I breathed a sigh of relief.
「
Heat resistance runs out in 10, 9, 8...
」
As I wait for it for it to finish counting down, I looked at the seemingly fragile girl that I held in my arms. I recalled what happened before. As the system and my memory says, this truly was the best way to get Elena as a companion. She was a curious and a smart girl, and while violent, she always think of the worst situation before acting. That's why she couldn't resist the temptation of attacking a 13 year old boy who didn't even know his attribute. There was no risk, and the most she thought I can do is basic elements spells, and that I would only have a small puddle of mana.
And to some degree, it was true. The mana I possess right now couldn't possibly match up to Elena (a genius beyond her years), and no way was it enough to make {Heat Resistance}. So, that's where the system came in. It claimed it was stronger than a Elder Holy Dragon, which is second to none other than the damned guardian. Of course, I'm not buying that.
Originally, I was just going to make a imprint on her mind of a weird boy asking saying weird things. Then, we'll "coincidentally" meet each other every time we went out for the next 15 days, until my attribute reveal itself to the world. That was happened before, and I was content with that. However, the system had different ideas. Mainly, preparation. Back then, the only reason I survived was of through pure luck, I was at the right place at the right time. Because of that I couldn't meet Elena for a year, as I was trying to get back to society. And when I did, Elena gain new scars. Of fights she had to stay alive, one's that will never really go away. Mental shock. That took another two years of me searching for a magic that makes you forget.
I don't want that to happen to her again, and neither does the system (it seems to like Elena better than me...). Therefore, it devised another plan. One that would hurt her now, and save her from suffering later. The system seems to know Elena's every move, something not even I, the person who spent the most time with her could do. So therefore, I asked it for help. Just {Heat Resistance}, and I'll do the rest. Shockingly enough, it refused. It asked for something called {Fragment of the Philosopher's Stone}, or specifically, five of them. It was a form of currency between intelligent monsters like fairies, dragons, and more. Low ranked ones have less, and higher ranked ones have more. For convenience's sake, I'll call Fragments.
Every Fragment was created out of the original Philosopher's stone when it was accidentally shattered, and there are billions of Fragments out there. Each fragment contained pure power that can be cashed out for your own mana pool. Some are higher grade than others and some are even candidates for the original shattered piece of the stone. Out of some rare circumstances, the mana energy within the Fragment out form monsters called "The Brainless Ones". Those would stop at nothing to kill the other Brainless ones to absorb more power, and usually at the "Power" of a hundred they would be able to think for themselves. Those are called Demi-Humans, for the greed of humans created the stones and therefore created them. There was a war, but that's a story for another time.
(Note: the fairies, dragons, and more part are monsters that already existed in the world before the creation of the Philosophers Stone)
Fragments are measured with "power". The most basic out of the basic fragment would be 10 power, while self made ones usually rank between 1-9, because only certain people can use pure energy, and most wouldn't come even as close as a fragment. The most expensive one ever recorded was around 5 million power, but that was because the recorder couldn't go beyond that number. The highest before was around 4.8 million, so people argued that it wouldn't be far off.
This was right after when she replied "well, I guess it wouldn't be that bad". I could do nothing but stand there while the system sent a barrage of insults saying that I was broke, for I don't even have one Fragment while even the lowest tier monster at least had one. Finally, the system stopped with it's insults and said,
「
Fine, since I'm such a nice guy, I'll set it as a loan. You better pay me back before ten days before I double that!
」
Before I can argue that there is no way that I can get it by 10 days, the system casted {Heat Resistance} for five minutes. What a evil scammer. I began my plan.
...
At the last second, when I was locked by Elena's {Fire Binding}, I could sense that she had decent reserve of mana remaining. All binding have a key, whether it was physical or magical. I sensed around the bondage. It was a powerful seal made to make it's victim succumb to pain, and a popular torture technique. I've done it many times myself to wring information out of enemies, so I know the exact ways to open it. I controlled my mana to fill over the binding, as I prepared with my eyes open, dazed while spending mana around the seal. I was 90 percent done. For some reason she kicked me in the shoulder, and muttered something incoherently. I stop my mana for a second and spoke up "so, wanna go on a date?"
The answer I got was replied, "you're not exactly in a position to make requests here" And so I responded with "oh, but I am, miss dyed hair". That would get her angry. The next second I know, her palm was in front of my face, with her charging {Flame Dragon}.
I wasn't exactly prepared, but nor was i scared. I already have a top ranked {Heat Resistance} casted upon me.
「
Heat Resistance is running out in one minute
」
Crap. I tuned out the world and began to control my mana, flowing it through the binding. I finished. With that, I absorbed the mana link between the lock and her, and stole her all her mana.
"What... are you?"
I smiled and said, "I guess I'm getting that date"
She muttered something else, then passed out. Oops. I took too much mana.
Oh well. She'll wake up soon enough. But it's time to prepare for the apocalypse.