The dissatisfaction and negativity aimed at Aranea increased drastically.
Entering the canteen, Aranea found herself the target of their conversations even though she was mere metres away.
Quite stupid if she'd say so herself.
Who'd mock someone who could kill them and had one of the worst reputations in the Empire right in front of their face?
Oh.
Teenagers.
Understandable have a great day.
Not that today was a great day.
Today was just another normal day.
Tomorrow was the great day.
They were going to be dispatched off to the Abyssal Frontlines, where the Instructors would actively teach them on the battlefield instead of raising them as greenhouse flowers; good looking but useless.
Small note, only the top 10% of the students received this treatment.
Them.
"Are they still going to hold the second duel?"
"Maybe? I don't think Prince Charles has a chance though..."
Quickly hushing his friend, he looked to make sure that the Prince in question wasn't around before continuing their conversation.
Aranea passed by them to pick up some food and found her usual seat in the corner.
Plopping down, she munched through the food with squirrel cheeks.
Mogu~
'Yep, the duel with Charles is still happening. He can't go back on his words when using the Sildoret Medallion.'
That's why she accepted it in the first place.
She needed that duel with him.
A certain something had to happen during that fight; or more accurately, as a result of that fight.
Also, even though Silvia almost killed her yesterday, she treated her the same as always this morning.
Her unique personality was a sight to behold.
It was seriously weird.
However, it also worried her.
Holding the aggro with Silvia's not-so-fun side was extremely risky. It was like pulling an all-nighter playing your favourite game the night before your finals.
What a shitshow and a half.
The prelude to [Throes of Fortune]'s First Act from the game wasn't as wild as this one-
Oh.
It's because you played as the main cast and not as Aranea; like she was.
Okay, that makes sense.
'Did I under Level? But any more would have been bad...'
Stuck with a bunch of thoughts, Aranea enjoyed the rest of her meal in silence.
It wasn't much compared to the food from a few years ago but it was certainly better than the food in the last 3 years.
She didn't get why all these teens were complaining so much.
"Aranea, can I sit here?" Strands of crimson hair entered Aranea's field of view.
Savana came.
Without looking at her, "Do you need my permission to sit in a seat?"
"Ah... Thank you then."
Sitting opposite Aranea, Savana awkwardly dug into her food, searching for the right words to say.
"Say-"
Interlocking her fingers, "-did you do that on purpose?"
Aranea tilted her head slightly, "What on purpose?"
Gritting her teeth, Savana's fingers tightened.
"Try to kill Charles."
The canteen went silent.
Everyone listened in carefully; including Charles' two unnamed lackeys.
"Oh, that thing?"
Placing a finger on the side of her lip, "Hm, I don't think so? It was an accident I guess you could say?"
Looking into those swirling eyes it was impossible to pick up any emotion from them.
"Okay then." Cautiously finishing off her food, Savana couldn't find another way to carefully get to the root of her questions.
They weren't close enough.
Pushing off the chair, Savana said farewell to Aranea, placed the dirty tray on a pile, and made her way to the exit.
Aranea watched her back as the girl left.
Even though she couldn't see her face.
She could feel it.
Her unique personality. It was waking up.
[She's telling the truth.]
Dark flames flashed within Savana's scarlet eyes.
[Interesting...]
A hint of madness brewed beneath their veil.
[But it's not enough.]
And her face gradually grew a wide...
[I need to know more.]
...wide smile.
---
Crunch-
Taking a deep breath, Aranea stuffed the majority of the goods back into the hidden compartment of her suitcase.
It was time to leave.
Today was September the 9th.
All 9 remaining Squadrons were being sent to a separate Abyssal Frontline, they were being sent to the ones with relatively weaker Corrupteds, Corrupteds had different Ranks and names. They wouldn't send a bunch of fresh arrivals into the worst battlefields to be slaughtered.
But first, they were going to send them to base camp.
They were also taking a separate route for that.
This was also where the First Act would seriously start, at least for the 1st Squadron; the 2nd Squadron would have a slightly different experience...
If these past 7 days were a comfortable camping site, the next few weeks would be a snakepit drowning with venomous reptiles.
Haha-
Drowning.
Get it?
Aranea chuckled at herself.
Click.
Silvia exited the washroom.
"Ready to leave?"
"Do I not look ready?"
"...I'll take that as a yes."
Silvia picked up her luggage and attached her sheathed sword to her waist; better safe than sorry.
Carrying it around was a habit.
"Silvia, have you received any information on who our two other members are?"
Glancing at Aranea from the side of her vision, Silvia shrugged, "Nah, they should be pretty good to be joining our Squadron though."
Aranea nodded.
"Those things will be decent at the very least."
Silvia frowned but didn't bother correcting Aranea this time around, no matter how many times Aranea said she'd correct herself, she wouldn't.
"Let's go."
Silvia left the door open behind her; dragging her luggage out of the room.
It was a short stay in these dorms, a bittersweet one if you knew what was about to occur soon enough...
Releasing a tendril of Mana to pick up her suitcase, Aranea followed her out.
Their walk was silent.
Getting to the stairs, Silvia walked down and Aranea walked up.
Neither spoke a word to each other.
Click-
Opening the door to the rooftop, Aranea walked up to the railing once again.
Flutter...
Her hair waved onwards again; it pulled at her scalp lightly, begging to reach out at the Abyss.
Raising her hand, ash dropped on her fingers, staining her unblemished, soft skin.
Aranea smiled and looked at the film of Mana invisibly coating her body at all times.
"It won't be long, don't worry."
Raising her leg-
Step.
-she planted her foot on the railing.
Lifting her other foot, Aranea balanced herself on the railing.
The view was dull; unpleasant.
But mesmerising.
Gazing down at the small crowd of people walking to the open field, Aranea found Savana's eyes glancing at her.
Smiling back at her slightly, Aranea stepped off.
Fluttering down the railing, her hair spread open; the strands of black and white hair blended with the dark, ashy clouds.
Clouds of Mana lowered her down the air, gently carrying her along.
Approaching the ground.
Tap-
She gracefully landed.
Following the back of the pack, Aranea glanced at her hand-
Smush~
She tried clenching her fist.
It was like a baby's touch.
There was no strength to it.
The danger level was about to skyrocket to many times higher than that of her last 11 years.
Aranea just prayed her preparations were good enough.
-----
The Squadrons split before any farewells between friends could be made.
Each route was separate but the main goal for the first stretch was the camps of the frontlines. While they were called 'camps' it was closer to a small city of buildings, departments and military equipment.
It was from there that they would be thrown into their battlefield.
Squadron 1's route to base camp was directly through the mountains.
The most dangerous path there is.
A warm flame whisked around the trio; barring entry for any stray droplets of snow falling onto them.
The wind iced them as it exploded down the sides of the mountain, the funnels running through the valleys of the dark, snowy mountain range brought with it violent gusts of wind.
Each droplet of snow was a mixture of ash and snow.
They walked through a sketchy, jagged, narrow mountain road.
Occasionally they would spot old campfires and remnants of old soldiers who had left their trash behind.
Aranea was on luggage duty, her Mana strung together their baggage and brought it along.
Shockingly enough, her clothing was still the same military uniform; it had no heat conduction.
Savana and Aranea, who both wore fluffy furs around their necks, hands, heads and feet, asked her about her questionable choice but lost their concern after finding out about her specially created Skill used to combat the cold and heat.
Although Savana knew Fire Magic, she left the task of warming them up to Aranea who had much better Mana control than her.
Crunch-
Their footsteps echoed around the pathway with every step into the deep snow; the mountain wall to their right reached far beyond the clouds, and the outcrops of rocks on its side were worrisome but not a real source of danger.
The only thing Aranea had to pay attention to currently was using small surges of her Agility to maintain pace with the others.
Her decaying body wasn't the same as before.
Originally
Agility just helped her move even faster back then.
But that all changed now.
If only it remained so simple.
Aranea's body could no longer move without the aid of her enhanced Agility.
Here's how her Status Screen worked.
Every Status Point placed into a Stat would be added on top of the original Stat. Meaning she could make use of both her original Stats, her original body, or the one enhanced by her Status Screen.
So now she couldn't use her original body anymore.
Not in the way she used to.
If she tried to move normally without her enhanced Agility and using her comically low Endurance with just
Game over.
While
Aranea had experimented with a different method to cover the rest of the damage.
And even with the damage being covered-
'What a shit show.'
Long story short.
was too much for
Aranea couldn't move using her original Agility anymore.
And even when using her enhanced Agility-
Basically, Aranea was a couch potato.
"This place is good." Silvia pointed out a small cave embedded into the mountainside, even the path had a small roof over it around that location.
"Let's go then." Savana didn't mind it, anything was better than sleeping in the open.
Aranea left her comments to herself.
'...still the same route as the game.'
What happens next would be the first bit of development for Silvia's character.
While Silvia had plenty of combat experience against a plethora of creatures and some non-lethal fights against Humans...
She had never killed someone.
The girl didn't have true experience; it was still a facade.
Entering the small cave, the sharp winds mostly died off. It was still freezing cold but it didn't feel as painful now that the wind wasn't slicing into their skin.
Dropping the luggage to the side, Aranea rested her back on the soft cushioning of their bags.
She left the job of setting up the campfire for her teammates.
Carrying over the kindling they prepared for the journey from her baggage, Silvia tossed it to Savana.
Grabbing onto the logs and sticks, Savana promptly set up their campfire with a small stove on top.
She lit it using her Fire Magic.
Silvia wasn't the best cook so the job fell to Savana.
Aranea used the excuse, 'I carried the luggage' to get away from doing these mind-numbing tasks.
She had already done them plenty before anyway, so it was good to give them the experience.
-
Slurping some vegetable soup, Aranea once again approved of Savana's cooking. The girl was more skilled than she thought.
While the game did say she was a skilled cook, it didn't help much with understanding just how good she was when that was the entire description.
-
It was the dead of the night.
A tarp covered the entrance of the cave to block any smells, light or wind from entering and exiting.
And Aranea-
Aranea didn't place a Mana Barrier.
The girls didn't ask her to place one either, they either forgot to do so or it never even crossed their mind.
Aranea said nothing about it either.
Her eyes remained on that tarp the entire time.
As they set up their temporary bedding.
As they fueled the campfire for the night.
As they held small talk with each other.
She looked at the tarp throughout it all.
If they noticed, then good.
Otherwise, if they didn't realise their error, they were in for a grim reminder...