"What should we do? He took the initiative to join us, even though we were going to offer Veronica to invite him." Jared whispers, avoiding a bonk from Veronica.
"This is perfect, now I won't have to force myself to be with him." Veronica peeks her head out from the huddle to look at Cain. Cain tries his best to hold back his laughter as she quickly retreats, her ears turning red. 'Although it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. He does seem different from most adventurers.' Veronica's ears turn blood red while these thoughts occur.
Noticing the reaction, Victoria speaks up. "Fufu, for now."
'With how observant this little girl is for her age, I wouldn't be surprised if she was brought up with a decent education. That'll be hard to achieve though, assuming a good education costs a lot of money or influence.' Cain judges from the side.
"We should reluctantly let him join. Give him a condition that would be easy for him to do. If we do this, it won't seem like we will bend over backwards whenever he makes a suggestion." Jacob responds after staying silent the entire time.
'Oh? Looks like he has some brains, I just thought he was a pushover.' Shocked, Cain pretends he hasn't heard anything while the party disperses and sits around the fire.
"We'll let you join, assuming you can become registered as a B-rank adventurer." Jacob addresses Cain, noticing a shirt that was resting on his seat. It seems to have just appeared out of thin air. Hesitant, he puts it on slowly, surprised that it fits almost perfectly, with a slightly softer texture than most shirts he wore.
"I can manage that." Cain replies as the fire collapses underground. The root cavern retreats into the soil while Cain stands up. "Shall we head to the capital?"
Cain walks over to the back of the carriage, Catherine rushes to him eagerly. 'Now's my chance while he is separated.' She thinks to herself as she pulls out some more blankets from her storage ring.
"Would you like some blankets to sit on? It's a bumpy ride to the capital and can be quite uncomfortable." Catherine tries her best to maintain a sincere tone as she offers a bundle of blankets to Cain. He stops on the steps of the carriage, pausing for a moment.
"Oh, you were talking to me. My bad, and no we won't be needing those for this trip." Cain replies without even looking at Catherine. He gets inside the carriage and sits on the end of the right bench.
'I got bored and put a suspension system on the carriage. It's cheap work, but it should be enough to incite the interest of whoever made this carriage in case the steel nails don't work or go unnoticed.' Cain simulates the possible futures in his head. The party stares on the sidelines in shock and amusement. Jared speaks up while Catherine sits across from Cain.
"Daaammn, he's got balls." He braces for impact, expecting a bonk from Veronica. He looks up after nothing happens and sees her red face. 'The hell? Did she fall for him?' Jared uses this chance to escape to the horses.
He unties them from the post on the side and gets the carriage prepared to leave. The post, or rather, the pillar of roots immediately sinks into the ground. The rest of the party shuffles into the carriage. Veronica sits next to Cain, leaving a person's worth of space in between them. Victoria sits next to her and Jacob sits across from Victoria, close to the seat of the coach driver.
"Jared, are you sure you can drive the carriage? Maybe I should do it." Jacob attempts to get up before Jared stops him, hopping on the perch of the coach driver.
"No, you still need to take it easy. You were at Death's door yesterday, at least let us handle small things like this." He responds while whipping at the horses. The carriage starts to move on the path created by Cain, interrupted with sudden bumps as they transition into the rough dirt path connecting Hellion Forest and Fawkers.
Cain looks back at the dirt path he created, remembering what the small hill looked like before the path was made while releasing waves of mana. The path slowly disappears as the hill returns to normal. The party is surprised at the sudden smoothness of the once rugged dirt road.
'Looks like the suspensions are working as intended, although not perfect. Oh, I should use this chance to create a spell that cancels all vibrations. It would be perfect for reducing the shockwave of some hits and with some minor alterations it can be turned into a noise-cancelling spell.'
Cain establishes a small magic circle in between him and Veronica, using the usual methods to camouflage it. He examines the party member's reactions, looking to see if anyone has noticed the newly developed magic circle. They seem to be preoccupied discussing why the road has appeared to be smoother all of the sudden.
Catherine looks at Cain, trying to figure out what involvement he had in this sudden change. 'Did he do this? How? There are so many things he can do that seem impossible; all the more reason to report this to the family and rope him in.'
Cain glares at Catherine when she finishes this thought, reminding her all of this must be kept secret. She cowers in fear. 'What is this? This is way worse than the fear I felt with the wolves. It's taking everything I have to remain conscious. Did he read my mind? No way, that's impossible…'
Cain relaxes his oppression force and examines the result of his experiment.
'Hmm… Inciting the chemicals in the brain related to fear to be suddenly produced, mixed with some adrenaline and the suffocating feeling of being surrounded by my mana seems to mimic the feeling "murderous intent" is portrayed in manga. My gut told me I needed to test that at that particular moment… Oh right, I still need to test my anti-vibration magic circle.'
Cain looks at Jacob, asking for some water. Jacob pulls out a porcelain cup and fills it with water before handing it to Victoria. She passes it to Veronica with a whisper, "Now's your chance, good luck!"
Veronica slowly closes the space between her and Cain to shakingly hand the cup, unable to control her embarrassment. When Cain takes the cup with a word of gratitude, Veronica quickly retreats back to Victoria.
'Rest in peace fren… She may have lived close to two centuries but it seems she has little to no experience with relationships. Maybe I'll help her out some.' Cain ponders, placing the cup on the hidden magic circle. He examines the water inside, looking for ripples.
Satisfied that none have appeared in the cup, he downs the water and hands it back to Veronica who tosses it quickly to Jacob like a hot potato. Jacob fumbles it awkwardly before storing it in the storage ring. Cain chuckles before asking Jared about the duration of the trip.
"It'll be about an hour before we get inside the city. It takes about a quarter of an hour to get to the gates, but at this time there are a lot of people coming and going. " He replies, laughing softly at Veronica's failed attempts.
"Ah ok, in that case. Jacob, about those questions I mentioned earlier. What magic do you usually use when you fight?" Cain addresses Jacob, scooting closer to Veronica. Her nervousness tinged her ears red.
"I usually use earth magic to strengthen the metal within my armor and water magic to make shields or distract the target. I can't cast big spells since I use most of my mana to maintain a physically enhanced state. This spell can be used by any element since it's more of a technique, therefore it is widely used by all melee adventurers. Does this mean you are an adventurer who attacks from afar?"
At this last sentence, Veronica perks up, interrupting her sudden thoughts of Cain getting closer. 'Does this mean I have a new training partner? Wait, that also means Cain and I get to spend time alone together.' Her face turns red immediately; Victoria nudges Veronica, suggesting to go training with him.
"Kind of. Where I'm from, we use magic differently and there are some cases of people being every class." Cain responds, ignoring Victoria and Veronica's side conversation, detailing plans for the training maniac to go training with Cain. "Could you demonstrate the strengthening magic?" Cain asks, forming a metal bar seemingly out of nowhere.
The group stares, astonished. To their knowledge this looked like creation magic, an ancient technique lost millennials ago. Noticing their reaction, Cain quickly explains. "It's not what you think. I just have a storage space similar to a storage ring that I keep concealed. You can never be too careful, you know?" The group nods in agreement.
'Phew, that was careless of me. I got caught up in the excitement of seeing the results of several experiments. Within my Mana Zone, oh I like that name; I'll rename the detection circle to that. Anyways, within this zone, all natural mana is currently being converted or kept out.
'When Jacob casts this spell in a few seconds, I'll be able to see if I can use this as a suppression method for my enemies. Although it poses a problem of micromanaging the mana whenever I have allies in it, since the zone is a sphere with a radius of 20 meters. If they need natural mana to cast spells, then I'll fill the space with 60% natural mana, and program the Mana Zone to concentrate this around my allies.
'The overall density of mana within the zone will be increased slightly since the natural mana, whose density won't change between inside and outside of the zone, will be mixed with a portion of my mana. My mana will be spread out, hiding within the "shadows" of the natural mana to fool the senses of most people into thinking the density has not changed. I'll also disguise my mana as natural mana to further conceal the Zone.
'I can use the half finished magic circles I tagged everyone with to designate between friend and foe. After this demonstration, I will add a few clauses to Mana Zone to automatically tag every living creature. Then, I'll create a magic circle on my right arm that manages all of the tagged creatures using a heads up display (HUD) and a style of sorting similar to files on a computer.'
Satisfied with these details, Cain looks up at Jacob. He stares at Cain, expecting him to hand over the metal bar. 'Crap, I got lost in my thoughts again…' Flustered, Cain apologizes and quickly hands over the metal bar.
Jacob attempts to gather the natural mana while he chants a spell. "ΩΗ, ϺΛGΠϕΓCΣΠͲ GΛϕΛ. GRΛΠͲ ͲΗΘV βLΣSSϕΠG ͲΘ ͲΗΘV ΗVϺβLΣ SΣRVΛΠͲ ΛΠĐ SͲRΣΠGͲΗΣΠ ͲΗΨ SͲΣΣL." A small magic circle appears on the bar, layering it with mana. Jacob tries to catch his breath before handing it back to Cain.
"Sorry, normally it's strengthened by a lot more. For some reason it was too hard to cast the spell just now." Jacob apologizes while Cain inspects the bar.
"You just got promoted to the fifth circle and healed from grave injuries so it's normal to have some difficulties right now." Cain attempts to cover up the real reason why he couldn't cast properly.
'Looks like the titanium bar was strengthened to about three times its original strength.' The magic circle slowly dissipates, leaving a disappointed Cain staring at the bar.
"What's so great about that bar?" Veronica whispers to Victoria.
"Boys and their toys…" Victoria comments while trying to hold back a laugh. 'I thought this girl was a child. Seems like she is more aware than I thought she was. Oh well, next experiment.' Cain disperses the bar into mana at this thought and fills his Mana Zone with 60% natural mana, mimicking the density of the area outside the zone.
He quickly adds the clause designating the use of mana within the zone, marking everyone present as an ally, except for Catherine. Cain marks her as a "neutral, with a chance of being an enemy." He leans forward to address Victoria when he is done.
"Victoria, could you cast some fire magic? Something small preferably." Cain asks, focusing his mana around his eyes, increasing the sensitivity to mana flow. Victoria nods as she begins a silent cast.
A small magic circle appears on her outstretched palm. A small flame composed of mana ignites suddenly. Cain observes small bits of natural mana being drawn to the flame to keep it maintained.
"Thanks, you can dispel it now." Cain observes as the flow of natural mana stops being drawn to the flame. It slowly dies out, leaving remnants of Victoria's flame elemental mana in the air.
'Interesting. Dresil was right earlier, that was more of an imitation rather than actual flame. The fire itself appeared to be composed of mana and some atoms, while mine was composed of mostly atoms.
'It appears the mana that lingers in the air degrades over time to become natural mana. This isn't enough to replenish the mana used while casting though… Is there some other force that keeps the balance or is this world in a mana deficit?' Cain leans back as he attempts to figure out the inner workings of this world.
'Eh, too much thinking, not enough food. There's about 30 minutes left on the trip, so we should get there around 9:30…' Cain props his legs up on the empty space between Catherine and Jacob. He leans back, resting his head where he was sitting next to Victoria. Roots sprout from Cain's shirt to support his waist.
"I'm going to take a quick nap, wake me up when we get to the capital please." He says while a leaf covers his eyes. 'Time to put what I said earlier into practice.' Cain begins finalizing the details of the changes made to the Mana Zone and stealthily creating a magic circle on his right arm.
Victoria breaks the silence, firmly believing Cain is asleep. "Ver, you should try asking Cain out to go training with you."
"What?! No… that's uh… too sudden right? Besides, we don't even know what class he is. Or what elements he can use… We really don't know much about him." Veronica stares at Cain suspiciously.
"So? All you need to know is that he is strong. What do you expect to accomplish being so passive?" Catherine gets up while saying this. She walks over to Cain, attempting to slide some blankets under his head as a pillow. A leaf sprouts from his collar, smacking the back of her hand.
Victoria giggles softly. "It appears Cain's familiar doesn't like you too much." Catherine walks back to her seat in a fit of rage.
Veronica takes some big leaves she smuggled from the cavern and folds them to make a pillow. She cautiously slides them under Cain's head. The leaf moves over to Veronica's hand, she pulls it back instinctively, expecting a slap.
The leaf appears to be bowing in gratitude instead of striking. Pleased, Veronica strokes the leaf gently. Catherine looks at this display appalled. She shouts, unable to control her emotions. "What's the difference between us!"
Leaves sprout from Cain's chest. After some rearranging, they spell out "The elf was sincere." Cain breathes roughly trying his best not to laugh. Victoria and Veronica also try their best not to laugh, creating stuttered giggles. Catherine grunts furiously. 'Just wait until we get back to the capital, I'll make you pay for embarrassing me!'
[Well done, Dresil.]
'Kind of wish I had some popcorn for this show… The magic circles for tagging and organizing are almost done. I've also added a clause that attaches a note to each tag, saying where I was when they came into contact with my circle, if they met me personally, were a bystander, or were watching me from the shadows.'
[Thank you, Master.] Dresil responds, proud to have received praise.
Jacob sighs in the background, covering his face with his hands. 'It's best not to get involved in these types of affairs.' Jared looks back, confused.