[12 - A GIFT FOR XINGXI]

He's stronger than I thought, making him let go of me with my raw strength was essentially impossible. I enhanced my physical strength with Mana and pushed him away. He kept the suspicion in his eyes, but the malice died down as he fixed his tie and turned around.

"I suppose you have your own reasons for prying into me, but I believe it'd be in your best interest to stop that entirely."

"Of course, right. I won't do that again."

Gods above, Mingyu, you've really made a fool of yourself now, and in front of the twins' homeroom teacher of all people. He gestured for me to take a seat, so I did, letting Xingxi sit down next to me. Funny coincidence, really, this was the spot I was always assigned to sit at back when I used to attend the school.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am the homeroom teacher of 10th Grade Class 2, Wei Yuhan. Today I'd like to talk to you about the current academic and social situation of Shuixian and Shuwei at school."

Wei Yuhan…No, that still doesn't ring a bell. I watched as he organised the stack of papers in his hands, tapping the stack on the table to align its sides. He took out two sheets of paper from the top of the stack, placing them on the table in front of me. I briefly scanned over them, they were short overviews of the twins' behaviour and performance. From what I saw, the comments made on the paper were mostly positive, and the only thing that was wrong was the fact that both were quite mischievous.

"As I mentioned before, the twins display an exceptional understanding of the course material and consistently have high grades. They're also well-behaved, most of the time…" Mr. Wei looks at the top of the door frame for a moment, "Except for their tendency to play pranks on occasion." He looks at Xingxi, then back at me. "However, they have quite the high reputation among students. Both of them are friendly towards their fellow classmates and often lighten up the atmosphere with their presence. Your family has raised a pair of excellent students."

I nod as he continues talking. He sings praises about the twins for the first half of the interview, and then steels his gaze onto me when he's finished.

"That's about everything I need to say."

"Right, I suppose we should be taking our leave then. Thank you-"

I cut myself off, he's staring into my soul. It's like those glasses of his are revealing to him everything that I am, it's like he knows things and is seeing right through me. I can't help but to feel like panicking. I call Xingxi over and he holds my hand, I wave goodbye to Mr. Wei, who only pushes his glasses up.

When I exit the classroom, I let go of the facade I put up in the middle of the interview.

It's not that I'm not terrified, 10 years of living in the Tower has definitely steeled my mental strength, I think. But Wei Yuhan, he's the first figure that I don't recognise, at all. Sure, his voice is familiar, but other than that, nothing. I don't know him at all, and there's more to him that meets a regular person's eyes. He sensed an Appraisal, no normal Player could just 'sense' a skill being used on them.

He was most definitely a Player, and perhaps one of the strongest ones that appeared when I was in the Tower for that dreadful decade.

I squeeze Xingxi's hand.

Xingxi is quiet. He's always quiet, but he isn't trying to use body language.

How strange.

⸻⸻⸻⸻

I often return to the Tower in secret.

I have to ensure that I am always stocked up on resources for my alchemical exploits, so I've taken to going to the Second Floor every Friday to restock whatever I'm running out of. Over time, I discovered more resources that I missed earlier on during our first expedition to the Goblin Camps. Mixing these new ingredients with the other resources I've collected like Manacaps and Melberries have created weird and wonderful effects.

A majority of them did end up in failure, unlike the first times I brewed the Lesser Health and Lesser Mana potions. I was glad that the Hearth of Hestia is actually quite a closed off area, at least it kept the mess in one place and I didn't have to worry about it seeping into literally anywhere else. Eugh, I'd rather be on the verge of death again than clean up the gunk out of the fireplace because I left one of my solutions on the heat for too long. Lesson learned, I now keep an even louder timer right next to the fireplace.

Half of these creations were delivered right to Resplendent Merchant's doorstep, and I can often find these on the Tower's online shop. The first weekly sale didn't make much, but for some reason Mercury started advertising them after that, and business grew day after day. I'm going to have to thank him for that, he's extremely capable. Now I usually receive a few thousand at the end of every week, and I'm fairly certain that the number will only continue growing.

Lost in my thoughts, I didn't notice a glass vial had fallen off my desk until I heard the bottle shatter.

I snapped out of my thoughts at the resounding crash, seeing Xingxi standing next to the broken shards without any expression.

"Xingxi!" I called out, and he turned towards me. "Are you okay!? Did that hurt you?" Xingxi didn't answer, his face stoic and blank like the first time I met him, but his eyes didn't hold the same wonder of the world. I reached out to hug him, and he buried his face in my chest. He didn't cry, but I could tell that he was looking for some form of comfort.

Goodness, that was irresponsible of me to have left that glass vial on the edge of the table like that. Grabbing a broom and dustpan, I made sure to clean up all the glass shards I could find.

I let Xingxi sit on the soft chaise by the hearth while I cleaned, covering himself with a blanket that I had bought. Now that I was making a lot more money, I had a lot more to spend. Refurbishing the Hearth of Hestia was a must, so I spent extra on a few decorations and other necessities. Now that the Hearth had evidence of being lived in, it also looked even warmer than it already was.

Xingxi spent most of his time in here, so now it was more like Xingxi's little room that I also used for Alchemy.

When I was done, I dumped the glass shards into the bin, turning back to Xingxi who curled himself up with the blanket. "Xingxi?" His blank expression turned to me, and I had a feeling that this emptiness in his emotions was because of something else. "How do you feel? Angry? Sad?" Xingxi shook his head, and I tried to think why else would he be like this.

Come to think of it, this happened after we stepped out of the classroom after meeting Mr. Wei. "Are you scared? Do you feel like everything's going to get you even though you know you're strong?" He reached out and grabbed my hand, squeezing it. So he is scared, but he doesn't know how to express it. "It's alright, Xingxi, it's just some shattered glass. I've cleaned it all up so it won't hurt you. I won't hurt you either, how could I hurt my precious Xingxi?" I hugged Xingxi again.

I have to learn to pick up these signs more.

We left the Hearth after that, and I received a message from Megumi. The weapon she made was finally complete, so I took Xingxi out with me for some fresh air as we picked up the weapon. It looked like he needed it, and Xingxi was back to his old self in only a few minutes.

I waved to Megumi, who took Xingxi and I to the back to show off her 'great masterpiece'.

It's a spacious room with a few shelves on the sides, housing boxes of all sorts and larger weapons on the other side. Most likely an area to practice using weapons on before buying them.

"I have to say, the fact that you asked me to reforge these daggers wasn't the custom order that I thought of when it came from you. Or the fact that you'd be giving these to your kid over here."

Megumi took a black box and opened it up, showing off the gorgeous twin daggers hidden inside.

Indeed, I had requested that Megumi reforge the Daggers of Crimson Polaris into something that would be more practical for Xingxi.

[Pointed Starlight - A]

[Reforged from the Daggers of Crimson Polaris - B by Angelic Golem, these daggers have undergone a rigorous process in order to become a stronger weapon. Slash with them swiftly enough, and you might just see the stars peek out through the cut.]

[Active Skill: For a short period of time, any slashes made with the weapon will create an afterimage that deals further damage.]

[Passive Skill: After inflicting a wound on the chosen target, they will take extra damage from further attacks from the weapon.]

A very simple pair of daggers for Xingxi, but they're still gorgeous either way.

I watched as Xingxi took them out of the box, and then he slashes downwards with them. It looks natural for him. He stops experimenting with the daggers, getting the proper flow of his movement and stance. It isn't long before he starts having fun with them.

There's a happy smile on his face, and Megumi as she rolls out a test dummy. "It's durable and self-restorative! I had some help from a fellow Artificer Class to create this, so I wouldn't need to blow funds on getting new test dummies every time they're destroyed. Test them out!" Xingxi looks at me as if asking for permission, but I see the sparkling in his eyes so I let him go ahead.

I settle payments with Megumi while Xingxi goes crazy on the test dummy. There's a lot of things that I need to account for, like where to keep the daggers when they're not in use, a maintenance set for the weapons and, most important of all, a membership fee. It won't hurt to settle a membership discount with Black Iron early on.

"Thank you for your patronage! Do make sure to come again!"

As we walk out, Xingxi is admiring the daggers again. He sheathes them at his belt, and gives me a hug. He's happy with the present.

So now, I suppose it's time to test them out against proper enemies.