"Next time, we're walking, alright?" Milena said weakly as she wiped off her mouth.
Glenn shrugged, used to it. The team had just gone through the Magi Brotherhood's teleportation device, reaching the Northern Town in a matter of minutes. Of course, that came with the annoying side effects of making everyone sick, besides Glenn and Javier. Glenn because he was used to it, and Javier because...because Javier never felt a thing. Liara was still evacuating everything her body ordered to, her lovely face colored with a sickly shade of green.
After they all caught their breath, the team headed to the Cleaner's Workshop. They had to stop a few times on their way because Liara, the Black Heir lady curious about every shop and booth. After Glenn got her some food, they were finally free to proceed to their objective.
The Workshop was bustling with people, as usual. The difference between the Eastern branch and this one was shocking. Glenn still preferred the activity, compared to the unnatural silence he lived in for the last few days. The intervention in the Eastern Town barely took a few days, yet it felt like a month had passed. So many things happened in the span of so little time.
Glenn and the other instinctively headed for the Platinum floor, only to find that the access to the door was barred to them. Milena grunted, and so did Glenn. Liara didn't seem to understand, and Javier didn't care. Or maybe he did. There was no way to tell, with those dead, empty eyes of his.
They went down to the Dark-Gold rank floor, which opened after Glenn used his Identification dagger. He went to his attributed room, ushering everyone in.
"Make yourself at home guys, I'm pretty sure there should be enough guest rooms for everyone. Unless you'd rather go back to your rooms, Milena, Javier?"
Milena shook her head, "If I can enjoy luxury, I might as well do so." She smiled and turned toward the lady Black Heir, startling her, "...And I'll be with Liara, so that's great!"
Javier simply stared at Glenn, before turning away and leaving the room. The young man looked at the silent hunter's back, before shrugging and turning away. The Pale Son will probably pop out of nowhere the second he needs him. What a reliable guy. Milena chuckled and pulled Liara with her, heading off to explore Glenn's suite to choose a room, and, as he had asked them, "make themselves at home".
'Creepy, but reliable. The perfect balance,' Diamanes remarked. Glenn sighed and stretched, before collapsing on a nearby sofa. He was done with almost all of his preparations to go to the Bourgeoisie. The Recommendation Letter from the Gold church would be his key, so no worries about paying the fee. He'll just have to ask Maron for it at some point...
Redan had also been saved, so that was one less worry on his mind, even though he most certainly turned some big names against him. The Occult Wanderers and their sordid rituals, the Skinners (who should hopefully get exterminated by the Church of Onnea), and most important of all, the Mortelli noble family. He'll have to ask Sir Reginald for some information on them. Or Milena. Yeah, he had almost forgotten Milena was a noble too. Not an official one, sure, but with all the knowledge of one.
He'll have to be careful of any retaliation from Laurence if that guy is still alive. He wasn't responsible for the insane Earthling's kidnapping into the Beyond, but it never hurt to be prepared.
But what could he even prepare to face off a Newborn Sovereign, a Seventh-Circle? That was the peak of humanity's power, from what he understood.
"...Let's just hope that guy's dead..." Glenn muttered, tired. He rubbed the corner of his eyes, before leaning forward and clasping his hands together.
Now that he was done with all urgent matters, he had a new issue he needed to deal with: weakness.
He was way too weak. Laurence, even though he managed to somehow hurt him with Shooting Star, thanks to the pebble that didn't disintegrate when he shot it, somehow...Glenn frowned. Wait, a pebble...pebble...
The young man patted his chest pocket, his eyes widening when he found a small pebble, a little heavy for its look, with a faint, jade color. It felt the same to the touch as the pebble he used against Laurence.
"...Is it time to see what's special about this not-sentient rock?" Glenn pondered aloud as he threw the pebble up and down. The Dark-Gold training room he had in his suite was great, but not meant to use powerful, destructive spells. It was mostly used to physically reinforce the body. And if he could, the young man would rather not destroy a whole chunk of his suite. No way would the Cleaners' Workshop pay for the damages, after all.
'I'll test it at the Magi Brotherhood HQ...I should still have access to the Testing Room, after all,' Glenn thought, before putting the pebble back in his breast pocket. He then came back to his main concern: weakness.
The first, and most obvious solution, would be to get another Circle and become a Magi. Doing that would multiply his Mana reserves, make his spells more cost-efficient, and overall, just become stronger. The issue with that was that he still had no idea as to how Circle creation was working. Using his whole Mana reserves only made him suffer from Mana Exhaustion, which wasn't pleasant. Each time he got a new Circle, it was almost...natural. No, the first Circle was just a machine doing it for him, so that doesn't count. The Second Circle happened when he understood his Mana affinity, which had to do something with space and stars. Then, the third Circle came when he pushed himself to the brink of the edge, almost dying in the process, but breaking through the Wall. A Wall he was supposed to break only once he reached the Magi rank. Which was another problem, in and of itself, but whatever.
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The process of Gather, Process, Amplify still worked, but it wasn't enough to push to the brink the stable star rings created with the power of his Specialty, Astral Sorcery. His best bet would probably be to continue using as much Mana as he could, maybe even Overload in a safe environment (with Bob around, the healing, green massive creature thingy).
"Stop with Overload!" Nelg hissed, followed by Diamanes.
'Yeah, forget this shit! You're just going to blow up if you use it again, so don't even consider it!'
Glenn sighed disappointedly and stored the idea on a dusty shelf inside his brain. For now, let's act as if that option didn't exist. Then, what else could he do? Just...shoot spells one after the other, and hope for some kind of enlightenment?
'But that could take ages!' Glenn despaired. He still had so many things on his plate, that he couldn't just wait to get stronger!
"...What are you talking about? Of course, you can." Nelg suddenly stated, puzzled. Glenn's eyebrows rose.
'Tell me, Nelg, am I supposed to just leave Callum, Giselle's grandson, in the hands of the other vampiric bastard forever?'
The sentient sword cackled, mocking its user.
"Well, not 'forever', but a few months should be fine. He didn't seem to be treated so badly last time you saw him, besides being a little pale."
Glenn rubbed his chin, pondering. The kid's life didn't seem threatened, indeed, but he should still do his utmost to keep his oath with Giselle, right? She already cleared out the forces of the Thorn's Church, taking out a big thorn in his foot, pun intended. He had to respect his part of the deal too!
'Well, technically, the Thorn's Church still seems to have influence. Not in the Sewers anymore, because Giselle burned all of those cultists idiots to ashes, but you saw their influence in the Eastern Town, when you were attacked by that crowd. Perhaps they abandoned the Sewers and began growing seriously into the Fringe?' Diamanes suggested. Glenn frowned, realizing he hadn't considered this point of view. Indeed, he wasn't entirely done with them. And as long as Epinos, the God of Pain and Redemption existed, there will always be some cultists gathering power to try and bring him to his twisted God. For what reason, that much wasn't clear to Glenn, but he knew the Thorn's Church wanted him, for some bizarre reason linked to Epinos.
Whatever. For now, he was in an area with a strong influence of the Cleaner's Workshop. He could rely on them and Sir Reginald if needs came to be.
Nonetheless, that still didn't solve the Circle level-up problem...
"Can I make a suggestion?" Nelg chimed in. Glenn moistened his lips and nodded slowly. He looked a little crazy talking and making all these faces by himself, but who cared? Not him, that was for sure.
'Let's hear it, Nelg.' He sighed, his chin leaning on his fist. His armored self appeared in his mind, his arms crossed.
"I think the best way to go from now, would be to grow the micro instead of the macro side of your power."
Glenn blinked. Micro, macro? What was he on? This wasn't Starcraft, what was his sword talking about? Nelg sighed and explained himself.
"Let's consider the Circles as macro power. You level them up, you get stronger overall. Only, Circles are very hard to harness and almost happen randomly. So, the only solution would be to grow your micro power."
Nelg took a deep breath before continuing.
"Your spell repertoire, for example, can be considered as micro-power. You create a new spell, which might be very useful in a specific situation. It's not "macro" because it's not making you stronger overall, but it can save you when you need it. Swordsmanship is also micro-power. And I am also a micro-power since you can grow me."
"Right now, you're only focused on getting more levels and attributes, without taking the time of learning passive or actives. You get what I'm saying now?"
Glenn nodded, indeed understanding what Nelg meant. It was quite useful to have another mind thinking like him, particularly for communication.
Wait, wasn't that just dissociative identity disorder? The young man shook the thought out of his head and considered Nelg's words. Indeed, maybe he was taking things too fast without stabilizing his power. Creating more spells to grow his repertoire would certainly be useful, and give him more tools to fight in different situations.
What other "micro" skills should he learn, then?
Instantly, something came to mind. Each time he met with a stronger power these days, like Laurence, or Manalok Tuleam, the Restoration Operator, they all knew his Circle rank. Somehow, they could see it.
"I want to do that too..." Glenn muttered, rubbing the sides of his nose. Diamanes used to give him these kinds of data before, back when he was just introduced to this world, but now he completely stopped...
'Hey!' Diamanes protested, 'I can't just continue to hold your hand! Even though I AM a hand, haha...haha...' The entity laughed alone, failing to pull Glenn and Nelg with him. The young man grunted and drew a deep breath. This had to be something common since so many people could do it. They could just see his strength...
Would it be something like...Mana sight? Does that even exist? Or would it be some other kind of sight? Maybe Milena would know...If not her, perhaps Redan? But the old man wasn't going to wake up anytime soon if he understood Valentin's words back then. The priest had been specifically assigned to Redan and would come with him to the Northern Town.
'I'll have to pass by the Church at some point to ask him how long will it take for Redan to wake up...' Glenn noted that thought for later.
Growing Nelg was also a very, very interesting option. It was simple, only requiring him to fight and kill stuff, and eventually, Nelg would have enough souls to create a new Circle. What benefits would that bring, neither Glenn nor Nelg was sure of them, but that was still something he could accomplish passively. As was training swordsmanship; the more he fought with a sword, the better he'd get. Practice makes perfect.
As for spell creation, he could just do it in parallel when he wants to take a break. He'll have to look deeper into Mana's sight too.
'There's also the option of feeding me, be it new spells or Rifts,' Diamanes reminded him. Glenn nodded deeply. Indeed, he could also do that, and he'll instantly get more powerful. He had to get Milena's powers, which was part of the current line of thought. But then, that left him with one question unanswered.
When should he go to the Bourgeoisie?
"When you're invited to it," Nelg instantly stated. Glenn frowned and realized the sword might be right. Norstan Vendor did mention that the Royal Inquisition would send someone as long as he reached rank Four to invite him in the Bourgeoisie. And if that took too long, well...
That's a problem for future Glenn. It didn't matter anyway; Sahro was stuck in the Eastern Town for a few more months, which was also how long the Restoration Operator said it was going to take to fix the Project Damocles notebook. It was clear, then.
He needed to farm monsters for three months, for their souls and the fighting experience. That was going to be a long grind, but a bountiful one.
Everything goes back to the grind, in the end.