After their adjourned meeting from the day before, and taking a much-needed break to think things through, the team was once again back on business, right on time for lunch, which Lono had prepared this time around as his own way to apologize to Sophia, which she had accepted gratefully.
"So everyone, after learning we are going to have to cooperate together for better or for worse for far longer than we ever thought possible... it's time to do something about it."
Everyone nodded, even Prince and Moana, although both did so reluctantly.
"That time manipulation is proving both to be a problem and an opportunity so I propose we make the most of it."
This time, everyone wholeheartedly approved without even knowing what she had in mind.
"And to that effect, to save time we have to invest some. Paolo and I have breezed through the last four floors, partly thanks to the investment we made on the first floor. Otherwise said, we have to train hard to make the most of our downtime in between floors.
And I wish that all of us get one extra boon to help us tackle the floor before we leave the rest area. It can be anything. But the tutorial only rewards us if we are making good use of its resources. And time is definitely one such resource we need to use to our advantage."
Some people were already about to argue and so she explained further:
"It doesn't have to be combat. If anything, I think we are already solid on that front." She conceded, "But the tutorial had been throwing at us increasingly complicated puzzles, difficult situations as well as boss monsters we are outright not supposed to be fighting. And we need more ways to deal with those. Weavesinging and poisoning might not work a second time."
And then, Moana raised her hand.
"Yes?" Sophia gave the girl her turn to speak:
"Can you please get to the point? What exactly are you proposing?"
And so, Sophia had to reign her temper and state the obvious.
"That's the proposal. We all go soul-searching for a new boon that might help and we all get one before we leave that place. That's the entirety of the plan as I described it. Unlike what you have been implying yesterday, I'm not much of a leader nor I'm pretending to know shit about anything. But Prince might know better if he feel so inclined. Prince, care to do your job helping and guiding us here?"
The tressym was almost startled awake as his name got called a lazily flew to her position.
"How may I be of help?" He asked.
"The spiders, the fifth floor, how can we get prepared for it and what boon might help." She summarized impatiently.
"Ah, yes. Phase spiders are social arachnids forming giant colonies, and spreading their webs everywhere. They are trap and ambush predators capable of preying on creatures ten times their size. That means that whatever unknown enemies await us on this floor, they should be under ten times those spiders.
As for the spiders themselves, they use teleportation magic, their webs, and their poison and they do not like fire and cold magic: fire is burning their webs and cold is triggering their hibernation instinct. Both of which are covered by your Prismatic Orb spell.
Also, phase spiders are social but not eusocial. They are mostly anarchists and have multiple spider matriarchs but no spider queen. That means you are going to fight the spiders one 'family' at a time instead of an overwhelming swarm all at once, which is both good and bad news. You are going to survive the first few fights but the spiders are going to tire you out over time. And you are going to need a way to fight more 'economically' to survive in the long run.
That's about all I have to say about this floor. I know nothing of that zero gravity thing you have been talking about."
And that concluded the winged cat speech that went back to his nap.
"I think that backs up what I just said:" Sophia continued after him, "We need other ways to solve our conflict than rely on brute force and spells. And I'm not the real brain of this team so I will let Paolo do the creative thinking. I just wanted to lay out some objectives before we all got with it, one way or another. Is anyone against it?"
No one said anything and so she took that as a yes.
"Then, this is concluding this second team meeting." She concluded, "Now, Let's enjoy the food and get better together."
★☆★
Sophia had left that issue unanswered for a really long time and now, she had the time to finally address it.
Picking locks and disarming traps.
It was supposed to be her job within the team but she had no experience with both. So far, she somehow had managed to get around the issue and stay unharmed.
But she knew the higher floor traps should not be so forgiving.
Unfortunately, the resting area offered very few locks and absolutely no traps to train with.
The only locks were the personal chests within their common bedroom, which she had started training on with everyone's consent. But even after lockpicking each of the six chests, it had not been enough to get her a boon.
She also kept pursuing archery, simply because she wanted to.
But it was a discussion with Prince that gave her a new venue to explore as she was toying further with her training arrows, polishing further their now nonexistent edges:
"You really like crafting, aren't you?" He said, not bothering to conceal his disdain for what he perceived as a waste of her time.
"Are you perhaps jealous?" Sophia playfully retorted. "And yes, I find making things with my own two hands oddly comforting. But I understand that you can't relate. What can I do for you?"
"Besides paying my wages and keeping your promises?" Prince played along casually. "Nothing much really. But I'm feeling in a helping mood if you are interested."
"I'm listening. And how many spells do I owe you?" She replied, satisfied with that new development in their relationship.
He was now slightly less sarcastic and more willing to help. And overall, his companionship was a lot more enjoyable than it used to be. And so, she wanted to fully support that change of behavior.
"That would be four first-circle spells, counting today. And I'm well aware you cannot afford to give away that much, yet." He conceded. "As for my suggestion: how would you feel about diverting your crafting effort toward trying to unlock the bowyer starting boon?"
"First thing first, tell me how do I share my magic with you?" She asked.
"That's very simple. You have to touch my head and wish to impart some of your power to me. Since I'm your familiar, there is already an active magical connection between us to channel your magic through."
She did as he instructed and gave away the equivalent of two spells to the winged cat, leaving her feeling drained afterward.
"Thanks." The feline said, purring for the very first time since they met.
"Now, you were saying something about a bowyer boon?" She asked again.
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"That's right. You should know already that you are permanently locked away from civilian archetypes. So any crafting is wasted on you, unless it somehow relates to the boons you already have, like [Advanced Speed Archery]. If you want to get a crafting boon, you need to make both the bow and arrows you are shooting with."
"Then maybe you can answer my question: why does the system recognize the training arrows I had modified but not my other attempts?" Sophia immediately asked.
"Because the arrows you have been working with were already system-sanctioned items." Prince stated blankly as if it was obvious before asking impatiently: "Now, do you want my help or not?"
"I already told you I'm willing to listen to whatever you have to say." She reminded him, reigning her temper.
"Oh yeah. Sorry. I got distracted." The tressym apologized, still high on magic. "If you want to make a system-sanctioned bow, you need to start simpler, since you are lacking the proper skills and tools. So step one: borrow Paolo's quarterstaff and create your own system-sanctioned copy of it.
And so Sophia nodded and went doing exactly that, borrowing the quarterstaff, destroying one of the library bookcases for its wood, and then, she started working, one cut of her blades at a time.
"Like this?" She finally asked, hours later, when she had a crude copy of it.
"You are doing good. But I'm sure you can tell the difference. You need a functional weapon, not a crude walking stick full of shards." The winged cat pointed out, yawning.
Sophia admitted that Prince's review of her work was fair. Her "crude walking stick", as The tressym put it nicely, needed sanding, polishing, and finishing. And so she went to the kitchen, took the steel wool and olive oil, and got back to work.
She was barely half-done when she felt the need to take a nap.
And she went back to it as soon as she woke up.
But she wasn't the only one being industrious that morning: Michel was sitting on the floor, carefully writing scrolls from repurposed book covers while Paolo and Moana were quietly studying together.
It was good to have people around even if everyone was doing their own thing.
Still, the closer she was getting to a perfect copy, the more time she was spending on the finer details.
And yet, she kept pushing until the system acknowledged her effort.
You have crafted a basic quarterstaff. The item's material quality is outstanding, its crafting quality is crude, and its durability is average. It has no special characteristics.
'Thanks' She reacted to the system notification, grateful she was done with the first step of the tressym plan.
"Prince! I'm done! What's next?" She called out.
The tressym rushed induction the library and circled her, flying happily while admiring her work from every angle.
"Good job!" He exclaimed, "Now that you turned that piece of wood into a system-sanctioned item, you can modify it to suit your needs. If your modifications are significant enough, you will get a system notification to reflect it. Now, you can make a primitive bow that would never have been approved otherwise and use it to get the boon. Take your time, and don't screw it up, or else you might have to start over."
So that was it? The whole plan was to game the system to get that boon. Would it even work?
She was being doubtful but so far, Prince's bits of advice had always been on point.
★☆★
That night, she had made very little progress on the bow design, as even Prince did not know how to help. And so she had spent all that time between her drawing board and the system resources in search of a DIY for a primitive Shortbow.
But if such a resource existed, it didn't exist within her tutorial credentials.
And so she had decided to take a break and finally get back in the loop about everyone else progress and Paolo had been conveniently available at the exact same time.
"So, how have you been going?" She asked him as they hung out in the kitchen.
"Honestly? I'm feeling like crap." He responded, exhausted. "I've been learning new spells but without you, training wasn't the same. And then, I've Moana being extremely unreasonable and pestering me to learn alchemy when honestly, she should be asking you. I'm not good at dealing with unwanted attention. And my own projects are getting nowhere."
"Really?" She beamed, glad that she could be useful to at least one of her team members. "You should have told me sooner. I would deal with Moana for you. And we can resume training whenever you want. So, what did you get?"
Her excitations had cracked a smile through Paolo's exhaustion.
"Thanks. I finally got mage armor and cloud of daggers."
She nodded in appreciation and encouraged him to keep going, so as to distract him from the less stellar aspect of his day. Besides, those were both truly good spells to have for a melee and support-oriented spellcaster.
"I'm also trying to learn new rituals. And I stumbled upon an intriguing shady reference about spell creation and a mage who has been searching the origin of magic. In the end, it turned out to be a dead end but still: can you imagine the potential?"
Creating new spells was indeed an interesting prospect but given their monetary issues, they did not have the kind of money to invest in experimental magic anyway. So though she understood Paolo's enthusiasm, she tried her best not to give fuel to his fire.
"It sounds cool. So what's next?" She asked, further diverting his attention away.
"I don't know." He admitted before giving it some thought out loud "I would like to get another Battlemage boon now that we got the time. And your crafting just gave me ideas. Do you think we could turn my quarterstaff into a polearm and electrify it with wires? It would let me improve my fighting style and give me some extra reach with shocking grasp."
"I like the way you think." She approved. "But we don't have any wires. I will look into it and let you know but don't get your hopes up."
An electrified Spear would indeed look freaking cool. And it did suit Paolo's better than the daggers, though they had saved their skins countless times on the lower floors.
"I know you will," Paolo said with a sad smile. "Have a good night."
And then, she was all alone, again.
★☆★
Dealing with Moana had been an exercise in frustration. Though the girl was eager to learn, she took offense and made a drama of everything. The main point of contention had been explaining to the girl why alchemy did not contradict chemistry and why both actually complemented each other.
"Alchemy is manipulating the metaphysical property of an object, not its physical property. And the alchemical formula is the result of alchemy while the potion itself is merely a byproduct. When you are following an alchemical recipe, you are using someone else formula and following it step-by-step, you are getting the expected result, just as chemistry." Sophia summarized for the umpteenth time.
"But while you are technically producing an alchemical solution, you are not really doing alchemy and neither am I. That soul manipulation of metaphysical properties and reality-altering isn't something that can be self-taught. Or at least, not in the way you think of it. That's an entirely different school of magic. So no, you cannot experiment with alchemy the way you could with chemistry. Unless you have a death wish, that's it."
To be fair, she had gone through the same common mistakes before learning from them. But the girl was really opinionated and set in her own way. If it didn't follow the scientific method, then, all the book content about alchemy had to be utter bullshit and Moana alone would prove the error of their way.
As if.
Yet, it hit home especially hard as Sophia recognized her own arrogance and misguided pride in the girl's attitude. Nothing was quite as bothersome as being presented with a mirror highlighting all the things she didn't like about her.
"That's utter bullshit," the girl said and stormed away for the fifth time that day.
However, she would soon be back for yet another round once she was done making someone else miserable instead.
"Moana is still giving you trouble, uh?" Michel commented once she was gone, and then rambling some more. "Though I'm impressed at how she perfected her mean eyes. Maybe we should advise her to cultivate her intimidating glare into a boon? Or maybe not. What do you think?"
"Please don't." Sophia sighed, covering her face in a vain attempt to wash out the frustration.
"You should be okay for the next hour." The diviner predicted. "She had been learning and recreating alien games in her free time and she is now going to challenge her brother to a game of alien chess. But he is getting surprisingly good at it and she is a sore loser. She would not quit until she got a win."
Silence settled comfortably between them and finally, she said:
"I might be delusional. But somehow, I keep wishing this was all a misunderstanding and that we could be friends, after burying the hatchet and all that."
"Her brother thinks so." He said absent-mindedly.
"So you still think taking them in wasn't a mistake?" She asked, obviously having second thoughts herself.
"Nope. They are still good people. And she behaves professionally when she has to." He concluded pragmatically.
Of course, he was right. They were all kidnapped within the tutorial against their will. And so far, they had all shown a willingness to cooperate despite their disagreement. Michel himself was keeping everyone at arm's length, emotionally distancing himself. And yet, he was now an indispensable member of the team.
"Did you make any progress?" She asked, changing the subject.
"I'm still getting around trying to use Disguise Self, Spell Impression, and Blindness properly," Michel admitted. "I can't keep up with supergenius like Pretty Boy."
It was highly ironic that both Wizard of the team were striving more to be like the other. But Michel wasn't quite done venting his frustration yet:
"I kept thinking he has a very slappable face each time he is pointing out what I have been doing wrong. I swear he knows every single spell I got better than I do. And he can't help rubbing it in my face."
That wasn't the Paolo she knew. And yet, she did not doubt Michel's words either. Those were Michel's feelings regarding Paolo's and nothing she could say to his defense would make them any less valid.
"I'm sorry you have been at the receiving hands of Paolo's insecurities. And you should tell him. He might not even have realized what he has been doing." She tried to validate his feelings instead while still defusing the situation.
"Yeah. Good luck with Moana" He dismissed her kindly before getting back to work.
And so she did.