“. . . This skill costs no mana?” Madison asked as her right eye twitched slightly.
“Yup. Now that 6 of the slots are filled, I can give this to 10 more people.” Shiro smiled.
“Who are you planning to give them to?” Madison asked curiously.
“Hmm… right now I’m thinking of giving it to everyone in the party. Yin, Lisandra, Chen Yu, Silvia, Estrella, Nimue, Attie, Iziuel, Nan Tian and then one more person. Probably Shiina since she’s the best user of the mechs right now.” Shiro replied as Madison nodded her head.
“How are the titles even generated? Do you do them or does the system calculate it?”
“The system does. That’s why I’m not sure about giving it to Nan Tian just yet since he might become the Divine Court Therapist.” Shiro joked as Nan Tian chuckled.
“Perhaps. But I’m not exactly in need of a boost right now so you can use my slot for others. Since they receive a portion of your stats, having more people near out level will be helpful.” Nan Tian suggested.
“True.”
Talking for a little longer, Madison eventually excused herself since she still had to prepare for her departure tomorrow.
Sighing softly, Shiro face planted into her bed as she closed her eyes.
“Are you feeling better now?” Nan Tian asked as he could tell that Shiro was tense despite her responses earlier.
“Was I that easy to read?” Shiro asked with a small smile.
“It is when you grip on my sleeve with such force. You’re worried about her safety aren’t you?” Nan Tian asked as Shiro nodded her head.
“Mn… I’m scared that she might run into trouble in the Demon Realm. This is an invitation given to her by a tier 8 being. What if there are existences like the watchman where she is going.” Shiro said as she turned her head and glanced at Nan Tian.
“Mn I’m sure her ancestor wouldn’t send her to her death. After all, they’re both connected to one another.” Nan Tian replied as he pulled out a cup of juice and offered it to Shiro.
“Thanks.” Shiro sat up and received the juice.
Sipping it slowly, she took a moment to calm herself.
“So what’s the plan now? Your mana is being used for evolution so it’s not something we can fix immediately.” Nan Tian asked as he sat down next to her bed.
“I don’t know. Maybe I should use the guns to do a bit of hunting. Right now, I’m on a time limit during combat. I don’t know how long I can fight for when I’m not next to you.” Shiro said as she looked down on her hand.
“I want to know how long I can fight before I lose my cool.”
“I see… you’re right. Do you want to test this tomorrow then? Since it’s getting pretty late now.” Nan Tian asked as Shiro nodded her head.
“Sure. Erm… I haven’t asked but aren’t you uncomfortable?”
“Uncomfortable about what?”
“Me always grabbing onto you. You don’t leave when I sleep nor do you leave my side for a long period of time so I was wondering if I was hindering you.” Shiro asked but Nan Tian shook his head.
“It’s not a hindrance don’t worry. It took a bit of getting used to but now I can sleep on a chair without any problems.” Nan Tian smiled.
Though he hadn’t had proper rest in a while. Most of the time he would be able to wake up in an instant should there be movement. He didn’t want to be in deep sleep while she woke up in a panic after all.
“Are you sure? You look tired though.” Shiro asked as Nan Tian shook his head.
“It’s fine.”
Hearing this, Shiro furrowed her brows before biting her lip.
Shuffling over on her bed, she made enough room so that Nan Tian could lay down too.
“Mn?” Raising his eyebrow, Nan Tian saw that Shiro had turned her back to him while still holding onto his sleeve.
“What are you doing? Isn’t it better to sleep in the middle?” Nan Tian asked curiously.
“Don’t make me say it. It’s embarrassing.” Shiro replied without turning around at all and gave his sleeve a tug.
Looking at the empty space for a moment, he realised what she had meant and nodded.
“Alright, thank you.” He smiled.
Sitting on the bed, he continued to work but it was indeed more comfortable than the chair.
Meanwhile, Shiro couldn’t fall asleep at all.
She could feel her face heating up.
Shaking her head, she forced her eyes shut and tried her best to sleep.
“Is it hard to sleep with me being here? If so I can do my work on the chair. It’s no trouble.” Nan Tian asked as Shiro coughed.
“It’s fine. You need rest too. I’ll sleep eventually.” Shiro replied while glancing back.
Seeing this, Nan Tian smiled and nodded his head.
Eventually, Shiro managed to fall asleep despite how long it took.
###
“Pathetic.” Her voice scorned as Shiro glanced up at a figure standing on what seemed to be a building.
Seeing that it was herself, Shiro sighed.
“Are you here to haunt me like always?” Shiro asked as she knew that this was a part of herself. It was the part that hated what she had become now.
“And what if I am? What if I’m not? There’s no point haunting you since you’re already discouraging yourself. What’s with that act during the talk with Madi? ‘Don’t let my condition discourage you’? Lies just flow out of your mouth like nothing huh?”
“. . .”
“Just admit that you want all of their company. You don’t want any of them to go do you?”
“Of course not, I’m selfish like that. But at the end of the day, it’s still their decision. Like how parents eventually watch their children leave the house, I’m seeing both Madison and Lyrica grow up. I’m sad but at the same time I’m proud. I know that you’re trying to find more reasons to blame myself since that will help alleviate our guilt to some degree. I don’t know if I can ever get rid of you but you should make yourself comfortable. I’m blaming myself but I won’t let my guilt drag down those two.” Shiro smiled as she looked down at her feet and saw a reflection of herself on the mirror like surface.
Hearing her response, her reflection that stood on top of the building glared at her in anger as she dashed down and grabbed Shiro by the collar.
“What if they get killed!? What if they get hunted down by a similar being like the watchman? Are you really fine with sending them out like that?!” Her reflection glared at her as Shiro could see a mixture of fear and anger.
“Ah… is that how I looked when Lyrica left? No wonder Madi wanted to talk to me first.” Shiro smiled softly as her reflection tensed up before punching her across the face.
Stumbling back, Shiro kept her smile on her face as she looked at her reflection.
“See you next time I suppose.”
Hearing this, her reflection gritted her teeth and spat on the floor before dispersing into mist.
Seeing that she was alone now, Shiro leaned back and looked up at the sky.
‘Yeah I’m scared…’ Shiro admitted as she could almost imagine a scene of Lyrica and Madison’s corpse around her as she wouldn’t be able to make it to their rescue in time.
Shaking her head, she wondered about what she could have done.
Thinking back to the young lad she met in the dungeon, a small smile formed on her face.
“Bonne was able to pause time and rescue me from the beasts in that dungeon. I could do the same, I might have been able to isolate the watchman so that I could drag him away.” Shiro muttered as she sat up and closed her eyes.
Opening them again, she understood her next main goal. It wasn’t to complete the event but rather understand and utilise the concept of time.
Waking up, Shiro glanced to her side and saw that Nan Tian was resting.
Sitting up, she looked at her system and opened her mouth.
“Chronos, do I have the potential to utilise the power of time?”
Waiting a moment, Shiro kept her eye on the system as a single flickering notification could be seen. It was a simple message but Shiro knew that to send it after what had happened, the price must have been quite big.
But this message was enough for her.
[Yes you do.]
