"Ughhhh, I can't believe it! I'll beat the hell out of that scientist once he's out of there!" After the recent incident in which her favorite department store had been accidentally destroyed, Lilith was displeased. Akira did finally know the truth since he felt odd with the scientist wearing his coat outside work.
The explanation of how it happened was that the lab wasn't near the mall. The scientist had to chase the spider who had been affected by the potion. How unfortunate, the spider went inside the mall and grew huge, demolishing the mall. And that was the truth behind it. For sure, there was no way a scientist would be inside a Mall outside the lab.
"Relax, you got more of that fashion thing, it's already enough."
"No, it's far from enough, you idiot. Unlike you, who have basic standards of clothing, I have a taste in arts."
'Wait... fashion is an art?' Akira was perplexed and said in his thoughts that he had no idea that fashion was an art; he had instead assumed that it served merely tertiary needs.
Right when they were having a walk peacefully to Lilith's home, they came across Reien Gakuto who was in front of her home, holding a smartphone while texting.
Her home was unexpectedly fancy like an estate. He had no means of knowing how she acquired her funds, and eventually, he received an explanation. However, she didn't appear to be a member of a royal family due to her messy appearance and ripped and torn clothing. Like they usually say, "never judge a book by its cover," there was no way to tell it either. Besides her wasteful actions, that was. In contrast to Kazoru or Rozori, they seem fitting for royal characters.
"So... you come from a wealthy family. Given your wasteful spendthrift ways and lack of moral fiber, I can't say I'm very shocked that you don't resemble one."
"Oh sweetie, you're not oblivious after all."
"Let me digress first, why is he here?" Akira quickly changed the subject to Reien Gakuto who appeared waiting for Lilith's return.
Reien Gakuto eventually explained after he finished chatting with someone who he chatted with on his phone. He came over not for a friend's visit but because he wanted to have his time knowing Akira.
Akira was perplexed by his sudden want to spend time with him as well as his inquisitiveness in wanting to know more about him. The three then went inside and met Lilith's butler on their way to the living room.
"Miss Lilith, your father has been calling you twenty-seven times. And you didn't answer his calls."
"Just tell him that I was busy with a new boyfriend."
"Oh gracious me, how many new boyfriends you have out there?"
Lilith ignored her Butler to respond to her father and entered her room carrying the shopping bags she had purchased.
"And you must be her 11th boyfriend." The butler presumed that Akira was her boyfriend since he was new.
"No, I'm not. Just a friend." After being presumed her boyfriend, Akira quickly cleared the misunderstanding.
"I see. Then, would you like me to brew you some jasmine tea? Or preferably coffee is what you would like?"
"I've tried coffee before, and while it gave me a ton of energy, it eventually made me feel exhausted again. So, truth be told, coffee isn't as good as some people might say. And as for jasmine, sure! I want to take a sip of it."
"Understood, would you like it hot or cold? Or warm, perhaps?"
"On a hot day like this, cold, please!"
5 minutes later, the jasmine tea was ready. Akira and Gakuto were having a chat as the butler put the beverages on the table.
"Woah! So this is jasmine tea?! I've never tasted such elegance!" Akira showed a pleasant reaction after tasting the jasmine tea. Its rich scent and taste with green soothing color developed a very powerful feeling that brightened the mood.
After a sip, Akira put the tea cup down and ask what exactly Gakuto want to know. He wasn't interested in learning much of it; all he wanted to know was whether Akira might be able to join the gang or not. Akira replied no. He didn't want to impolitely turn down the offer, but he wanted to achieve his goals.
Gakuto began laughing. He thought Akira was fascinating, so he watched him battle Horka and eventually forced Horka to imitate his moves against his brother. It thrilled him. Seeing Horka finally triumphs over his brother, made him happy and proud like a parent whose baby learned its first words.
"Uhh, hate to ask... why Kazuya hates me?"
"Hmm? Oh, yes. Sorry if you were confused about what's going on. He just hates normal people and thinks of you as a wanna-be person, and you are thought to be a pretentious abnormal one. Ever since you explained that your system was broken, I have found it too hard to believe as well as him. He lived his childhood trying to be normal, and after so much hate he got for himself, boom, he hates normalities." Reien insisted to spare info about Kazuya about why he hated Akira.
"Everyone hates his ability that copies every skill. As I said, he hates wanna-be people, ironically including his past self. Everyone dissed him for not having an original ability and called him a stealer it was as if the scummiest person on earth. He can't manipulate people's main abilities on his own, but he can manipulate skills by copying people's skills since he only has 3 original skills of his own."
"Regardless of his copy ability, warriors are nothing without main abilities. They have fire manipulation as their main ability, and he doesn't have one. It's okay to have no skills in the system but what if their main abilities are just nothing useful? Without copying people, he can't be anyone. Or to say useless garbage. So instead, he copied many skills in one go and crushed people who he hates and eventually ended up in jail."
"Hold on, I have no idea of what skills are for. If they have main abilities like fire magic, shouldn't they learn the ability themselves? And aren't skills just like a bonus move?" Akira got much knowledge of systems from his friends and master but was still mysterious to him.
"What you say is correct. The complexity of the system is very hard to understand. Most often, people have 6-14 skills in their system, and above or lower than that are absurd."
"Think of it as a video game. Our main abilities are the primary abilities and we get an upgrade and got access to new abilities that will be in our arsenal each time we leveled up. For instance, keen instincts..." Gakuto stopped the explanation after seeing Akira face his palm towards him.
"Wait... how did you know keen instincts? It's one of my skills..." Akira stopped him in the midst of his explanation about systems. He did get perplexed about what skills were for and it got him thinking of how he mentioned keen instincts, of which he had one in his skills.
Skills weren't the topic that the village had spoken about; none of those were. Not even Sora clarified that to him, whichever skills warriors commonly have. He did make doubt that he was the only one who had keen instincts since it couldn't be rare for something that heightened senses.
Nevertheless, it was unpredictable that it had the same name.
He highly doubted that he was the only one with Blood Manipulation because it fits with a person's main abilities.
"It's in the encyclopedia. Keen instinct isn't very common to have, but it's one of the physical enhancements for a warrior who is a physical type mostly to have." Reien explained that it was one of those skills that many physical mages had. Having got his answers, Akira gravely focused on Reien's explanation. At that moment too, he craved knowledge and sought it by reading the encyclopedia. To find less trouble and solve it.
"Like Yeru's teleportation main abilities. He had space magic in his skills, which means he has a bonus move called space magic. This is very logical since teleportation involves space magic. But what if I tell you, people can have two main abilities or even three or more than that? It's very rare."
"Next question is, general Kamui, he could teleport using his space manipulation, but why Yeru's are separate? Then doesn't that mean anyone could have spatial magic just by owning it free from skills?"
"Typically, space magic has many variant types, and many of them aren't the same. So, the answer is that they have different types. Yeru can teleport within the proximity of his vision and senses and can take people with him; General Kamui can mark, teleport or even replace himself with an object he sees, but he can't teleport without marking a location or spotting an object. In other words, both are chalk and cheese."
To comprehend their abilities that differ from one another, Yeru's teleportation, which he had as his main ability, was more advanced than Kamui's. Kamui needed a requirement so that he could teleport, but for Yeru, he could freely do so without having to find an object.
From a simulation perspective, Yeru needed a slight vision of what he could catch. For instance, if there was a 12-mile distance that was within Yeru's vision and senses, he could straightforwardly teleport within that 12
All he needed to do was to visualize himself being there. However, he did have limits on how far he could do it, similar to having a bubble-like radius around him. Kamui, on the other hand, needed a big or small object so that he could teleport or make a mark if he desired. Like Yeru, he could teleport only within his vision and senses, an exception to marked teleportation.
"Main abilities tend to have the most advanced than of skills, and they are more likely to be divine. Even saying this make my head hurt. That was why I told you systems are complex and hard to understand." Abruptly stopping, he scratched his head.
"Anyway, wanna come and play some video games tomorrow? I have lots of recommendations. As a big brother of the group, I think of you people as one my little brothers and sisters. So it's totally normal to have a brotherly relationship. *Sob* seeing the Horkas getting along with each other and knowing their backstory is really heart-warming. And that hug... I'm so jealous!" Gakuto suddenly wept for the Horka's relationship while being also jealous.
"Yeah, maybe sometime later..."
"Oh? Busy, are you? Sure thing, we can do it later some other time. If you're looking for me, come and meet me in the west of Celesta. I live there."
Reien stopped at once after it was getting dark outside. He needed to go home before his mother called and grounded him, so he took his leave. Akira sitting there alone and was also wondering if he could meet up with Kazuya after he knew what was all this about.
He stood up after having finished with the delicious tea, he said his goodbye before leaving Lilith's manor.
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About Kazoru
Favorite foods: Fish tastes amazing, I like the crispiness when I took a bite out of it. Not just that, it contained so much nutritional value in it. It's delicious, it's easy to cook, and it's healthy! How perfect is that?"
Disliked foods: "Ugh, don't ever eat something cold. It tastes worst and even worse than that, the texture... It's hard and it tastes horrible. Be sure to cook them after you put them in the refrigerator. Except for fruits, of course, I'm not insane enough to cook fruits."
Hobby: "I find nothing as a hobby. However, it gave me the strength and spirit to get stronger because of the rivalry. Do you want to train with me? Don't worry, I'll give you a handicap when fighting me."
Likes: "Looking at the stars at night, brought a bright feeling to me. Looking at them is relaxing that makes you wanna go to sleep in the open field."
Dislikes: "I despise insects, whenever I see one, I burn it whole until it disappears from existence! I don't mean to offend to if those who can turn themselves into one, I won't do anything... Probably..."