Chapter 342 - (¬_¬) (Patreon)

[Perception] powered by black mana isn't that special, or at least not at my skill level. Unlike [Focus], I'm not that good at using that skill, so black mana makes it, well, perceive better. I still prefer my eye trait, but it's not terrible and could be used to improve my detection.

I'm sure I would be able to locate Tacita even now and quite easily, but it's somewhat hard to control. I have died three times before getting some actual results.

The second skill I have decided to test is [Resonance] and mostly for its part that used to be [Oscillation] and not [Disruption].

[Resonance] powered by black mana easily tears apart the trees and rocks in front of me, in quite a big area as well. It's akin to highly concentrated high-frequency kinetic energy but it feels sharper.

Knowing I can't die, I do it somewhat carelessly, intending to learn even from the way my body gets damaged. I die two more times.

I also try to use [Resonance] with a lot of black mana to send as big a pulse of disrupting wave as I can, and after examining it I'm almost sure it reaches everyone within the common area. Something like a huge area mana variation of EMP.

With that one pulse, the black mana I used for the skill is gone. It was a lot of it, but the area is huge so it's nice.

Maybe it scared a few people or messed up the web Hell and Hard difficulty people are putting over the common area, but it’s a price I'm willing to pay.

Next, I decide not to test it on more skills. The event is still a bit off, but I need to get there with my mana topped out.

For the last test with black mana, I create a big amount and send it through my body, in something akin to Reinforcement or body strengthening. And I observe it the entire time, not activating my healing passive even as my body is getting damaged, my bones and muscles strengthened by mana while it also puts immense pressure on them.

I move that mana to certain parts, like to my feet or arms, and attempt to strengthen them only. Then I manipulate mana to seep out to create a black dagger before absorbing it back inside.

Each of these attempts would be extremely dangerous as a single spike can tear my organs or mind apart, but here I'm not that worried.

Congratulations, you have acquired a new skill!

[Mana Manipulation]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 0 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 38]

Huh? What?

Confused, I ignore the black mana for a moment and check my status and the skill is there. One of my two original skills is back.

Didn't the system say it would be extremely difficult to get the skill back? And I was already getting used to training without it, and why the heck is it so high level? Other skills I gained are mostly in single-digit numbers.

Is it because I had it before, and more importantly, does it mean I can use [Mana Manipulation] for skill combination again? Is that even allowed? And maybe, in the future when I use it for skill combination, I can get it back again.

Total scam!

It's still surprising, but I like it. It must mean that I' have a great talent when it comes to mana, right? Hehe.

Seeing that my body is getting too wounded, still happy because of the new skill, I send kinetic energy into my brain to blow off my head. I die again, my body returning to its normal  state.

From testing, I know that if I waited longer the system would restore me to my wounded but not yet dead version. I'm still not sure what the exact time limit is, but it's something that can be found out with a bit of testing.

Finding myself back, the first thing I see is Tacita squatting in front of me and looking at me in a way that is hard to translate. Is it amazement? Admiration? Did she stalk me and see me testing black mana and dying?

She lifts her pointing finger close to her temple and makes a circular movement there while looking at me.

Oh, come on! Everyone normal would do that! You can't die here, so it's not a problem to destroy your body a few times.

“I'm normal. That much is reasonable,” I defend myself.

She blinks a few times and then gestures at the ground where she quickly draws something with her finger.

(¬_¬)

“I'm normal.”

She wipes it off and pats my shoulder once before drawing again.

(ಠ_ಠ)

“Did you come just to make fun of me?”

Tacita shakes her head.

“Do you want something from me?”

A short nod.

“What is it?”

(>^_^)> ☆･ﾟ*･｡ﾟ

There is NO WAY she is more normal than me.

“Explosion?”

She nods excitedly a few times but then gestures that not exactly.

“Do you want me to cause an explosion?”

Tacita shakes her head.

“Did you find me because an explosion?”

She shakes her head again.

Hmm, this is a fun game so I plop on the ground opposite of her and think.

“Did you maybe feel my disrupting wave?”

(＾▽＾)

Carefully, she touches her shirt which is of black color.

Oh.

“You want to see my black orb?”

(＾▽＾)

“What do I get in exchange?” I ask.

To my surprise, she thinks about it for a while, and seriously so. Then she pulls out a small brooch in the shape of a leaf and puts it on the ground.

Examining it, I find out it's an epic item with two uses left. Each of these uses increases dexterity by 200 points for 10 seconds. It's the first time I meet with an item like that and damn how scary it is in the hands of someone like Tacita who already goes full Dexterity.

I wonder how she deals with attribute imbalance I'm sure she is having. Without enough Constitution, each of her quick movements likely threatens to tear her apart. Is it some trait? Epic passives? Active skills? There are plenty of options.

The item is nice, but I would rather try to build a good relationship with her. That would be much more valuable.

“I was joking, I will show it to you for free. Just don't attack me or my group without a good reason.”

Tacita looks at me and then seems to be thinking about it for a while.

A minute passes like that.

Then she looks at me again, into my eyes and I return her gaze. She smiles gently and gestures with her hand.

Maybe.

"That's enough."

She takes the brooch and then gestures at me impatiently.

As I reach out and compress mana into a smaller orb that turns black, I am already used to the process. She watches it all with fascination like an excited little girl finding a new toy.

Her hands move in sign language, but she quickly remembers I do not understand and then points at the orb while looking at me with a question.

“Yes, you can.”

Tacita nods quickly and a barrier forms on her skin as she reaches her finger towards the black mana orb. It starts absorbing her mana the moment it enters her range.

At this point, I know showing her this will help her to understand my black orb a bit better and maybe even think about a way to counter it.

But I also know she realizes that, and yet I'm still showing it to her. That much should make her create a better image of me in her head. A guy who showed her his secret weapon even though he didn't have to.

Obviously, just that won't turn her into a friend or anything, but just a little bit, just a first step is enough, and to me, Tacita looks like someone worth keeping close.

I lean against the tree with my back and observe her as she continues to examine the orb. She changes her barrier, she tries to move her hand so quickly I can't even track it, testing if moving quickly stops the orb from absorbing mana.

She pokes it with mana-coated dagger too.

It's like she is a curious cat playing with a new toy.

In the end, she seems to be satisfied and stands up. Looking at me, she shows a thumbs-up which almost makes me laugh. The heck. Then after waving her hand, she runs away at a speed that could look like teleportation to someone with worse senses.

Scary.

 ***

I head back to our house when I get a notification that all the weapons I put into the shop have been sold. After the system takes its cut, I get 1200 shards. Plenty more than I was asking.

Something seems to be amiss here. Why would they sell for so much? Looking at the price, only people from Normal or Hard would be buying them, but with what they bought them for they could've gotten items from the system shop instead.

Very suspicious.

When I reach the house, Channeler is there as well. Unlike before, he is wearing much nicer clothes and he is slightly tidied up which makes him even more handsome.

Again, the heck. It should be illegal for a man to look like that.

“Noname! I trained using the stone you gave me. It's amazing! I even had someone from Hard trying to steal it from me.”

Oh boy. “Did he get it?”

“Nope! Sset saw it and zapped him and then his group who wanted to help him.” He moves closer and continues in a whisper. “Sset is scary. A few of these guys from Hard difficulty got beaten and cried and begged her to stop, but she was like: ‘Channeler is with Group 4.’ So goddamn cool, I tell you!”

Oh nice, now even Tess is spreading Group 4's name to other participants. But I'm curious where she is going with it.

“Good, if someone bothers you just tell us. It's easy to deal with them.”

“Will do so, boss! By the way, did you hear about that creep selling rare items?”

Huh, creep? I know multiple people registered as a sellers and I even saw some rare items in the tournament shop, but who could already catch interest enough to talk about them?

“Anything interesting?” I ask.

“Yup! He made a few rare items and was selling them at a low price! I'm friendly with some Normal difficulty guys and they already started talking about it. They say weapons are being sold for the price of a low rare item with the performance of a mid rare! Apparently, not many people have realized their value yet.”

Heh, what a loser, getting scammed already.

Channeler continues, “The items are ugly as hell and sometimes they are even hard to hold since the shape is all wrong.”

Wait a moment.

He laughs shortly, “The guys complained a lot about them being ugly, but the performance and effects are amazing for such a grade so they sell like hot cakes. I even heard some were later trading them in for other, more valuable items with crafters from Hard difficulty who wanted to examine them.

Please no.

Channeler explodes into laughter, “But best of all is the guy's name. Everyone calls him Tent Creep who apparently wants to… well, you know… Anyway, if you see any tent you better avoid it.”

T-That's not it!

I try to correct him, “Isn't his name 'Fuck You Intent Bitch'? I think I saw it.”

Channeler just shrugs, “What even is “intent”? Anyway, they don't care. Since the name has caught on, they are likely to continue using it,” he smirks. “Obviously no one will make fun of him to his face. It would be dumb to make fun of someone who is so good at crafting!”

“Yes, that would be really stupid.”

“Maybe you can also buy some stuff from the guy, creep or not.”

“Yes, maybe. Hehe, such a stupid name.”

“Right? I have to go to Soph. Gareth and others are getting annoyed by the web she is setting up around the common area. It interferes with, and apparently even takes over, some parts of their own web. They already sent Brainiac to talk to her, but apparently, he is just messing around with other members of your group.”

Group 4 indeed, everyone seems to like to cause trouble.

“Sure, I think she is in the facility with her sister, you can check there.”

“Thanks, I will see you later, boss!”

As he leaves, I watch him for a bit longer. I find it nice that his behavior towards me didn't change that much after the end of the 1st event unlike some others.

When I enter the house, I find Tess and all the furniture floating in the air in the smaller living room that is otherwise empty.

“Tent Creep!” she welcomes me immediately.

“Oh, come on!” In quick succession, I shoot a few mana orbs at her, and she destroys them with her lightning.

“If you want, I can find out who started it, and you can have a talk with the guy. But that would reveal the secret identity of Tent Creep, and they would laugh behind your back. Or you can keep it secret.”

“Let's keep it secret.”

“Sure! By the way, flying is much harder than you made it look. Other than you, me and Kim I saw only two guys flying briefly. Maybe there will be a few more, but they are all terrible in comparison to you.”

That improves my mood, and I know she said it on purpose. Such a cheeky blonde.

“They just don't practice enough. I also wanted to ask you something.” I move closer and sit in the armchair that starts floating with me on it under the influence of her skill. “You went pretty hard on Group 4 during the 1st event, is there a reason for that?”

Tess attacked me the moment she saw me, and then again. I also heard she poked at others and also defeated Min-Jae. It's weird to me, considering she wants to create an atmosphere of camaraderie, yet instead of grouping up during the event she stayed alone, even attacking some of the members.

Slowly, the items float back to the floor along with Tess, who ends up on the couch opposite me.

“I attacked you because I thought it would be fun and I know you won't mind it.” When she looks at me, I nod and after a short smile, she continues, “I poked others to remind them that it's not only you who is stronger than them in Group 4. I want them to know I'm here as well and they should not forget that.”

“Want to be their mom?”

“Actually, that might not be that inaccurate.” A plate with snacks floats in front of me, and I grab one before it floats to Tess who also takes some. “I want us to be friends, but at the same time I took on the role of leader in most of the things so I need to remind them once in a while. As for Kim, I defeated him because he is getting cocky, Nathaniel. I saw how harshly he was treating some guys from the Hard difficulty. It was close to being considered bullying.”

“Just that?”

“Of course that much wouldn't be enough, it's just that since he got his new eye, he is getting more and more confident. Kim is still young and doesn't have much experience with that, so he enjoys the feeling of being much stronger than someone else. But lately, he is pushing it.”

“I could look at it,” I tell her. Having Min-Jae act cocky and overconfident could cause him some trouble in the future, so I could help with that.

“That would be great, just please don’t be too cruel. I will talk with him too so you can do it later.”

“Sure. It will be fine.” I gesture and head back out.

***

Next Chapter