Wheels In Motion
I flip the page and continue to read the book in my hand. I take a sip of tea as I sit in my black void-like space. Its appearance seems endless however that hasn't stopped it from growing according to recent events.
I sense a presence approaching this dark-like space of mine. Normally this would be a sense of emergency of top priority however I freely open my space accepting any intruder that may find it.
And accordingly, someone does find it.
"Hey ya it's me again!" A young girl says with a smile
A small girl crashes down right next to me so I casually prepare a seat on the opposite side of the table and have a cup filled with juice on her side of it.
With that, we start a conversation. She, giving me information on Rens' whereabouts and anything else she knows. And I, simply talk about anything she deems entertaining but none useful.
It's a conversation on my terms and in my control. It's one-sided for a reason. Authority is too oblivious of these things and even if she wasn't I doubt she would care.
She gives me information that seems pleasing. After a while Authority gets her fill and leaves me.
"All we need is more time then…That works for us too…"
.
.
.
I find myself in a black space. At first, I tried to open my eyes but they were already open. Then I try looking around but no light from a window or candle is shown. I finally realize what's going on when I hear a voice.
"Good news Akari"
Hey, look who it is. The edger version of me has come to speak with me once again. What a nice guy. Though if I had a choice maybe he should have played some hard rock and screamed a bit I mean he already fits the part so why not?
My evil twin looks at me with an annoyed expression. I guess if he really can read my mind he's probably not liking my jokes about his appearance. Jeez, I would be nicer to the guy if he wasn't so serious all the time.
"At least you seem to be doing fine…" My dark look-alike says.
"Course I am. You must not be if you wanna talk to me." I respond
"Didn't you hear me before I'm here to express good news?"
"Uhh, that's it? There has to be an easier way to talk than this." I say as I turn my body to look at the almost infinite space I'm in.
"I had a feeling this would happen… Before you slow this down anymore I would just like to say that everything is on track for you getting a grand reward." He says as he gestures me over to a table.
"A reward? Like the one after completing the quest?" I walk over to the table and take a seat.
"Not only that but you'll be getting something from me as well. As a sign we're on the same side."
Is that right? A gift from this guy? Maybe he wants to be on good terms? Well, I don't see a problem with that.
"Hmm, how generous of you. Depending on the gift I might even stop calling you my evil twin." I say with a smirk.
He then gets up from the table and the black area around me slowly disappears.
"That, would be, appreciated." He says as for the first time I've seen him smile.
And then just like I'm at the table with Ren like I was a few moments ago. As if nothing happened…
"Are you even listening?"
Ren who was just explaining her theories about the teleportation circle. Turns to me annoyed.
"Nope, back now though," I say with a double meaning.
"Jeez, stop fantasizing for a sec and listen. What do you think about my issue?" She says as she points towards some paper with circles on it.
"Hmm well in your case of not having enough mana, why not just save it?"
"And how would I do that?"
"Put it into something that can hold it for a long period of time. You said before that your teleportation circle had different parts that made it up so why not just make a magic circle that only takes the mana holding part of it?"
"And how would I connect it to the main circle?"
"I guess you could try harder," I say while eating a snack at the table.
Ren gives me an evil glare that makes me not feel like joking around any further but also one that makes me not want to be here anymore.
I get up from the table to take my leave.
"Either make it the inner circle or connect it from an outer circle. You could even just have them totally separate and just move the mana from one to the other. I'm not the magical circle researcher you should be able to figure that out."
I give Ren a smirk and she gives me a nasty scowl as I leave the room. However not without passing an also scowling cat girl. Her fangs and hair stick up as she does so, truly showing her cat-like features.
Though Sara seems different from the way that Rens does it. As if she's just copying her. Whatever. None of my business. I just learned about Sara not to long ago ans already hates me.
I close the door to the living room and grab my jacket and head out. It's a bit hard to see at this hour and the eerie silence doesn't really help either. These moldy alleyways would be a good setting for a horror movie.
I grab the hand that had been reaching out to me from behind. The person lets out a small wine and I turn around to see cat girl one point o. As soon as I see her familiar cat ears I let go. I kind of half expected it to be her anyway.
"Come on no fair I just wanna greet a friend." She says holding on to her wrist.
"And you do that by sneaking up behind them and trying to grab them."
"Ahh, common you know I was just fooling around…"
"Hah true, I'm sorry," I say as we start walking together.
It really has gotten tuff controlling my strength some of the time. It's a good thing I've had time to adjust to it. If I were to just get this strength in a day I'm not sure if I could control it normally.
Me and Mara talk as we walk out of the town. It really does feel like talking to my old friends sometimes with her. I guess I might miss something about my old life. But I guess as long as I have Mara I'll be fine.
I guess me and Mara are friends if I really think about it. I'm not really sure if someone like her would really like someone like me enough to be friends.
Not like I know how to talk to women…
"So anyway can you check my progress so far? I really feel like I'm getting some wear!" Mara says as we get to the slime fields.
"Huh oh ya sure"
I hold out my arm and check her status with Appraisal.
"Appraisal."
Strength 60 + 5
Speed 80 + 5
Defense 70 + 5
Intelligence 60 + 5
Hah, and would you look at that my ranked up Appraisal is really doing some work.
Overall really nice. Though it's not close to me, it's really impressive. The most questionable thing about this is her Persistence. My only theory is that it's just a lesser form of persistence. Maybe people are born with it? Not sure.
"Hey, not bad! Looking good overall!"
"Ha? Really!? Am I almost at your level yet?"
"Uhh well not exactly… You'll need to kill a few more slimes before that happens…"
Speaking of slimes, the one slime that no one is allowed to be killed shows up. Kira, my little slime buddy, comes over to us. I let out a hand and he takes it climbing up my hand and onto my shoulder.
Mara takes a moment to glare at Kira and It almost feels like Kira does the same… What are these two relationship?
"Well anyways I can't kill any more of these slimy things! It doesn't feel like I'm making any more progress!"
Yea that definitely will happen.
"Well the only other thing you can do is help me with the goblins but I don't know if-"
Mara drops to her knees.
"Please can I go with you?"
…
Me and Kira share a questioning expression. Not like slimes could anyway.
"Look, Mara, I don't think you're ready yet…" I let out a half-baked response.
"But you do it every day."
"I-well it. Different?"
"Please…"
In an act, I hadn't expected Mara looks at me with the cutest eyes I've ever seen. She's truly using her animal-like appearance to use. But I must resist.
"I just can't let you," I say staying strong
"What if I let you touch my tail?"
She'll do what?!
"You will?! I uhh mean-"
"Ha, that was easy!" Saying that she gets up from the ground and lightly punches me in the arm.
"Come on, let's go." She says as she heads toward the goblin forest.
Oh great now me and Mara will be killing goblins? Will she even go with me once im strong enough to destroy the village?
Right now I don't feel confident enough and now with Mara, I feel even less confident. I hope it doesn't take too long to finally be ready to try to complete the quest.
For now, I guess I'll be training with Mara.