them last time because they looked unimportant, but there might be something interesting to find.

Min-Jae will want to talk soon, and I should check on Dennis and Aaron before they drag someone into another problem.

As always, there is still plenty to do.

***

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