Chapter 130: How much is your mana?
I put my hand on Tess's shoulder and squeeze it strongly, giving her a warning not to move at all and not to do anything stupid. I can feel her body tense under my hand as she, too, stares right at the monster's eyes outside the window.
She then does nothing to fight and continues to suppress her mana while staying quiet.
The eye continues to look at us, a milky white blind eye of the undead aberrant deer. There are no eyelids to blink, and the sickly green color slightly lights up the room.
I calm my breathing even further, and even though of the situation we are in, my heart continues to beat calmly. I avert my gaze and just look at the green light that lights up one of the walls.
A few moments later, the light disappears, and I see the monster walking away after I look outside the window. It moves quietly, not even touching the houses near it. This time there are no vibrations as it walks.
A few more minutes pass, and then a massive wave of mana hits up. The monster jumps high in the air and then starts running on it as if it's ground, while small flashes of mana light the surroundings every time its hooves hit the air.
It finally disappears and I let go of Tess, and we continue to hide our mana until the morning when the wind stops and the mist disappears.
"Well, that was something," is the first thing she says, her voice still bearing some tension. "Maybe we should just try to find monsters next time instead of luring them to us?"
Maybe we should just not leave the hideout at all?
"What level do you think it was?" Tess asks.
"150 to 300. I think that's the range for two question marks," I say and explain a bit more when she asks me.
"Interesting. I think I agree with you and I also have a few theories."
"That makes me curious. Do tell," I say as we walk back to our hideout, side by side. The tension is slowly disappearing now that there is a light.
"First, the wind is here either created by the field around the city or used to cancel out any flames that could burn the city. It's probably also partially working during the day, but it's much stronger at night for some reason."Ñ00v€l--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.
"Oh, that's quite a good theory," did she get that from seeing my flames die out quickly in the wind?
"The second theory is that the mist somehow confuses the monsters and blocks their ability to sense mana, helping people hide during the night. Only really strong pulses of mana allow the monster to detect the source."
"Are you maybe really smart, Tess?"
She laughs shortly as she jumps over the debris, softly landing on her feet. I can see her using some mana to do so, "It's just basic observation."
Not wanting to be left behind, I also add something, "And I think that the version of the story for this floor that the natives told isn't something we should fully trust. Not because they are lying to us, but because it's all just rumors and legends they have."
"Sounds reasonable. The quest objective is to put the saint to rest, which made me think that the saint will be undead, as it says to put to rest instead of killing. That's quite weird," she says.
"But it won't be as simple. It says 'to final rest,' so maybe he or she really became undead, for a while, after dying and then returned back to life? That could explain why the field around the city is still working." While waiting for her answer, a small orb of mana floats in the palm of my arm, and I continue to infuse it with mana.
"That makes me curious about what we'll find in the middle of the city, with hopefully more water and flora. And also, what do you want to do with that Cipher guy?" She looks at me, a slight annoyance flashing through her eyes.
"Currently, I'm working on my [Lightning Armor]," As she says it, lightning starts to crackle around her body, the same she used in our fight versus the werewolf. "It boosts my stats and also has defensive capability."
I can see that she is quite happy with the skill, a small smile appearing on her lips as she manipulates the lightning around her body.
I'm not going to lie; it looks pretty as flickers of red and white lightning crack over her body, making her blonde hair stand up slightly and putting some light on her face, lighting up her smile.
I think it fits her.
"Oh, and one more thing, this one is a bit more weird-sounding, [Declaration]."
The moment she says the name, I know it's yet another powerful skill, similar to [Disintegration] or [Manipulation] and probably [Focus].
"So, what does it do?"
"Currently? Nothing, but I'm trying to Declare this javelin to be mine. If I'm right, it will mean I can move it even if it's way out of the range of my [Psychokinesis]," she then shrugs her shoulders.
"Maybe you should think a bit bigger. How about you try to Declare that your wounds are healed? Or Declare that your weapon is much stronger than it is?" That makes her look at me, and I can see thoughts wildly going through her mind.
"Skills with such unclear names usually have a lot of options to be used," I finish. It's something I've given a lot of thought to, and I don't think I'm wrong.
Level 30 for a skill? That sounds like a beginning. I'm sure as time passes, the level-ups will become much harder, and the skill will become much stronger. Even Lissandra's world-ending [Singularity] had to start at level one, and the same goes for the skill named [Dawn] of the man named Tristan, a skill with a quite silly and not dangerous-sounding name that wiped out the life from the surface of an entire planet.
It's already been 10 minutes since we came back to the hideout when I walk up to Lily, who sits near Isabella and Biscuit, two girls happily talking together while the mighty divine beast endures.
When I get to them, Lily looks up with a smile. "Hello!" she says.
"Kitty man!" Isabella shouts, and I silence her with one long look.
"Never mention it again, and I'll let you play with Biscuit one more time," I say.
"Three times!"
"Two."
"Deal!" she giggles and goes back to hugging Biscuit, who looks at me.
Is this disappointment in your eyes? Please forgive me, Biscuit! I'm a weak, weak man.
But anyway, "Lily, you and I, let's go out."
I need to raise her level a bit since it's too low. Going out with just the two of us will attract less attention when we leave the hideout. Doesn't that make sense?
So, Lily, why are you looking at me like that?
