Chapter 252 - Obsession (Patreon)

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 or use them combined?

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 ones, again, whatever that is.

So, what he did was send his skill through that wave with a bit of mana and caused a “spark,” as he calls it, that 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 in the future on his own. 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 finds out 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 especially often compares himself to you,” he looks at me.

“He is dumb; he shouldn't do that,” I answer him.

“But he does. Even his envy subclass 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 tried to talk with him multiple times, but he listens only 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 talk with him? I can beat him up a bit even if you want 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 will be 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 ready, and only then move floors,” Hadwin sighs. “I know where you are going with this, and I partially agree with you, but there has to be a golden 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 from back on earth and how much he hated his life there where they controlled him entirely. I think he is much happier now, however weird it is.”

“Haddy is just worried!” Isabella also joins the conversation, seemingly annoyed, “You all talk so much, just look!” she activates her skill.

I let it connect to me, and I sense that it's connected to everyone else in the room, and then a feeling of worry flows into me. It's a pure and nice feeling, like a parent worrying about a kid.

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 an elegant haircut and a well-kept beard seems to be the most embarrassed here.

At the same time, Tess giggles next to me. Not in a way that would make it sound like she is 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 enchanted 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 in front of 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 to the point where it's three times as long as me and thick like 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?

In the end, 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 some mana it gets into contact with and transfers a small amount of it into the javelin that is infused with [Resonance].

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 barriers around Virelia that are one-directional.

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 that quickly surround it.

The ants do what I thought they would; they start sending 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 [Resonance] that I did set to have the effect of my old skill, [Oscillation].

The javelin untangles into long threads of mana that are coated in an oscillating effect, 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 and also a barrier made of [Resonance] I create.

The kinetic energy changes into thermal, and I compress it as much as I can, in a similar way to how I did back then in the Colony.

A beam as thin as my finger, reminiscent of a golden laser, shoots from in front of me, cutting dozens of ants apart while I fuel it with more and more energy from my wildly beating heart. I put all my frustration into it, compressing the laser-like beam even further and redirecting it constantly as they continue to create barriers to block it and strengthen them.

Their 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], and after a few tries, would be able to stop me from using it, and that could become dangerous.

A few more notifications ring, and curious where they are coming from, I look towards where I shot the first javelin tipped with black mana, and that area seemingly became 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 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 it 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 in a similar way to before, through the 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 any problems and are left alone with the guild master of Storm Brigade.

“You seem serious, Tess. Did something happen?”

Tess nods. “I want to ask you to please stop spreading the rumor that the lynthari invaded this planet,” she says directly, not 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 becomes more 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 with you, but I don’t think this is the right time.”

“Here, I will disagree with you,” Obelia stands up. “No one from 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 worry Myrra will try to kill you right after the war before you spread the information? So you want humans to know in case 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 towards the door, and some item in her pocket activates.

“Don’t,” I warn her, and for a moment 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 while spreading it, spend much more effort on making sure there are no troubles during the fight against 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 the fight is over. But I won't allow you to risk the lives of my companions because of your obsession."

Obelia looks between me and Tess and then 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 certain things that matter to them.

***

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