{Author's Note: The following events are from Cain's point of view, picking up after Cain messaged the group chat alerting them the show is about to start.}
After eating her fill, Victoria stares at Cain suspiciously. Jared leans back in his chair after gulping down his beer, stuffed from feasting. Jacob continues slowly while he and Veronica notice the tension between Victoria and Cain. Cain begins his preliminary inspection on the beer placed in front of him, preparing it for the transmutation into mtn dew.
"So, Cain… How come you don't have any mana fluctuations and why don't you know how to detect others' fluctuations? Are you using a concealment technique?" Victoria interrogates Cain, weary of what the possible answers would mean.
"Vicky! You know how rude it is to ask about concealment techniques!" Veronica admonishes her while Jared and Jacob watch silently.
---Dms: Cain and Dresil--- (12ms)
Cain: Why is asking about a concealment technique rude? It didn't seem rude when I inquired about their skills and spells earlier. Even if I saved their leader, they would have been slightly hesitant if it was rude, which wasn't the case.
Dresil: Concealment techniques are usually handed down by ancient families or found in ruins and dungeons. Thus it is a roundabout way of asking what your background is, Master.
Cain: Ah, makes sense now…
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"It's alright Veronica. Before coming to this continent, I lived in seclusion with my Master. I didn't learn much common sense because of this. Whenever I asked him about how to determine the magic circle of someone else, he would always say 'Don't use this as a basis to determine one's power, use your instinct.'
"Thus, I never learned how to know what someone's magic circle is directly." Cain shrugs at this last sentence. 'Seems like Victoria is still suspicious. Why is the youngest the most careful though? Interesting…'
"The concealment is just a perk of the method I cultivate." Cain gathers some of his mana lingering in the mana zone and turns off their undetectability to reveal refined fluctuations of a 3rd circle, 4th circle, then 5th circle mage. He continues to vary it up and down, ranging from the 3rd circle to the 6th circle.
The party stares at him in disbelief. Jared almost spit out his beer when Cain started his performance while food almost fell from Veronica's mouth due to the shock. Cain continues this for a few minutes before concealing the mana he gathered for the show.
---Group Chat: Cain, Dresil, Bob, and Rex--- (23ms)
Rex: I have a hard time believing that you don't know what their magic circle is… especially with those eyes. :emoji sus:
Bob: You had a Master? I didn't find anything about that in your memories… :emoji sus:
Cain: Of course, they were all lies. :shrug_sigh:
Cain: My "master" was anime, manga, and books (textbooks included). I can not only see their magic circles, but also how their mana flows throughout their body.
Cain: It was annoying so I had to setup a magic circle to turn this from "always on" to "toggleable"
Bob: When did you do that?
Cain: Earlier this morning before heading into the city.
Rex: How the hell are you so good at lying… :emoji sus:
Cain: Yes
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The tense atmosphere eases up slightly once Cain finishes his demonstration.
"That's… quite a cultivation method you have…" Victoria attempts to find the secrets behind Cain's performance, to no avail.
"Yep, it has some drawbacks though. Nothing is perfect after all." Cain replied swiftly, emphasizing the potential drawbacks. 'It would seem more suspicious if there weren't any drawbacks, I assume… I should use this time they're processing what just happened to transmute this beer to mtn dew.'
'First… Isolate the beer from the cup and clean the cup.' Cain deploys a mana net, similar to what held the drop of aphrodisiac, around the content within the cup before him. Seconds later, a multitude of disguised magic circles surrounded the cup.
Their task was to eliminate all microorganisms on the cup by turning them into mana. Dresil, who was still on Cain's lap, helped within this short amount of time by sending Cain her memories of when she and Bob created the restrictions on the dimension dedicated to snack storage.
'The mana consumption was higher than what was acquired from the task… Was it due to the precision required? Hmm… Anyways, now to convert this boi into mtn dew.' Cain recalls what he knows about the production process of mtn dew, the taste, smell, and everything else remotely related to it.
He lets his mana be drawn out freely and do whatever is necessary while enforcing his desire to have mtn dew to drink. Having gone from drinking a 12 pack of soda in a day to none over the past few days, Cain desperately requires some soda.
Not because he is addicted to it. Nope. It is purely because it is his "morning coffee." There are some days that you just can't start without that one good cup of coffee. That's what the sweet carbonation delight is to him.
Within a minute, the beer becomes mtn dew. During this time, the food fight approaches the vicinity of Cain's table. Jared stands on his chair to get a better view of the commotion, followed by a stifled laugh from Veronica.
"Woah… They're really going at it this time." Jared comments while watching them.
"This time…? Is this something that happens often?" Cain asks once the mtn dew is done. He takes a sip, only to end up chugging all of it in one go. 'Dang, how I have missed this feeling.' The corners of his eyes tear up slightly. 'The taste seems a bit off though… Well it was my first time attempting this after all.'
Veronica and Victoria are slightly shocked by this sudden action; they assumed he wasn't an alcoholic since he didn't even touch his drink for a while. Jared just looked at Cain with a look that read "A fellow man of culture, I see."
"Yeah, it usually happens every other week or so. It's quite entertaining, but this is the largest one we've had so far." Jared responds as he almost falls off his chair.
'Woops, my bad.' Cain thinks to himself while stopping a stray clump of mashed potatoes that almost hit Jared, causing him to stumble. "Don't worry, you won't be hit by any stray pieces of food so just enjoy the show."
The party stares at him briefly, simultaneously thinking 'I can't even be surprised anymore…' They turn their heads towards Sig-gwon's group and calmly watch the show while snacking on whatever was left. A zooming potato crosses the tavern of the guild, knocking out one of Sig-gwon's subordinates and triggering the rise of the Foo Fighters…
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-----I know you don't like to repeat things since it's tedious and annoying, thus I'll skip the rest and pick up where the Dean intervenes…-----
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"What the hell happened here?" A disgruntled voice echoes throughout the guild from behind Cain's table, silencing everyone in an instant.
'Ah… the guest of honor makes his appearance at last… I thought I would need to make some more commotion.' Cain ponders while staring through the sudden appearance of the person behind him, the Dean of the Adventurer's guild.
---Group Chat: Cain, Dresil, Bob, and Rex--- (111ms)
Rex: What the hell… want to fill us in?
Cain: Sure, so basically I started the food fight and kept it going while directing it towards Sig-gwon's group. This was to prevent anything too severe from happening since I do still need them to pay for my meals, and mental trauma won't help with that.
Bob: Impressive… Is that why the piece of bread Jared tossed went so far?
Cain: Yep, I changed its flight path so someone else would take the blame too. I also launched a random potato to get Sig-gwon's group involved.
Cain: I didn't know it was that hard though… Dang
Rex: Hold on, my brain cells are dying…
Dresil: Pfft, do you even have a brain?
Rex: Wanna go little twig?! :flare up:
Dresil: Who are you calling a twig, you ember! :angry idle whip:
Cain: Hush children…
Bob: So how did you do the illusion?
Cain: Just some magic circles around his eyes and ears. I mainly used the method to disguise the aphrodisiac droplet, but instead of mirroring the surroundings, I changed some bits here and there. The magic circles on the ear changed the pitch of everyone's voice to match that of a woman's.
Bob: Wow… conceptual magic is just too powerful.
Cain: Knowledge is power after all.
Rex: Did you even practice this at all? :sus:
Cain: A little, it was rushed though and done on several adventurers at once, including those who started the food fight. It was one of the ways I got it going.
Bob: Then… were you waiting for the Dean to show up?
Cain: Yep. I wanted to see if there were any changes in what I could perceive from a 5th circle compared towards a 6th circle. Other than their mana veins, that run along the body's veins, being denser and the additional magic circle around the heart, there's not much difference.
Rex: All of this commotion was planned… just for that?
Cain: Yes, but actually no. I saw an opportunity so I took it.
Rex: ...Is my head ever going to stop hurting when I'm around you?
Cain: Probably not.
Rex: Fuck. :depressed:
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The Dean looks over the commotion; everyone is frozen stiff at his sudden appearance. 'Weird… Why is this table the only one that's clean? Huh? Isn't that the lad that summoned the Spirit Kings? Interesting… I need more beer.'
After a short contemplation of what happened, the Dean walks up to the bar and orders some more beer. The adventures are frozen stiff in shock and uncertainty. Most of them don't know what to do after seeing the Dean for the first time, especially with what they were just doing. The situation was akin to being caught red-handed by a teacher.
A piece of food falls from the ceiling, missing the Dean's shoulders by centimeters. The frustrated Dean snaps at everyone around him. "Why the hell are y'all just standing there?! Clean up your mess and get out of here, you know the rules."
The adventures all bow respectfully, then quickly rush to clean up the mess they made. Sig-gwon's group packs up and cleans their area then drags their leader out of the guild.
Jared sits back down and Victoria calls a waitress over. She orders thrice as much as they had beforehand, much to Cain's surprise. The waitress quickly hurries off, avoiding the frantic adventurers who are cleaning every nook and cranny of the guild.
"Hm? You sure all of that will fit on the table?" Cain asks her, doubting the size of their current table.
"If not we can just grab some tables." She responds, sending the waitress off.
"True. Ah… we forgot to ask her for more drinks." Cain replies, regretting his mistake.
"Do you drink often? You chugged your beer down quite fast." Jacob asked Cain, stacking the empty dishes that are around him. Jared follows his lead and does the same. Veronica listens in intently.
"Nah I hate the taste and smell of all alcohol. I just converted it into a drink from my homeland using a technique I invented for occasions like these." Cain replies, staring at his empty mug. 'Should I just make more soda using mana only? ...No, they would find that suspicious… Heck, I miss my two liters and twelve packs…'
"Woah, you created your own spell? Can you teach us it?" Jared asks, interested in this new drink.
"Unfortunately, I can't. It's not a spell, but a technique that can only be done due to my unique physique. If you want some I can do it for you though." Cain replies, once again lying flawlessly. A few busboys come by and clean up their table.
"Oooh, please do. Before you guys go, can you tell the bar to bring us some more beers? Thanks." Jared stops a busboy that was about to leave and gives his order. The busboy takes note of what table they're at and after a nod, proceeds with his duties.
Cain leans back and shifts Dresil some since she was still on his lap. He lets out a deep sigh and proceeds to roll his neck around, popping it several times. 'Crap… Maybe I should use mana to force everything into place and reset my muscles so they stay there? Hmm… maybe later if it's still a nuisance…' He thinks while sitting back up.
"When do you think our food is going to get here?" Cain directs this question towards Victoria, but looks at Veronica who pulled bread out from somewhere. She breaks it in half and offers it to Cain, who gratefully accepts it.
"In 10 minutes…? They have a lot of cooks and we're one of the only groups left so it shouldn't take that long." Victoria replies while nudging Veronica, suggesting her to start a conversation with Cain. Jared and Jacob admire the rare sight of Veronica being flustered.
"S-so… the weather is nice." After a few minutes of struggling, Veronica finally musters up the courage to speak.
"Thanks." Cain replies almost immediately after. 'Oh… That was on reflex since it was a reference to a meme, heh.' Veronica stares at him, perplexed.
"My bad, it's a reference to something back home. Anyways, when do you train?" Veronica's ears twitch slightly at the word "train" and clears her throat in preparation to answer Cain's question.
"Early in the morning, in the afternoon, or whenever I don't have free time."
"Heh, no wonder you don't have a boyfriend yet, musclehead." Jared comments in between, dodging flying silverware from Veronica.
"Hmm… Would you like to train sometime in the afternoon, the day after my duel? So, two days from now. I need help perfecting a technique." Cain interrupts their little quarrel with his question. Veronica stares at Cain as if he just answered her lifetime wish.
"O-of course. I'll be glad to help." Veronica responds in a delighted tone. Victoria smirks in the background, proud that her friend can finally go on a date, if one can call it that. Jared blanks out due to the sudden development. A small "Impossible…" escapes his mouth.
---Group Chat: Cain, Dresil, Bob, and Rex--- (20ms)
Rex: What the hell are you going to do now…? Turn arrows into nukes?
Cain: No, but that's a good idea.
Cain: Right now my Mana Zone is similar to an active skill rather than something that's supposed to be a part of my body and reflexive. I was going to have Veronica help me get used to it so that it becomes an extension of my body.
Bob: Hmm… sounds like a good plan, won't your brain overload due to all the details from the Mana Zone though?
Cain: It shouldn't. I mean a human's range of vision is roughly 180 degrees, but we only focus and actively process information from the center half of that range. I was planning on using this concept to lessen the burden.
Dresil: As expected of my Master. :proud:
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{Author's Note:
For those of you who are confused about the timeline of events or you just want a quick summary, read this next bit. If not, then proceed to the end of this note.
Cain tests the concepts that will be used in intercepting the aphrodisiac. Jared throws the bread behind him, starting the food fight. Richard attempts to deposit the drop of aphrodisiac then goes to fetch his group some beers.
When Richard delivers the beers, Cain deposits the aphrodisiac into Sig-gwon's beer seconds before he drinks it. At this moment, the waitress with the party's food is roughly three quarters of the way there and Cain asks the party a question.
Victoria then answers the question while the waitress arrives with the food. Cain messages the group chat to get ready for the show. Richard contemplates his position in the group. The aphrodisiac kicks in. Victoria questions Cain.
Sig-gwon pins down Richard. Cain transmutes beer into soda. Jared almost gets hit by stray food. Confrontation between Sig-gwon and his party occurs. Rise of the Foo Fighters. The Dean intervenes. The rest is linear, the skipped dash isn't an author's note, but rather a piece of the big picture.
(Will be elaborated on in a mini drama, it was supposed to happen in this Day, but during lunch when Veronica did a recap of everything, that's how it will be in the comic since this part will be more fluid)}