Chapter 535 - A Simple Request

I take myself closer with Wraith Dance, right over the body of the sleeping Champion. [Empyrean Lance] forms over my shoulder, and I fill it with as much mana as I’m capable of before pointing it at his head.

“No! Don’t!” Leth shouts desperately and tries to run, only to stagger and fall. Even then, he continues to crawl, his dagger already forgotten. “Please, don’t!”

After a glance at the Champion, I turn to Leth. “The moment he wakes up, he’ll likely try to kill me and I won’t be able to stop him.”

“He won’t!”

“Are you sure? You guys already tried to kill me once. I even killed the scout leader while escaping.”

“Please, don’t kill him, Nathaniel. I beg you.”

“He is already almost dead,” I note.

“Please… don’t,” Leth stops crawling.

After scanning the tent a while longer, I take in the equipment, the lumoran corpses covered by cloth in the corner, the unconscious Champion, and the level 7 technician slumped against the cracked stone floor. Then, I dismiss [Empyrean Lance].

Stepping toward Leth, I pull him to his feet. “You’re a mess.”

“I’m sorry,” he apologizes.

“It’s not even your fault. Why are you apologizing.” I help him remove his metal armor until he stands there in his white clothes. His black skin and crystalline features are all roughed up. He is covered in wounds, his mana is unstable, and he seems like he might pass out.

Grabbing him by his clothes, I pull him onto the pile of blankets on the ground and toss him there. “Sleep. I will wake you up in a few hours. I promise not to kill the Champion.”

“I…”

“Leth, you know me. I don’t mind shaking you until you pass out. Rest.”

Still hesitating, he slowly closes his eyes and nearly immediately falls asleep.

After checking the protective array around us, I confirm it’s safe and form a few thermal pyramids, moving them around the space—some near Leth, one near me, and others near the Champion.

Only then do I take a few steps and sit down on the floor in front of the Champion, who has been pretending to be unconscious, awakened the moment I formed the lance.

“Hello,” I greet him.

He opens his golden eyes and slowly sits up straight on the bed, crossing his legs beneath him.

"Assistant Nathaniel?"

"Yes, that's me."

"It was wise not to attack. You would have died."

"Are you sure? I don’t think you’re in any state to use mana right now." I let my Mana Wavelength Iris flash, the golden circle appearing around my pupil before fading. "I sensed your heart and your mana."

He stays silent, and I don’t push it. Instead, I glance around and ask, "Is everyone else dead?"

“Everyone who decided to stay and fight alongside me.”

"So, most of them, then?" I say. "I’ve seen and heard people in the camp. Most followed you with near-blind loyalty."

"I have never deserved such faith."

"Such things are rarely up to you," I say with a shrug. "People can be irrational."

"Yes."

"Anything else I can do to help? We’ll probably need you to get out of here. I’m not sure, but I think there are a few really powerful mimics nearby."

Leaning back against the bed, Champion Feroy replies, "For now, help the technician, Leth. He knows what to do. I’ll do my best to save at least him—and I promise to help you as well."

With these last tired words, he closes his eyes and falls asleep again. His heart, and the crystalline features that cover more of his body than any other lumoran I’ve seen, are both erratic—and I don’t think it’s solely from the fight he went through. There’s something I don’t know yet.

Observing him for a bit longer, I stand up and begin examining the defensive array, the equipment, and the materials and components of the war armor Exoria while both of the lumorans sleep.

***

Leth is awake and feeding the lumoran Champion like he’s a baby. The Champion seems accustomed to it, slowly taking small cubes of food from Leth before chewing them and drinking some water made from melted and filtered snow—hopefully not the yellow kind. For some reason the entire time he makes sure not to touch Leth.

Anyway, these cubes appear to be a special kind of food for high-level beings. I’ve encountered them before, but not this exact type.

By now, I doubt normal food is enough to provide the level of satiety someone highly leveled would need. Our bodies can survive a week without food on their own—likely months at higher levels or in extreme conditions—by consuming muscle or using mana as fuel.

It’s something Lily and I are still working on, trying to figure out how it all works. An average person should be able to live on around two thousand calories a day. Professional athletes and huge, muscular strongmen or powerlifters likely consume around six thousand a day. There are even viral videos of them eating ten thousand or more.

By now, I’m sure even I, with my feeble body, require far more than that. Thirty thousand? More? A gram of uranium that is, at least on the internet, rumored to contain twenty billion calories? Will all the most powerful attendees die of hunger after being unable to consume enough calories, or will they spend twenty hours a day eating—more than some animals do?

Hell Difficulty attendee mukbang videos would be something else.

As for the Champion, the Absolute, or creatures like Biscuit, I have no idea how many calories would be required for satiety.

I pause as a thought flashes through my mind.

How many calories did that Champion deer Biscuit ate contain?

I make a few estimates, considering the Deer’s size, its ability to regenerate, and its level. Even though I lack enough data for an accurate calculation, the number is terrifyingly high.

That’s why I decide to stop thinking about it.

The good thing is that on worlds brimming with mana, even the plants seem more calorie-dense—not to mention the meat of monsters or animals, especially higher-level ones.

That, of course, poses more problems. Logically, Earth should start filling with ambient mana as well, from wherever it comes, and thereby increase the caloric density of potatoes, fruit, vegetables, grain, and more. So, what if a level 1 human eats a ten-thousand-calorie potato?

Some people will have a lot to think about and many problems to solve—but not me, though.

The lumorans here seem to have solved that problem, at least partially, and as weak as Champion Feroy seems, he probably needs some food so that his regeneration doesn’t sap his mana which he seems to be using for something or consume his body itself. There are also plenty of questions: Why is he in this state? Why doesn’t he regenerate properly? Are there some terrible hidden wounds causing it? Leth seems to suspect something, but for now, I decide not to ask.

At least I have free rein to spend most of my time around Exoria.

That thing is beautiful.

Rough, imperfect, patched-up, misaligned parts—it’s akin to fixing something with duct tape, or an ugly piece of code you wrote that worked but was too late to rewrite from scratch once you’d gained new knowledge. Instead, you add more code that fixes one thing but breaks another and then repeat. In the end, you wind up with a monstrosity that only one person truly knows how to operate, and that person is likely more important than the CEO of the company relying on that code.

Exoria feels exactly like that kind of monstrosity, and I’m in love. It’s like seeing the history of all the changes, improvements, and fixes made by generations of lumoran technicians who worked on it. And damn, this thing is old—likely hundreds of years old.

But I also notice another very interesting thing, and with it, some of the questions are answered—something I want to ask the Champion about later.

So for now, I examine the open cockpit and survey the damage all over. There are smaller issues that I can fix. The safety mechanisms have been lifted—likely by the Champion—the ones meant to prevent foreign interference and spying. That’s what allowed me to examine it so thoroughly, and as my thanks, I perform all the fixes I feel capable of. I have no illusions that my fixes are perfect or will last too long, but it’s better than nothing.

Seeing this crazy thing only increases my admiration for level 9 technician Ito, who oversaw it and is likely dead.

At some point, Leth joins me, and I continue working—this time following his lead. Where he has much more experience and knowledge, I have higher raw power and a more durable mind. I don’t mind being his support and relying on him entirely, helping him as much as possible and making things easier for him.

At first, he’s a bit nervous, but we’ve worked like this before, and he soon relaxes. Even he has trouble navigating the web of newer and older inscriptions and parts, but his good instincts and calm mind guide him.

We work on it for a long while and stop only after two days, which I notice upon checking the timer. While Leth crawls onto his bed and immediately falls asleep after eating and drinking a bit, I check the Community.

Sset (Hell, group 4) - Don’t worry about us. You are in more danger than we are.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Anything happened?

Sset (Hell, group 4) - I think some of the mercenaries with us are mimics. One of them attacked Izzy, likely because it sensed her [Empathy], and Noodle ate him. So we think she might be able to sense them if she levels up the skill. Sophie is finally awake and is working on some kind of web that could strengthen Izzy’s skill and support it.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Is it safe?

Sset (Hell, group 4) - Ever since Sophie passed out and the web connecting us broke, I haven’t slept. Alongside Lily, I kept watch over everyone at all times—even if they just needed to go to the toilet, Nat. I had them write in the Community and ran additional tests to make sure none of us were mimics. I’m certain we’re in the clear. The mimic Noodle ate had taken over that technician assistant from the thylarin group. The one with the Fragment of Eternal Fire, so there’s a chance Noodle has it now, whatever it is.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - At least that’s good news. You noticed the system didn’t censor your messages here. It likely means there are no other groups on this floor besides ours.

Sset (Hell, group 4) - That’s true. I don’t think Tacita cleared the 6th floor that quickly with her specialization and the way she behaves, but Savant? Maybe. We spent over six months there, so he could have been luckier than us and maybe already reached the 8th. I have to go. Take care.

Noname (Hell, group 4) – You too.

I close the Community and notice that the Champion is awake again, watching me. He gestures weakly. “Assistant Nathaniel, I have a request for you.”

“Please ask,” I say, gesturing for him to continue.

The crystalline features that used to be filled with shimmering blue mana are now nearly empty, almost sickly pale, creating a stark contrast with his black skin. Even his golden eyes seem to have lost some of their vibrancy.

“Don’t tell Technician Leth, but if I pilot Exoria one more time, I will die. Yet it’s something I’m willing to do. Technician Leth doesn’t know it, but within his body, I’ve stored something that needs to be delivered to our Absolute or to Champion Owain. No one else can be trusted right now.”

“Does it have something to do with the thing the Ardenyx pilot brought back? Did he die because of it?”

“His name was Hephas. Please don’t speak of him in such a cold way like he wasn't even a living being. He and Naeve were my disciples for longer than you’ve lived. They were kind people and the best disciples I could have asked for. I hope you never have to feel what I’m feeling right now.”

“I… I apologize. Truly.”

He offers a gentle expression. “It’s not always easy to care about someone you don’t know, and I understand that. I don’t know what drives you, but I can promise this—if you do what I ask, you’ll be rewarded handsomely. And I will stake what remains of my life on helping you both escape.”

“Why?”

For a moment, he seems confused by my question, but then his expression clears, and he smiles, still with a hint of that gentleness. “Because I’m Champion of my people.”

“I will do it,” I confirm and hold back the question I have.

After giving his thanks he goes back to sleep.

No, he’s not truly sleeping. It’s more like meditation or something similar.

If I’m right, he’s fighting the mimic trying to take over his body, a battle I don’t think the weakened Champion can win.

That could also be why no mimics have attacked this place yet. They’re minimizing their losses and waiting for the Elder Mimic to take over.

***

Next Chapter