Chapter 78 - Butterfly Effect!
Knock, knock, knock!
"Come in."
Upon hearing the sound from inside the door, Luke pushed it open and entered.
This marked his second time in this meeting room, the first being during the 'interview.'
Unlike the last time, this time, besides Loki, Finn, Riveria, and Gareth were all present.
If we exclude Luke, this was obviously an internal high-level meeting within the Loki Familia.
"Come over and have a seat, Luke."
Seeing Luke's somewhat puzzled expression, Finn spoke to him first.
"We called you here this time to confirm something with you."
Luke walked over and, as Finn suggested, sat down on the chair.
He was genuinely confused because, in all likelihood, this seemed to be a high-level meeting, and as a newcomer, he shouldn't be participating.
However, after observing the expressions on Finn and the others' faces, he decided to temporarily set aside his confusion and listen to what they had to say.
Finn and Gareth's expressions were relatively normal, albeit tinged with a hint of helplessness.
On the other hand, Loki and Riveria seemed exceptionally abnormal.
Loki was sitting on the side, grinning as if she had found something interesting.
The most intriguing one was Riveria.
Ever since he entered, Riveria had been staring at him intently.
Although Luke didn't sense any malicious intent or resentment, being stared at like that made even someone like him feel uneasy.
"Firstly, I want to inform you that the expedition is scheduled for three days from now."
Even after Luke sat down, Finn began to speak without directly explaining the reason for calling him here.
"This time, I plan to have you and Ais join as well, considering it as an opportunity for you both to gain experience."
While seated, Luke responded, "If that's the case, you could have informed me later when notifying the entire Familia. Was it necessary to specifically call me here?"
Moreover... he feels like Riveria has some opinions about him.
Luke was perplexed because just yesterday, Riveria spent the entire day in the dungeon with him and Ais, seemingly unchanged.
"Luke, I have a question for you! On leisure day a week ago, you and Ais..."
"Alright, Riveria, let me speak."
Upon hearing Luke's words, Riveria couldn't hold back and began to hastily ask, but Finn stopped her midway.
Finn glanced at the mischievous Loki beside him, then sighed and said to Luke, "You should know that both you and Ais are quite special, right?"
Luke nodded; he had learned about this on the first day he joined Loki Familia.
"Now, do you understand why Ais is special?"
Finn continued his questioning.
This time, Luke hesitated slightly but eventually nodded.
"I knew it must be related to him…"
"That's enough, Riveria. Calm down!"
This was Loki's first time speaking, but instead of confronting Luke like Riveria, she stopped Riveria from continuing on.
Hearing this, Luke more or less understood what was going on.
Combining Riveria's interrupted words earlier, he had a vague guess about why he was called here.
"We don't know how much you know about Ais, but what I'm going to tell you next is about Ais's magic and skills."
Finn saw Loki stopping Riveria and continued with a sigh of relief.
"When Ais first received falna, she gained a magic and a skill at the same time."
Magic and skills are crucial for adventurers.
Each new skill acquisition represents significant progress for an adventurer.
However, skills are not easy to obtain, and many adventurers go their entire lives without obtaining any.
This is even more true for someone like Ais, who has such an exceptional skill.
"Just last night, because we decided to take you and Ais on the expedition, Riveria took Ais to Loki for status update and check on her progress."
"It was at that moment that Loki discovered Ais had gained an additional skill."
"That's the reason we called you here today."
Having said that, Finn paused for a moment, looked at Riveria, and then continued:
"According to Riveria, during this period, you, Ais, and Riveria were basically together."
"Only last week, there was one day when only you and Ais were together."
The acquisition of adventurer's skills is related to their essence, emotions, interests, and psychological changes.
During the time that Ais was following Riveria, nothing happened that might cause changes in her skills.
Therefore, there was only one possibility: the day Riveria wasn't with Ais, specifically the last week rest day.
Although it had only been half a month, Riveria, who lived and dined with Ais, had already regarded her as an important junior (or maybe daughter?).
Now, Ais had undergone a drastic change that Riveria hadn't noticed, and it was only natural for mama elf to be worried.
Generally, acquisition of skills is considered a good thing, as it means gaining a new ability.
However, Ais was in a different situation.
Her original skill, "Avenger/Revenge Princess," was exceptionally dangerous.
"Now, under this skill, there's another '???' - a skill that hasn't fully awakened yet."
"Just thinking that 'Avenger' skill makes Ais fall into the side effects of endless slaughter and hatred..."
Riveria couldn't help but worry about whether this new skill would also have similar side effects.
After listening to Finn's explanation, Luke finally understood the cause and effect of the situation.
He hadn't expected that his unintentional actions would lead to such a significant change in Ais.
However, considering the circumstances of that day, Luke believed that the newly emerged skill was likely related to Ais recalling memories of her mother and not necessarily a bad thing.
Subsequently, Luke explained in detail the events of that day to Finn and the others.
"..."
During Luke's explanation, Finn and the others, including Loki, remained silent, listening carefully.
After hearing and analyzing Luke's description, they all affirmed Luke's perspective.
Based on the analysis of the situation at that time, it was evident that Ais had undergone a change under the influence of warm emotions.
Therefore, the skill born from this should also be a positive skill without side effects.
However, the conclusion led to an awkward situation.
They had created such a big scene, subjecting Luke to a kind of unfair interrogation, only to find out that Luke had done a good deed.
Now, all eyes were suddenly focused on Riveria, who had just felt relieved.
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