Chapter 271 - Disciple (Patreon)

When our eyes meet, my disciple immediately hides behind the tree, and I feel her mana reaching towards me, examining me. She does it carefully, extremely so.

I think, out of a lot of people I met up until now, she is the one with the most covert way of sensing the mana of other people. Her probing is almost unnoticeable, just a whisper in the hurricane. I try to replicate it and examine her as well, but I notice she has protection against the exact same sensing she is using, so I stop there.

Sure, I could still do it, but there is no need to spook her out.

Instead, I just stay lying on the grass, enjoying the warm sunrays on my skin and the slight breeze; the weather is really nice.

Her probing stops, and she continues to hide there, so I open my system messages.

Train and protect your disciple.

From the tutorial database, a disciple was chosen for their similarity to you. There is a lot to be gained. Tread carefully!

Killing your disciple is not allowed and will be punished severely.

The longer your disciple stays alive, the bigger your rewards for this Floor quest will be.

There is nothing on my disciple; there are no stats, no information about her.

Maybe it is on purpose? Words over her head showing "disciple" and no level or class as well? To build a good relationship with the disciple and learn it from her, either by creating a bond or tricking her? The system puts a lot of emphasis on the word "disciple," so it's probably as I thought before and some sort of preparation for the future.

The system also said that my disciple was summoned from database. So that most likely means that this Floor was created as “playground” for me and her.

I look towards the tree again, and my silly disciple is still hiding. I'm extremely curious, and I want to ask her about her race, traits, about her skills, level, and all that good stuff. But I know if I do so right away, I will scare her even more.

So, I just close my eyes and wait.

It takes almost thirty minutes, and I hear soft steps and then sounds of water; it sounds like someone drinking straight from the lake.

Then there is a bit longer silence and a few more steps, heading towards me; they are extremely careful and soft. The girl stops over me, and through sheer force of will, I do not open my eyes.

Damn, I hope she didn't pull out a dagger from somewhere and doesn't plan to finish me off. There is still some blood on my clothes from my wounds, so maybe she will do so?

Actually, wouldn't that be a little bit funny for me to end like this?

Okay, okay, let's calm down. I'm in too good a mood because of my “successful” testing.

Then I get almost scared when I feel a wet touch on my forehead, but I still hold myself back.

The little girl with two tiny horns and eyes red like blood continues in what she is doing. Gradually, I also realize what it is.

She is using some piece of cloth she put into water to clean the blood off my face.

Unable to resist any longer, I slowly open my eyes, but I don’t look at her; instead, I stare at the sky.

She hesitates, but then she continues.

“Does it hurt?” she whispers in a soft voice.

Her face stays close to emotionless the entire time as I watch her with my peripheral vision. She is careful to control her expression, very much so. And she is pretending.

What she is doing now is not because she is worried about me. No, she is doing so to look innocent in my eyes, to get on my good side, and to gain some favors. It's a simple, calculated move. A move of someone who got hurt over and over again and is unable to trust people, so she pretends. To survive and to not get hurt.

I don’t find it repulsing; no, not at all. I find it somewhat endearing.

I turn my head, and my eyes meet hers. Just for a short moment, we look into each other's eyes before she turns her gaze away.

“Please, don’t hurt me,” she whispers.

Even these words are calculated, said to maximize pity. But at the same time, they are real too, bruises on her body are proof of that. Her arms are pale and thin, her clothes are made of extremely cheap material, and she has no shoes.

I don't answer. Even if I say I wouldn't beat her, she would only pretend to trust me and all the time expect me to do so the moment I get angry at her. Things like this are best proven by actions, not words.

Carefully, to not scare her, I sit up and facing each other, I examine her a bit more.

Her horns are black and even smaller than my pinkie; her eyes are deep red. When light shines on them, they become even more vibrant. They are beautiful and create a pretty contrast with her light brown hair.

“Why are you here?” I ask.

The same as me, she is also examining me, especially my two differently colored eyes. For some reason, they fascinate her, but she doesn't ask about them.

“I was told that you will be my master and I will be your disciple. The voice said you will help me to become stronger.”

Oh? Did she get a system message? Did the system pretend to be some godlike being and talk in her head? Is she just controlled to think that?

“Okay, so how about this. You won't lie to me. If you don't want to answer my question, you don't have to, you just can't lie. In exchange, I won't lie to you or just not answer.”

I know this conversation might be a bit too much for someone as young, but if she is at least a little bit like me, this should be reasonable.

Carefully, she thinks about it and then nods.

Somehow, I find it cute. Her face trying to hide emotions, even the tiny horns poking from her head, and red eyes.

“Next, I will become your master. I will train you and help you become stronger. I will make sure you won't die and that you have as much food as you need.”

Her expression becomes suspicious immediately, but she puts a small fake smile on her face.

“Yes, please!” she also adds some emotion to her voice.

Even knowing she is mostly putting on a mask while maybe holding some hope, I almost get tricked.

“It won't be for free obviously. You will have to tell me about your skills, class, and stats, and answer questions I ask you — other than ones you won't want to.”

“I...  will do so,” she continues nodding, and this time I notice that she is a bit more serious.

Of course, good things don't come for free, so she feels more comfortable when she has to do something for them.

“What is your name?” I ask.

The little girl looks at me like I'm crazy, eyes wide open. A hint of surprise and fear in them.

Carefully, she opens her mouth to lie, but then, looking at me, she whispers, “I don't want to tell.” Her voice is extremely weak, and I see she squints her eyes, her body tensing, expecting a hit.

She could try to lie, but she decided to give it a chance and not break the deal we just made. It's most likely childlike naivety as I can't see it as anything else, no matter how hard I try to find it.

“I see, that's fine,” I answer.

Her body stiffens even more, and her eyes blink up, our eyes meeting.

“I don’t know if it’s one of your customs, can you tell me why you can’t let me know your name?”

“It’s forbidden,” she answers.

I decide not to push her more, “Okay. Are you hungry?”

This time she perks up even more, finally letting herself eye a pile of things I have near the lake. Materials, clothes, food, mana stones, valuables, everything I looted... I bought it from the fourth floor. There is plenty of it.

“Yes, please... master.”

I stand up, my body not damaged anymore, but still hurting a bit, yet I do not regret a thing. Something tells me that what I did with black mana was a bit, just a little bit dumb. But I'm sure 1st floor or 2nd Floor Nathaniel would try the same without hesitations. Both of them were quite risk-takers. Hell, 3rd floor Nathaniel and his kinetic mana heart would probably do the same, so I can't be left behind by those weirdos.

I will totally try to do the same as soon as possible. Well, maybe after upgrading the kinetic mana heart. I wanted to do it before my disciple came, but well… stuff happened.

Taking a few steps, I go through the pile of stuff. Unfortunately, there are no clothes that would fit her, but I scroll through the system shop and, as expected, there are some, and they cost 30 shards, almost as much as uncommon gear.

It looks like the system is trying to make me a few shards lighter.

When I buy them, I pretend to pick them from the pile and put them in front of her. The clothes are simple, but the material they are made of feels nice. A white shirt-like top, brown pants, and even some shoes. Nothing to sing about, but even that seems to greatly surprise the little horned creature.

“They are yours, according to our deal. Please wash first,” I pick one of the towels I bought with me, “I will go and scan the area so you will have some privacy.”

Before she even reacts, I use kinetic energy to push myself high in the air, and then even higher.

High up, I take a deep breath while keeping myself afloat at the spot.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - This floor quest sucks, I don’t know how to deal with kids.

Izzy (Hell, group 4) - My disciple is almost as old as me!

Oh boy, I did not think of that at all.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Are you fine?

Izzy (Hell, group 4) - Yes! It's fun! My disciple is really cute, and her hair is blue and keeps floating around like it's fire. I want that too!

Noname (Hell, group 4) - How did Soph handle you two getting separated?

Izzy (Hell, group 4) - I think she almost cried, hehe, but Soph is dumb sometimes! I can keep myself safe, and I have Noodle with me, he will protect me too!

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Still, do not do anything stupid.

Izzy (Hell, group 4) - I heard it already from everyone else （＞д＜）

Well, it looks like Lily is teaching Izzy how to use emoticons… nice.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Archdeer jerky.

I say the password in the message.

FoodFood (Hell, group 4) - Asshole!

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Please don’t tell me you also have a disciple.

FoodFood (Hell, group 4) - Food!

What the hell.

At this point, I'm not even surprised, instead, I'm extremely curious. Unfortunately, I don't think I will be able to get an answer.

Seeing that no one else joins, I exchange a few more messages with the two youngest members of group 4 and turn off the Community.

Still floating high in the air, I reposition myself into a position more akin to lying on my back. The air here is colder, and the wind is stronger, but the view is amazing, and I really enjoy the feeling of it. Things like this keep reminding me how much everything changed over the past year, and I love it. All these powers and options that have opened to me and expectations of much more of it in the future.

Lulled by the wind, I spend a few more minutes like this before I decide to land back on the ground.

The little red-eyed girl is already sitting there in new clothes, clean, but still bruised. The towel is carefully hung on the branch nearby, and I notice that she even cleaned the branch a bit to not dirty the towel.

All the food I left there for her so she can eat is still there, untouched. My disciple just sits there, stomach growling, eyes flicking at it, yet still not daring to touch it without my expressed permission.

“Starting now, you can take any food I have or water and eat it anytime you want, and without asking me,” I say.

Her pupils expand, yet she still doesn't take it; instead, she looks at me.

She is still suspicious, I see.

With a sigh, I make my voice a bit haughty, “It would be annoying to have you constantly asking for food,” I say, knowing this is reasoning she would accept more.

This time it seems to work, and she nods, immediately grabbing a few pieces of fruit and slowly nibbling on them.

For a short moment, a happy smile appears on her face as she tastes the sweet fruit, and she grabs another piece.

***

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