Weapons of Mass Destruction

Even though I don't have time for a full lesson, I make sure to visit the guest who’s taken up residence in my mental space.

This time I find Whitey seated in a well-kept garden, surrounded by towering, elegant bonsai-like trees. Nearby, cherry trees scatter their pink petals. In the distance, the bamboo thing fills with water before emptying itself with a rhythmic thunk as its base collides with the stone beneath it.

The scream of cicadas even serves to round out our exceptionally cliché environment.

Additionally, Whitey’s dressed in a white and black kimono. And even these clothes seem to fit him very well, as always.

"Are you having fun going through my memories?" I ask, sitting next to him, wondering exactly what anime, movie or show he got it from.

"At least as much as you are going through mine. By the way, that human girl, I like her."

"Tacita?"

"Yes. She moves very well, and even though her technique is lacking, her instincts balance things out favorably. Back then you would have lost against her with kinetic energy alone, you know."

"Bullshit. So why don't you point out what I did wrong."

Whitey, always excited to put down my abilities and make fun of me, reaches into his pocket, pulling out a smartphone, and brings up a video of the fight from my point of view.

"First, she is, in fact, using some sort of 'field' as you refer to it, but until she deploys it over a wider area, there still should be signs of movement. Look here and..."

A few minutes later, I open my eyes and nod at Lily, who’s been keeping watch over me, and she nods back, unable to say anything as she continues to stuff her mouth with some sort of dried fruit.

"Noname, I was asking the others, but how many Stay Tokens do you have?" Leticia asks, taking notice of my freshly opened eyes.

"I could stay longer than the others if I wanted, but we’ll see. We just started the 7th floor, so I'm still curious about that. So I’ll probably only stick around the next 3-5 days, same as them, and just hope we reach the second safe zone."

"Seventh floor is pretty good! Luna, I, and the rest of our group are still on the 6th! I think Jean and Lucien are still on the 6th as well."

The aforementioned CarrotCake doesn't seem to be disappointed, and in fact, chooses to clarify. "There are a lot of fun opponents to fight. Plus there is nothing I can do about the Floor Quest, so the others have to deal with it."

Lucien, the annoying little twerp, also seizes the opportunity to speak up. "Jean just likes to punch people. And that’s not going to help him get out of the Astral Prison."

"That's true," Jean doesn't have a problem acknowledging that and grabs the back of Lucien's neck, shaking him. "That's why I have you and the others, right?"

"Fucking brute, let me go!"

That causes Jean to shake him even more.

Leticia turns to Gareth. "And you?"

"We are on the 6th but might be able to clear it soon. I would love to tell you more, Leticia, but I worry the system would only censor it."

I don't say it out loud but I bet Gary here is busy performing countless human sacrifices to free the eye and to escape the floor or something. He might’ve even joined the Mind Mages willingly or started bringing deathtraps full of people into the Mana Desert to feed to the thylarin Champion and his bond.

"Noname," Lucien calls out to me, seemingly from nowhere, once Jean finally lets go.

"What?"

"Did you meet Lissandra Hawthorne back on the 2nd floor?"

My state of disinterest up til now vanishes, and I give the boy my full attention.

That seems to be exactly what he wanted, as a smirk tugs at his lips. "I've met her too, and I had a feeling you had as well. The way you move your mana feels distinctly similar to hers."

His voice dies off a bit and his hand trembles for a moment. Something most probably wouldn’t have noticed, but I sense it nonetheless. His left eyelid twitches, and his toe shifts nervously inside his boot.

"You don't look like someone with much interest in mana," I note.

He shakes his head but stays silent, clearly trying to get under my skin. "I’m curious - how did you manage to draw her out? Until now, I haven’t met a single person who’s encountered her face to face."

"What? Was she some kind of rare native?" Leticia asks curiously, sliding closer to the boy and prodding him to answer.

"Apparently," Jean waves it off. "She took a liking to one of Lucien's skills and made him do some tests for a day or two before throwing him away."

"You dumb brute. Do you not know when to keep your mouth shut!" Lucien says moving away from Leticia to start pounding on Jean's shoulder, who doesn't even seem to notice.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

I squint my eyes and observe the boy with more attention. For The Cockroach to take interest in his skill, it must really be something else. Like really something else. It might be part of the reason he passed Beyond trials. Is there anything else?

Also, for him to recognize the similarities in our use of mana even at this distance is weird. There’s barely any connection.

Lucien notices me looking at him and his frustrated expression disappears, and he smirks again, probably knowing what’s going through my head and the frustration I feel for not knowing the answer.

"You will fail, do you know that Noname?" he says leaning back, arms crossed over his chest. "You will never be like her, no matter how much you imitate her techniques. You will never be as strong as her."

That confuses me but I stay quiet, and while we all stand up, preparing to move again, I think.

Why would I be doing all this, only to become as strong as she was?

Before we finally reach the safe zone I have an opportunity to watch Sophie use Golem Heart, the damaged arcane item I left with her long ago.

She’s already made her own modifications, and even though she hasn’t used the grains of white sand I left with her on the 7th floor, it’s still stronger than it was before.

Now, if she wants to improve her control she can infuse her bond into the creation, such that when the earth rises up her shadow connects to it, making the golem faster and more reactive while Sophie works to keep the frame of the golem strong, changing it according to the situation.

It can be humanoid, it can crumble down, and deep within that mass, a smaller wolf-like figure acts as a skeleton making it seem more alive. But most of all she uses it to protect herself while she does her own thing. There are even still two lurkers under her control fighting in her stead.

There are weaknesses I'm sure she knows about but there are strengths as well.

As far as I know, she still hasn’t fully tested the limits of her ability. Just how many lurkers can she control and imprint with her [Geas]?

Another thing that interests me is Gareth and his silver crown. I remember seeing it back during the tournament all those months ago, yet I still have no idea what crown it is, much less what that damned silver light around him could be. But his abilities are undeniable, I know he doesn't have to "tank" and that he can move much faster, yet he doesn't do it.

So we fight one more time and reach the safe zone.

Simple as that.

There are no more crazy strong lurkers standing in our way and now we’re just a few steps away from the safe zone.

There aren’t any random guild of thugs sniffing around to get our equipment either.

Just like that, we reach the place, and I have to wonder if I really had an authentic experience with my previous expeditions or if we just got lucky or our party was just too strong this time.

The safe zone we find ourselves in is simple.

An island on an enormous lake full of dark water, too murky to see past the surface. Despite that, something does seem to be swimming beneath the waters, and when Sophie makes her lurkers move closer, the surface ripples, and whatever it is pulls the lurkers down below.

We had already heard about it from Leticia, given that she and the others had already made it to this safe zone, so it should be safe - but still, let them move in first. They also mentioned something about fish or fishing, but I’m not sure how that connects to anything.

Leticia takes a step onto the surface of the dark, almost black lake, and stands on the surface of the water, ripples of blue light pooling under her feet. Jean takes a step as well and confidently continues to walk, his ripples much bigger, reflecting his weight.

It’s not them using an ability that makes it possible, but rather one of the lake’s properties.

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch movement - a slim figure darting across the surface like one of those crazy lizards back on Earth that run on water. The lake is massive, and the island lies far off in the distance, yet Tacita crosses it swiftly.

Something in me wonders if she could pull it off just as easily even without the strange effect that allows the rest of us to cross.

I let my eyes activate and take a step, watching the ripples of water, mana, and moving mana signatures under the surface. No monsters attack us, and despite the fact that we’ve been walking for a few minutes, no lurkers try to approach. The contrast with the situation, even a few moments earlier, is striking. And it’s taking us a while to get used to not constantly feeling lurkers prowling just out of sight.

"Given the number of attendees and the first floor’s size, there’s quite a few safe zones. This one is called Lake City," Leticia starts explaining.

"That's very original. It also seems too small to be called a city."

"I know, Sset," Leticia flashes her a smile. "There are fewer people inside than you might expect, probably a few dozen at most. Though sometimes that number rises to just over a hundred. It changes according to 'season,' and more natives and attendees come to this safe zone when it's time to 'fish.'"

Tess asks, "How do natives get here and what are they fishing for?"

"Once or twice a year they pay a lot of shards to the top 100 guilds who send them a few B or A ranks who help them fish and to get here safely. They even share part of the catch."

"Are you going to tease me longer?"

"Hehe, it is fun, Sset." Leticia ignores Luna who quietly bumps her leg. "They’re hunting for a fish that eats mana. These fish also tend to eat weapons and items from the lurkers who get pulled into the lake, but more importantly, when they eat mana it crystallizes inside of that fish's belly and makes mana stones favored by the larger guilds!"

"Is the fish tasty?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know, Jean."

"I understand."

"By the way, Sset, are you guys planning to join any guilds? Luna and I are still on the fence, and we’ve got a few offers, but we might also be waiting a bit longer for a better one. Apparently, the better guilds don't tend to bother with newbies until they’ve made it to the second floor. It’s pretty rare for them to take an interest in anyone from the first."

"We’re going to wait and see as well. Is there any reason to? Noname told me a few things, but he only had one source so I want confirmation from someone else. I remember something about longer stay tokens, better prices, and salaries."

"Well, that's mostly it," Leticia giggles. "Top 10 guilds can double the duration of your stay tokens and top 3 can probably triple it? But don't quote me on that. Then there’s the salary, you can join Beyond events as a guild member, better prices in certain shops, you can also find new party members and get information on the floors which can help you a lot, and they usually keep things restricted to guild members only. Bonuses, salary, items. And occasionally they run expeditions to the surface as well."

"Thanks for telling me, Leticia."

"No problem, Sset! I’m sure you’d do the same for me. And no matter how grumpy Luna can get, she’d share too, right?"

Luna stays quiet, glancing away without denying it. Then lets out a bark as Leticia tugs on her tail, which only makes the young woman smile even more.