Proposal

I let the question hang in the air while I peered at the girls with droopy, impassive eyes.

I expected some sort of reaction, a response. A mostly negative feedback was what I expected, but to my surprise, they readily agreed with more determination than I could possibly imagine.

Cielle furiously nodded her head, making her long black hair sway in frantic movement. Hina on the other hand, pumped up her fist in a rather unlady like manner while yelling, “Oooh! I’m ready!”

I was taken aback by their enthusiasm, and couldn’t help but ask a question.

“W-why are you two so excited? I was pretty sure you’d have refused or at least resisted…”

The two sisters, in response to my question, turned towards each other. They stared at each other, before, as if in sync, they both nodded and turned back to me.

“I want to get stronger, obviously. I don’t want to die after all.” Hina stated bluntly.

Her reason was sound and logical, the same type I applied to myself.

“......”

Cielle on the other hand, mumbled something I couldn’t quite comprehend. Hina, seeing this, tried goading her sister into taking louder, but in the end, it only made Cielle’s mumbling even less pronounced.

Well, I accepted both their reasons nonetheless.

Hina’s was for survival, and Cielle… for something else, but no matter. I should see this as a lucky break. If they were a bit determined, then it would make leveling them up easier, but first, I should warn them.

Like the terms and agreements section in a new purchase, I poured down the bad news for these girls, although, judging from their prior experience, I already assumed they knew full well what they were getting into.

But I at least wanted them to not believe in a fantasy where everything was safe and easy.

“You know, you’re going to end up fighting monsters?”

Hearing this, Hina didn’t show a face of surprise. Rather, her expression got grim, as she clenched her fists and I could hear the grinding of molars.

“I-I know… but I still want to get stronger.” She looked like she literally forced those words out of her mouth while her eyes were squinted in determination.

Cielle, seeing this display, said nothing but merely grasped Hina’s clenched hand with her own.

Hina turned towards Cielle, and in a choked up voice, she uttered, “S-sis….”

I imagined Cielle was smiling back through her veil of hair.

Well, back to me. From an outsider’s perspective, this was a very mushy scene of familial love, and while it brought forth bitter feelings of my own family, and whether they were still alive, I said nothing and simply let them have their moment.

While this scene was good and all, if she really wanted strength, then….

“Hina.” I called out, interrupting their little family love.

“W-what?” She asked, startled by my sudden outburst.

“You want to get stronger, right?”

“Yes!” She responded immediately.

Hearing this, I nodded and sighed, while I fished around my pants pocket for a few items.

In a little while, I pulled out two vials. One was red, the other was blue. Obviously, the two vials were respectively a health potion and a mana potion.

I silently passed the two objects along to Hina, who received them with a tilt of her head and a confused expression. Sitting next to her, Cielle widened her eyes from behind her hair and nodded in understanding.

[Well.... it’s already been a whole day since everything started, I wonder whether she’ll still get a reward…]

Although I was the one who came up with this, I still had my doubts about its success.

By my conclusion, I guessed that certain achievements were met by being the first or one of the first to do a specific task. This same logic applied to how Hina and I aquired our Unique healing skills.

What I was concerned about was whether Hina can will still be able to get an achievement. After all, almost a whole day had passed, and a lot can happen that I’m not aware of.

“What’re these?” She asked while scrutinizingly examining the red and blue vials.

“They're potions. The red one is health, the blue one is mana.”

“Mana?” She asked, as if the concept was somewhat familiar yet vaguely foreign.

“Ah, that’s right, I haven’t told you about it yet have I?”

“?”

With that, I began a separate explanation about the various intricacies of stats.

I had Hina bring up her own status window, which warranted a gasp of surprise. After that, I began explaining each stat with what little information I had gathered and or concluded.

“Okay, I understand now, but why are you giving me this?” She asked after my explanation.

“Eh… it’ll take too long to properly explain… let’s just say, I’m going to give you power.”

“????” This riddling remark only left more questions in Hina’s mind.

“Ah, whatever, for now, just go with it! Cielle, use [Gemini Blue]!”

I ordered the quiet girl, who readily responded with a firm bob of her head.

Instead of going into that pose of hers from last time, she merely sat motionless. At first I frowned and wondered why wasn’t she doing anything, but my doubts were refuted shortly after.

As if seeping out of her pores, the light blue sparkling blob bubble leaked out from Cielle’s skin. In little time, a blob of blue was floating in the center of the triangle that currently made up Hina, Cielle, and I.

Hina, who saw all this for the first time, looked on in awe. It was as if her eyes were sparkling at the new wonder before her.

“S-s-sis… H-how did you…?” Her words trailed off as the luminescent blue took hold of her attention.

Seeing her sister’s positive reaction, Cielle smiled (or at least I imagined she smiled) from behind her veil of hair.

“It’s magic…”

Cielle spoke as she mentally controlled the ball to move and contort which every which way she willed it to.

I raised my eyebrows at this. Cielle’s control was… amazing to say the least. Was she practicing while I was sleeping?

Eventually, after amazing her sister with such finesse magic control, she smiled ruefully while saying, “... It’s cool, ne?”

Hina could only nod absentmindedly, while her eyes remained fixated on the blob.

After a while, Hina spoke with an uncharacteristically timid voice, “I… I can do that too, right?”

It was at this point that I interjected.

“Well, not exactly the same as your sister’s but something similar.... probably.”

“Then, I-I want to learn.” Hina replied whimsically.

I nodded. I understood her enthusiasm. If it wasn’t for this troublesome skill of mine, even I’d…

“Okay then. Cielle, put away [Gemini Blue] before you expend any more of your mana.”

I guessed that it required both a fixed amount of mp for Cielle to move and create [Gemini Blue].

Upon my prompting, Cielle let out a soft, “Ah--” sound and shook her head.

Although she hadn’t said anything, I kind of understood what she meant just through her body language.

In short, it seems like she can’t will [Gemini Blue] to go away.

I frowned. Why could she not do it? Was the light blue, the thing I’ve mentally started labeling, “Light Gemini” the same as Dark Gemini in that it wouldn’t properly disappear if it remained unused?

After coming to this conclusion, numerous theories and ideas filled my head.

What would happen if I mixed Gemini Light with Gemini Dark? Would they cancel each other out? And what would happen if someone fully healed were to have Gemini Light used on them? What would happen if Gemini Dark were to be used on something completely dead?

… Really, I was reminded once more of exactly how interesting this Unique Magic skill was.

I sighed out. It’s unfortunate that we don’t have much time for that right now though.

I stood up and went out to the back of the room. The girls’ eyes followed me but otherwise stayed seated. After a while, I pulled out a clear plastic water bottle which had been once filled with, well, water.

Luckily, something of this size was enough since the bubble blob Cielle produced was relatively small.

I moved over close to the blob, as it drifted over to my direction, indicating that Cielle was putting in her own assistance.

“Stop-- I want to test something.” I interfered, while prompting Cielle to stop manipulating the blob.

I walked over, and tentatively ran my hand through the bubble. Surprisingly, my hand touched firmly onto the blob. A smooth and nice sensation overflowed within the area where skin touched blue. This feeling was completely opposite of Gemin Dark’s affect.

Oh, while I’m at it, I used identify on the “Gemini Light”.

Like with Gemini Dark, a window panel floated into existence.

Light Gemini

A mysterious liquid bubble produced by the unique magic skill; [Gemini Blue].

It has a healing touch..

While I looked over the information, I confirmed that [Dissect]’s additional information effect applied to Light Gemini from when I slashed Gemini Dark last night.

Seeing this, I nodded to myself as I began to manually shove [Gemini Blue] into the small opening of the water bottle. I discovered that this task was extremely hard. Without Cielle’s interference, the blob acted as if it were water submerged in zero g, making it much harder to manipulate. I warranted that Gemini Dark worked the same way as well.

After gruelling effort, I managed to shove all of the concoction into the water bottle.

I lamented over how I just recieved a free health potion while I questioned Cielle.

“Cielle, is there no problem keeping this like this?” I asked, indicating at the blob.

She nodded after some hesitation and followed up with her gentle voice, “Ah, although I can keep it like that, my mana won’t go up after a certain amount… The same thing happened with Gemini Dark.”

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Upon hearing her explanation I nodded. The penalty for [Gemini Blue] was that it permanently consumed a portion of Cielle’s mana capacity, well at least until the thing got used. It made sense, otherwise, if she could just infinitely produce that mysterious substance, then it would be one hell of a broken skill.

I placed the bottle on the table and turned towards Hina.

“You want this power don’t you? Then, are you ready?” I asked impassively.

“Y-yes! What do I do?”

“Simple. Feed your sister with this blue liquid.”

Hina at first, showed an expression of disbelief, but otherwise complied with my command.

After a while, I saw a scene where the more voluptuous sister fed the smaller, yet equally as cute other sister. This was made more… interesting to watch, by the smaller sister, who was putting up slight resistance.

The scene was cute and all, maybe even a bit risque if viewed at from another perspective but it looked more like something between mother and daughter rather than between sisters.

When Hina finished, she abruptly moved her head back in surprise. She squinted at the air, which I presumed was her looking over the status window that popped up.

Cielle and I waited in anticipation. While I did have some selfish desire in me to hog whatever achievement came with being the first to administer a mana potion, my innate… humanity? Well, something in me convinced my callous self to give the rare opportunity to the girl who came close to dying.

But nevertheless, that doesn’t mean I still wasn’t interested in the ability Hina might receive. Rather, I found all these various skills interesting. From my [Equip] to [Dissect], all the way up to Hina’s [Gemini Blue], they were all truly amazing, and I couldn’t help but want to learn more… Although, if I kept this up, I’ll probably turn into a full fledged ‘Skill Otaku.’

“Hina, what did you get..?”

Her anticipation winning over her patience, Cielle asked her sister who was still absentmindedly reading her panel.

“Oh, ah, I got-- er, it says here…” Hina once again squinted her eyes as she read aloud the contents of the status. “ ‘You are the 4th person to forcibly raise another person’s Mana using unworldly methods.’”

Upon hearing this, I raised my brow in surprise.

While it was a risky gamble, I never would have expected that she’d get something so… so high up. I mean 4th?! That meant that only three other people were able to meet the requirements for what I presumed were Unique Magic Skills.

But then again, I guess finding a mana potion and having the means to deplete your mana is still a pretty rare thing, especially considering how recent this whole thing started. I doubt not many people are capable of accomplishing both conditions.

“What skill did you get?” I asked bluntly, also pretty eager to know

“Ah, let’s see… I got a Unique Magic Skill called [Full Element].”

Hearing this, I frowned. That vague name had many indications as to the abilities true worth.

“What does it do?” I asked.

“I, um.. how do I...?” Hina asked confusedly as she peered in my direction.

“Just think about your skill in your mind.”

I instructed, and not a moment later, Hina quietly gasped before she went silent and began reading. After a while, she said,

“Ah, um, according to this, I have full control over 4 elements; Wind, Fire, Water, Earth…I also unlocked basic sub skills like [amatuer wind spell], [amatuer fire spell], and so forth...”

Hina’s voice had a particularly odd inflection. It was as if there was still a lingering doubt within her about whether this was all real or not, but at the same time, there was a part that held great anticipation and excitement.

I nodded upon hearing this news. It kind of made sense. It was a little detail, but Hina ended up the 4th person to receive the mana boost, and she gained the  power to control 4 elements. It made sense in my head. What was odd to me though was that, it was so… ordinary.

I mean, controlling elements is such a novel type of skill, completely different from “weird” and “unusual” skills like [Gemini Blue] or [Equip]. But I guess, skills like that exist too. The novel and fantastical ones that everybody's yearned for.

I nodded again. “While I’d like to test out your skills and to what extent [Full Element] is capable of, I’m afraid we can’t do that. We don’t have a convenient way of raising depleted mp yet, so it would be a waste to use it recklessly.”

I paused for a moment, drawing in the curious attention of both girls.

“We’re just going to have to do the trial runs mid battle.”

I spoke impassively, which warranted a look of apprehension to flash across Hina’s face.

Ignoring her mix of surprise and fear, I continued on.

“Next, your going to use that.” I pointed at the remaining vial in Hina’s hand.

This time we were going to try the health potion. After Cielle voluntarily injured herself (which I agreed to with some slight hesitation) by cutting open a small wound with one of my goblin short swords, Hina once again fed Cielle, this time pouring the red liquid directly into her sister’s lips.

Disappointingly, the health potion did not result in another Unique Magic Skill.

Hina had received the 18th rank and as a consolation prize, she received a rare magic skill called [Lesser Healing].

It wasn’t an impressive skill, rather, it was something I could have learned with [All Heal] (albeit it would still remain useless), but I guess it was better than nothing. At the very least, it allowed Hina to rely on herself if there ever came a situation where we got separated from each other.

After the experimentation was wrapped up and done, we began talk about exploration, or rather, leveling up.

I quickly informed them that we would be heading on out into the hallway and looking for monsters to fight. Upon seeing their worried yet equally as determined expressions. I reassured them as well, stating that I’d take the brunt of the damage while they could learn either through mimicry or observation.

Hearing this sudden declaration, Hina expressed a doubtful expression.

“Are you sure you’re… up to it?” She asked dubiously.

“What? You don’t trust me?” I asked, not really serious.

“Erm…” Hina politely choose to stay silent.

Before Cielle could rebuke (she looked like she was about to), my mouth curved upwards upon hearing her unconvinced tone.

“I might not look like it, but I’m actually level 15, you know?”

Seeing the even more doubtful expression cloud Hina’s mask, I couldn’t help but laugh.

I then abruptly got up and stated in an pleasant voice that indicated my good mood, “Get ready, in 5 minutes, we’re… going hunting.”

I walked off into the direction where I slept last night to grab my spare short swords. In  the meanwhile, I contemplated.

If they were going to treat me as the pseudo-leader, which they had,  then I might as well make the most of it.

****

A little while later, we were walking down the hallway.

I told them to stay vigilant, which they readily agreed too, while I once again noted off our supplies in my head.

We didn’t bring much.

Just my daggers, some food, incase we couldn’t make it back to the art room, and I also instructed them to bring the container of Dark Gemini. It was going to be useful in fighting and would also mean I wouldn’t be the only one doing damage.

Although the heavy set container warranted a few complaints, especially from the one whom I ‘tasked’ into carrying it.

From behind me, I could hear heavy breathing mixed in with some equally as heavy profanity.

“H-Hide… *pant* W-why do I have to…*pant* carry this…?”

Hina strained to speak as she lumbered on. Cielle was behind her, giving off rays of moral support but otherwise made no move to physically help.

“Eh~? Isn’t it obvious?” I stated while looking ahead.

“N-nooo!” She grunted through gritted teeth.

“You have to earn your keep. Cielle and I worked extra hard so you wouldn’t die, so you have to do the same. I’m not running a charity here.”

I impassively stated, which caused grunts of slight protest to arise from Hina.

“B-but, don’t you think this is a bit too heavy for me? E-especially since I don’t have much strength… in fact, my strength stat is only at 4!”

[Damn, that’s low….]

I inwardly thought to myself while shrugging.

“Not my fault.” I stated, before I followed up with, “Quit complaining, its like that saying, you know, “If you don’t work, you don't eat!””

I reiterated which only caused Hina to grumble even more.

Eventually, I blocked out her ceaseless complaining as we continued walking in the otherwise silent hallway.

Contrary to my belief, there weren’t many monsters roaming the halls, which actually brought up an even bigger issue; What would they fight in order to level up?

While I did plan on stopping by the restroom where the goblins once spawned, (since, like me, Hina and Cielle needed “relief” and they needed it fast) they couldn’t necessarily level up there, considering I stopped Goblins from spawning.

While racking my thoughts for a solution, I eventually sighed disparagingly.

I guess there was no other option. We’re going to have to visit the other spawn point I ran into.

This time, instead of  hunting goblins, we were going for a more… robust prey; Minotaurs.

****

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