After Min-Jae restores some of his mana, we do a few more tests, and I conclude that the eye is not giving him a new ability. It seems to allow him to utilize his skills more effectively or combine them?
It's hard to say what exactly it does, and he says his “connection” to his skills improved, whatever that means, and that he can see waves that he suspects are gravitational, again, whatever that means.
So, what he did was channel his skill through that wave with a bit of mana and caused a “spark,” as he calls it, that in turn created a small orb of extreme gravity.
It takes a lot of mana, but it's something I think he should be capable of doing on his own in the future. So that's it? Is the eye that “weak,” or does he just need some time to utilize it fully? Well, he seems happy and becomes even happier when he tries his [Telekinesis] and learns that he can use these waves to move heavier projectiles as well, so he goes to practice just that.
“I think it's a good thing, he was starting to lag behind a bit and lately has been in a bad mood,” Tess says the moment Min-Jae leaves with the twins and Lily to test it more.
“Kim focuses too much on comparing himself to other people and puts heavy expectations on himself,” Hadwin shakes his head, “He compares himself to you especially often,” he says looking at me.
“That’s dumb; he shouldn't do that,” I respond.
“But he does. Even his subclass, envy, confirms it. He looks up to you, and he wants to be like you. One day it could kill him,” Hadwin stands up, looking at me.
“Min-Jae is his own person, Haddy. If this is the way he wants to live, he can. If he thinks it's worth risking his life to reach that, he can do it as well,” I return his gaze.
“Kim is just a kid, he is young and dumb,” Hadwin’s voice becomes a bit louder. “ I’ve tried to speak with him multiple times, but he only listens to you. You should talk to him.”
The room becomes quiet, and everyone looks at Hadwin and me as I continue, “Then, let me ask you, what will happen if I do speak with him? I can even beat him up a bit if you want me to, I can force him to take it easier. It wouldn't be difficult, and I know the words.”
Tess pokes me slightly, but I ignore her and continue, “What will happen if we leave the 4th floor and get split again? What if we end up on a floor where everyone’s on their own? Do you think every floor will be like this one? Giving us time to prepare in comfort? Things will inevitably go to shit sooner or later.”
“We can stay here longer, we can train until we’re ready, and move on then,” Hadwin sighs. “I know where you are going with this, and I partially agree with you, but there has to be a middle ground,” his voice sounds a bit weaker.
“Probably, but look at it this way. Currently, he has multiple stronger people around, and then we have our own pocket healer. When other than now will he get a better opportunity to push himself?”
“Fuck, I hate how much sense it makes,” Hadwin shakes his head.
Tess also joins in, “You also forgot one thing, Hadwin. Kim might be young, but he is not a kid. Sure, he is a bit more impulsive than someone older, but he can make his own decisions.” her voice becomes softer. “You know about his family situation back on earth and how much he hated his life there where they controlled him entirely. I think he’s much happier now, however weird that is.”
“Haddy is just worried!” Isabella interjects, clearly annoyed, “You all talk so much, just look!” She exclaims before activating her skill.
I let it connect to me, and I sense it's connection to everyone else in the room, as a feeling of anxiety flows into me. It's a pure and nice feeling, like a parent worried about their child.
Then I realize that Isabella is sharing Hadwin's feelings with us and cut the connection.
Sophie realizes it as well and hits the back of her sister's head, “Izzy! You can't do it without asking!” she shouts at her.
Meanwhile, I look at Hadwin and notice that the older man with his elegant haircut and well-kept beard seems to be the most embarrassed here.
At the same time, Tess giggles next to me. Not maliciously, as if she were making fun of someone. She just seems to be amused.
----------------------------------------
Leaving another session with Cael and the craft guild and with another set of inscriptions engraved onto the epic mana stone, I reach the branch of one of the highest trees and for a moment sit there, observing the sections of the barrier activating.
The attacks from the ants are more frequent now and getting stronger. They come from all sides, Virelia being totally surrounded.
Some ants must have detected me because multiple times in a row the segment far across from me activates, blocking the attacks aimed at me.
Cheeky fuckers.
Once again, I feel the need to move, to attack them, to jump into their lines, but stop myself from doing so. It might be just what they want. The important thing right now is to not allow them to get Sophie and the twins, and to not allow the First One to evolve his skill.
While knowing that, I stand up, and [Regalia] activates, and I start creating a javelin that increases in size and grows until it's three times as long as me and as thick as my arm. I push more mana into it, the javelin turning dark blue with streaks of light blue.
Now then, what should I infuse it with?
I pick [Resonance] and infuse the weapon with its effect. Then, while being careful, I spend a few more minutes and try to create temporary inscriptions on my mana weapon. It's difficult, and they constantly keep tearing apart, so I simplify them by stabilizing the javelin.
Gradually, I push more mana into the tip of the weapon and [Focus] it to a much smaller point, making the tip turn black and start to suck on my mana. Quickly, I make a few more changes, hoping that the black tip will dominate the mana it comes into contact with and transfer a small amount of it into the [Resonance] infused javelin.
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I let my heart beat a few times, creating just enough kinetic energy, and then use it all to push the javelin.
It pierces through the air like a flash and passes through the one-directional barriers surrounding Virelia.
When it reaches the ants' defenses far away, it resonates and passes through them as if they are non-existent, and hits the ground near a bigger group of the ants as they quickly surround it. The ants do what I thought they would; they start channeling more mana towards it, trying to tear it apart.
It's too far for me to sense, but the javelin dominates more of their mana, and for a short while, it uses that to strengthen the [Resonance] enchantment I’ve set to have the effect of my old skill, [Oscillation].
The javelin untangles into long threads of mana, coated in an oscillating effect, and cutting through most of the ants.
[You have defeated Barrier ant - lvl 166]
[You have defeated Flame Legion ant - lvl 169]
[You have defeated Gravity ant - lvl 151]
[You have defeated Gravity ant - lvl 199]
[You have defeated Ant warrior - lvl 180]
…
[Lvl 189 > Lvl 190]
I create another javelin, and this time I do something different. [Tether] activates, and I create an anchor on the blade and then another one near where I am standing.
The javelin receives the last infusion of disrupting mana, and I shoot it at the ants, this time toward a different spot. It pierces through the barrier again, and I activate the anchor, appearing in front of the ants.
Immediately, I feel the effect of dozens of skills trying to affect me as my Mantle fights against them with the aid of the [Resonance] barrier I’ve created.
The kinetic energy converts into thermal, and I compress it as much as I can like I did back in the Colony.
I project a golden beam in front of me as thin as my finger, and reminiscent of a laser, cutting dozens of ants apart as I fuel it with more and more energy from my wildly beating heart. I pour all my frustration into it, compressing the beam even further and redirecting it constantly as they continue to create barriers to block it and strengthen them.
The skills trying to affect me weaken, and some melee range ants dash at me only to be cut in half. The notifications about kills ring somewhere in the background while I do it as efficiently as possible, monitoring the area around me.
Then I feel a terrifying pressure reaching towards me and immediately activate the anchor I created.
The pressure tries to disrupt the activation of my skills, but I fight against it with [Resonance] and disappear from the spot, reappearing back on the branch of the tree.
I skip notifications about kills and look at the skills.
[Resonance - lvl 34 > Resonance - lvl 35]
[Tether - lvl 14 > Tether - lvl 15]
Well, that last bit was a bit dangerous. Was it the First One, or just some highly coordinated attack? I would love to jump in multiple times, but a suspicion tells me that the quickly improving and evolving Colony would be able to analyze my anchors and [Tether]. After a few tries, they could stop me from using them, and that would become dangerous.
A few more notifications ring, and curious where they are coming from, I look towards the place I shot the first javelin tipped with black mana, and that area seems to have become hell for the ants.
Dozens of threads of mana as thin as my pinkie swirl around from the remains of what used to be the javelin, and the threads with oscillation coating cut through the ants even now, to my surprise.
The ants made a huge mistake and used a mana-hungry skill to stop it, only to find a nasty surprise in the black mana thing, whatever it is. That little black tip of highly focused mana constantly takes most of the mana the ants throw at it and uses a small part of it to fuel the remainder of the javelin and threads of mana while corroding the temporary inscriptions I left on it.
But good things do not last, and soon the inscriptions crumble, and that small black part dominates the javelin, absorbing the mana to fuel itself.
The ants finally identify the effect and, to my surprise, instead of trying to destroy it, they just create a field around it that seems to block all surrounding mana from getting to it and leave it as is.
Just for the fun of it, I create another javelin, turning the tip of it into black mana, and this time fill it with thermal energy and connect it to the black mana like I did before, with inscriptions.
The javelin once again passes through the barrier, but the moment it reaches behind it, the black part immediately devours the rest of the javelin, either because my balance is too off or I messed up with the inscriptions.
The ants once again surround it with some field and leave it there.
Well, enough playing; let's visit Obelia, as I promised Tess.
----------------------------------------
When we reach her office, we get in without incident and are left alone with the Storm Brigade guild master.
“You seem serious, Tess. Did something happen?”
Tess nods. “I want to ask you to please stop spreading the rumor of the lynthari invasion of this planet,” she says directly, without beating around the bush.
“I have to remind you that this planet is called Nebulon, and the lynthari ARE the invaders here, Tess,” Obelia says directly, her eyes flicking to me for a moment.
Then Obelia grows cautious. Her body straightens up, and I see her subtly warming her muscles and letting more mana flow into her body. She is getting ready for a fight.
Tess notices it as well but ignores it. “I agree, but I don’t think this is the right time.”
“I disagree,” Obelia stands up. “No one from the human guilds is dumb enough to fight lynthari now, and we will all cooperate,” she walks around her table and stands in front of us. “What will happen after the Colony is dealt with will be up to them.”
“You are worried that Myrra will try to kill you after the war before you can spread the information. So you want humans to know in the event that the lynthari are weakened and they decide to fight,” Tess realizes it the same moment I do.
Obelia doesn’t answer, but she doesn’t have to even confirm it; she takes the tiniest step toward the door, and an item in her pocket activates.
“Don’t,” I warn her, and our eyes meet.
For a moment, she returns my gaze, her eyes wild and threatening, “Would you really do that?” she asks, her mana not stopping and filling her body even more.
“Yes,” I answer with absolute certainty.
"Before things get out of control, why don't we do it like this," Tess interrupts us quickly, "Be more careful spreading it, spend much more effort on making sure there isn’t any trouble during the war with the Colony. After we deal with the Colony, humans can decide what to do. Nat and I don't care about what happens afterward."
Tess starts sounding more threatening, "If you decide, you can murder each other, Obelia. Fight against lynthari, burn the city to the ground, you are free to do whatever you want when this fight is over. But I won't allow you to risk the lives of my companions over your obsession."
Obelia looks between me and Tess and nods, "Deal."
The entire time, I observe her curiously.
It's fascinating how much a logically thinking person can change their behavior when it comes to the things that matter to them.