Chapter 544 - Just for a few hours

After hours of trying to open the box, I finally give up. Sophie takes her turn, but she gives up too. For now.

The twins keep at it—trying to figure out how to open this wooden box that has no keyhole or anything similar to it—I head back to the terrace of the manor, the one near that huge tree.

The moment I sit on the couch, Myrra jumps next to me and lies down, resting her head on my legs.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

She just smiles brightly and settles in comfortably.

So I let go of the mana stone in my hand, letting it fall on her head. She curses, moves away, then decides to lie down differently, putting her legs on mine. “I’m bored.”

“Hello, bored. I’m Nathaniel.”

“What?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“I understood that, Nat!” Lily joins us and sits on the couch opposite. Even though she’s smiling, her eyes are cold. Very cold, as she looks at Myrra’s legs resting on me, then back at the white-haired lynthari.

“Myrra, want to spar with me if you’re so bored?” Lily asks her.

“Hell no!”

“I’ll hold back, I promise.”

“For some reason, I think I’m the only person you don’t hold back against.”

“That’s not true! I just like sparring with you.”

I chime in, “Aren’t you ashamed, Myrra? You trained under Lissandra for months and still can’t beat Lily in melee combat.”

“And can you, feral one? Ten out of ten times?”

“I choose to exercise my right to remain silent.”

Myrra smiles victoriously and kicks me with one of her feet. “I thought so. I could use my Aurora Glass and take things more seriously, but Lady Lissandra won’t allow it right now.”

“Some kind of training?” I ask.

“Yes. She made an inscription for me, and even now, I have to concentrate to keep training my Aurora Glass through it. All the time.”

“So she was the one who declared you a candidate?”

“You’re curious, aren’t you, feral one?” Myrra grins, showing her fangs. “I’m not a fake Champion candidate anymore—Lissandra declared me a real one, apparently because I’m ‘good enough.’”

“I swear, it’s like she would lose a thousand points from her mana stat every time she complimented someone.”

“But she’s very powerful, right? Isn’t that reasonable?” Lily asks.

I shrug. “You say that only because she seems to like you and your combination of skills. Did she give you any more pointers?”

“Yes! She had a few ideas for my movement after she saw me trying to mimic how you move. She’s incredibly good at close-range combat, Nat.”

“She didn’t insult you, Lily?”

“She did, a lot!”

“Okay, I was worried for a second. So what are you training these days? How’s your ax and mantle?”

“Hmm, I’d say my ax is more or less done, and I’ll just strengthen it as I grow. I’m also training with my mantle, so don’t worry. But Sophie asked if it was possible to grow an entire body similar to mine—strength, durability, all of it. Maybe without the head.”

“Let me guess: you don’t have the mental skills to control it the similar way my sister´s Avatar did during the tournament, and it’d be for Sophie instead?”

“Yes! I’m terrible at that. Sophie might be able to control it to defend herself, or maybe Blackie would. Sophie says my body is stupidly strong, which is why she asked me. I tried a bit, but it’s difficult. Even if I cut off body parts and reattach them, they degrade over time. The body weakens, and it still seems to count as mine, so it’s hard for Sophie to control. She can do it, but there’s resistance.”

“Feral one, you have a sister?” Myrra perks up and straightens, poking me with her feet to get my attention.

“Yes, I do. You’ll probably meet her during the tournament.”

“How is she?”

“She doesn’t like cats,” I answer and turn back to Lily. “Theoretically, you could create a body in your own image and then gradually adjust it to look like anyone you want, right? Make it gigantic, give it eight arms, or four legs—stuff like that?”

“I could. Even now, I can change my height, facial features, figure—anything I want.” Lily keeps staring at me as she says this. I could swear she’s slightly blushing.

“That could be really useful for sneak attacks—to take the form of someone else. You would probably need a better handle of your mana so you can mimic their signature but in my opinion, it’s better than invisibility or phantom bullshit.”

“Yes… yes, for that!”

Myrra lifts her legs off me and stands up. “Wow, that’s just sad. I can’t watch it anymore. Feral one, where is Maya?”

“She asked me not to tell you if you came looking for her.”

“If you tell me, I’ll leave you alone for today.”

I quickly point out the direction, and Myrra excitedly starts heading there to meet her new favorite sparring partner.

The moment she’s gone, I check to make sure, then nod, and Lily smiles brightly.

“What was with that shy act and the talk about changing your figure and body?” I ask.

Lily just keeps smiling and shakes her head. “Look, it worked—she left to annoy someone else. Myrra gets super annoyed when I act that way. But I didn't lie: I really can change how I look.”

“I know. You think I haven’t noticed those small tweaks you’ve been doing?”

“It’s like a tiny bit of makeup! What woman wouldn’t want to look pretty? Even Lissandra! She could make herself just a bit younger, but instead, she looks like she’s in her twenties with the body of an Olympic athlete.”

“It’s that much?”

“She’s super pretty! Obviously, you wouldn’t notice. Maybe you would if she were made of mana or something.”

I start to argue but stop. She’s too close to the truth. How would a body made entirely of mana work, anyway? Isn’t my Mana Physique the first step toward that?

Hmm, would I be pale blue like mana, or look like my current body? For example, we’re made of around 60% water, yet we don’t look like water. Would a body composed of 60% mana look similar?

“Are you sure we don’t need Sophie?” Lily asks, reaching out her hand.

I place my hand in hers, and she holds it.

“I don’t think we need her for this step. I’m just making preparations for that heart. I’ll probably mess up a lot, so thanks in advance for all the healing.”

“It’s fine! I still have a few of your arms with me, so I can [Sacrifice] them if needed.”

“Good. Let’s start.”

***

A few days later, I watch as the twins and Min-Jae keep trying to open the box the lumoran Champion left for Lissandra. They’ve made multiple attempts without damaging it, and there’s even been some progress: noticing nearly invisible grooves only Lily could feel with her fingertips, weird barely perceptible shifts in weight Min-Jae picked up on, and certain patterns that only appear at the right mana frequency.

Overall, it’s safe to say everyone’s curious about the thing and has tried opening it a few times.

Something occurs to me. “Weren’t we supposed to give it back to Lissandra?”

Min-Jae looks up from the box, and Dennis takes the chance to grab it from him, shaking it close to his ear.

“We did give it to her while you were knocked out after you nearly blew yourself up preparing your chest for that new heart,” Min-Jae says.

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad. So Lissandra didn’t want the box?”

“Lily said most of your torso turned into just ribs, a spine, and a barrier around your heart—the rest was gone. Lissandra took the box, opened it, then closed it right away and tossed it aside, telling us to play with it.”

Dennis complains before I can react, “How the hell did she open it so fast? And I bet there’s something good inside. We might be able to keep it, seeing how she just threw it away without taking it.”

“Are you sure it wasn't a message only and she just read whatever was in there, or took the contents out first?” I ask.

All three boys freeze, looking worried that I might be right.

Then I glance around, making sure Lissandra isn’t there, and gesture for Min-Jae and the twins to come closer. I whisper, “I heard from Lily that the girls asked the lumoran Champion for swimsuits, even something for me and you guys?”

“Beach episode!” Aaron calls out with a grin, while his brother nods vigorously.

“What the… never mind.” I shake my head. “So she wasn’t joking?”

Min-Jae’s expression is solemn as he looks at me. “It was Maya’s idea at first. Myrra got very excited to do something new, and Izzy made Sophie join. Then they roped in everyone else, planning to take a few hours off to sunbathe by the lake. Sophie even has to reshape part of the bank into a sandy beach and create some field that will intensify the light.”

“Weirdos, all of them. Forget it. Min-Jae, you mentioned wanting to test some higher-density mana orbs I wove together, so I prepared five types for you. Each one has a slightly different density to help balance the weight, the resistance of my mana, and your control skills.”

***

“You can’t eat that,” I say to Noodle, who’s now moving suspiciously close to the Champion’s heart still lying up there at the top of the cliff.

The pearl-white snake looks at me with its green eyes and hisses. At the same moment, purple, green, and blue flames flicker across its scales.

“I was joking, I know you wouldn’t eat it. And you’re such a show-off. Come here.” I gesture for him to approach.

He expands in size until his body is as thick as my leg, stopping with his head at the same height as mine.

“This is a new version I made based on the others you liked.” I open my hand and let a golf ball–sized mana orb float in the air.

Noodle opens his mouth and gulps it down. I see it moving inside him through the shifting of his scales and muscles. He takes a moment, then nods three times in quick succession.

“Oh? That tasty?” I reach out, and he nudges his head against my palm so I can pet him. His scales feel surprisingly smooth, cold, and extremely durable, but every so often, there’s a warm pulse running through them.

I turn to Izzy, who’s also there, yawning and blinking as though she’s about to fall asleep.

“Izzy, you must realize how my curiosity is killing me. Tell me about your Fragment of Eternal Fire.”

She slowly opens her eyes, yawning again, and I gesture for her to come closer. As she does, she leans against my side with a grateful sigh and closes her eyes.

“It’s a fragment… of fire… that burns eternally,” she says.

“So funny,” I say, pulling on her ear. “And?”

“I tried to get information from Lissandra, like you told me. I even acted all cute. She just said it’s similar to the Primordial energies and that it existed long before the system.”

“But what’s the ‘fragment’ part about? Did the eternal fire shatter into pieces that you can pick up? Does the flame burn and create sparks that become fragments? How, why, when?”

“Nat,” she whispers. As always, she’s connected to my emotions—at least the surface ones, which I allow.

“What?”

“It’s okay to take a break. Just turn your brain off for a few hours. Do nothing. Tease Myrra. Goof off with the boys. Talk to Tess or let Lily invite you on a walk. Be as silly as you want,” she says, patting my forearm with her small hand. “Or just hang out in your room, staring at the ceiling.”

“Who put that idea in your head?”

“Tess. She really wants you to join us tomorrow at the lake, and she knows you’re probably planning to sneak off to train. But it’s also me, you feel really tense lately with all that training you do. It´s like you keep running without taking a break. I can tell.”

"It's fine."

"I know it is. But it could be finer. Just a few hours, Dumbthaniel. The others often feel bad watching you train all the time and try to keep up the same pace, but I can see how much it weighs on them. So please, just for a few hours."

"I will think of it."

"That's all I ask." Izzy, her eyes still closed, smiles softly before nestling more comfortably and slowly drifting off to sleep.

***

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