Chapter 40 - Gummy

"Gem!!!" I heard Fily shouting from the stairs so I went to check on her.

"Don't rush! She's asleep!" I shouted back at her after seeing her breathless, probably from running too fast despite her weak stamina.

I looked back at Petunia who was still sleeping soundly on her purple cloud.

She looked so majestic yet there's something unsettling about her… Something I could not explain.

Maybe it's just my gut feeling but what she did earlier just made me even more suspicious of her.

She said that she used to be human but she didn't say how she became a cat.

And the way she wanted to get my gemstone earlier.... it reminded me of someone.

Someone who can shapeshift and was obsessed with collecting gemstones.

I hope she isn't what I'm thinking she is.

There's no way Venedette would recruit her if she was our enemy. Let alone Venedette would never be on good terms with her.

And if ever she really is Yumeki, our enemy, I'm confident that Venedette would be the first one to notice it. Not me.

Sigh, this incident just gave me more things to think about.

I have the training, the problem with my gemstone's powers, the locked books, and even that level zero skill. Plus Von and Lei wouldn't quit being headaches. Just how important do they think they are to not accept Venedette's invitation to her guild?

He is the prince for god's sake!

Ah, I should not think about them too much.

I came here to relax and have a clear mind with the cold breeze and the nice view but all I could think about was the problems that I needed to solve and how I should solve them.

I should have a preventive measure for this cat if she ever wakes up and tries to do the same stunts at me again.

Actually, I should just let Fily decide on that.

After a few minutes, Fily arrived on the top of the tower gasping for air as she held onto her knees for support.

"Hey." I gave her a handkerchief to wipe her sweat, even helped her wipe those on her forehead… which seemed unnecessary since the cold air from up here quickly dried her body of sweat.

"She's so fast," Fily said in between her breaths, pertaining to the cat who was asleep on the floor.

"Wait, did you two race?" I tried to make a joke to lighten up the situation a little bit after being overwhelmed with the situation.

"No." Of course, she quickly denied with a laugh.

Her limited physical strength and Petunia's floating cloud was enough disadvantage for her to never agree on a race like this.

Fily went to Petunia and inspected her thoroughly.

"I don't know what happened," I said, pertaining to Petunia suddenly falling asleep.

"It worked." I heard Fily mumble so I went closer to listen to her explanation.

"What worked?" I raised my brows at her and she responded with a thumbs up.

"I made her drink a sleeping potion." She winked at me.

"That easy?" I had doubts.

"How could she drink a sleeping potion from you? She's an alchemist you know, her senses are as keen as a knife." I added.

"I practiced my new skill on her. Hijack." She showed me a new skill on her status.

"What does it do?"

"I made her think it was water." She laughed.

"But why? What did she do for you to make her drink a sleeping potion?" Things are starting to make sense. I just need more pieces of the puzzle to complete the picture.

"My words got out of control," she started, "We were battling on which one of us was more intelligent than the other, and I managed to piss her off. I just wanted to learn the formulas for her new potions but she wouldn't show me saying that it was missing an ingredient. At first, I didn't know what it was but after pissing her off, I realized that she was talking about the Energy slimes inside your gemstone. I made her drink the water in exchange for telling her your location but I did not imagine she would try to take it from you by force!" She said defensively which almost made me spank her if only I was not able to control myself.

"I thought she was Yumeki," I confessed the horror that I was feeling earlier.

If Fily did not tell me everything, I would have thrown this poor cat to the floor with no mercy.

I was so convinced that she was Yumeki!

But what Fily said gave justice to Petunia's action earlier.

"I'm sorry." Fily went to hug me and then we talked more about the topic that we were supposed to talk about today.

"There was a flight potion!?" I exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yes! Think about it!"

Should I believe her?

But then again, superhumans were created by potions of resistance, super strength, super speed, and super sense.

It made sense that flight was also a result of one of these potions.

"But why are they saying that only royals could have flight?"

"Because as of the moment, Flight potions were already unavailable, and even if there was, it'll be too expensive for the masses to buy!"

"I see," I said and looked at Petunia who was still asleep on her cloud which was on the floor.

"Do you know the ingredients of the flight potion?" I asked Fily but she shook her head.

"I don't. But maybe she does. She's a top alchemist after all." Fily also looked at Petunia.

The sun was setting and the air was getting colder so Fily and I decided to go down already but I didn't want to carry Petunia or even her cloud with Fily.

"What do we do with her?" I asked Fily who was already brainstorming for a solution.

"Either one of us needs to ask for help downstairs." She shrugged her shoulders knowing I'll disagree with it.

"What if," I started, "we both go down to ask for help," I smirked after thinking of that brilliant idea but Fily did not like it.

"We'll leave her here?"

"Yes."

"But what if something happens to her?"

"It's okay," I said with a smile which gained a punch on the shoulders from Fily.

"She's a cat. Don't you think she's feeling cold?" Fily sympathized with her which made me look at her with an ugly expression.

I still don't like Petunia. She could've just asked me for the Energy slimes even if I don't know how to take them out.

One of the skills that I have here from the Salamandite is Liquity which is a skill that lets me get something in and out of the gemstone. But unfortunately, I don't know how to use it since it's not even a level 1 skill.

How could I upgrade something that I could not even use or practice?

It's like asking me to do what's impossible!

"Let's just wait for her to wake up."

"No!" I quickly shook my head, totally not in favor of what she was suggesting.

I'm so annoyed just by thinking about my Level zero skill.

"Why?? If my calculations are correct she should wake up any minute now." Fily said while walking closer to Petunia, trying to use her gummy as a blanket for her but was quickly distracted by it.

"This is so cool." Fily giggled after playing with the gum. She didn't even mind destroying and shifting its shape.

"What…" I heard Petunia say after trying to escape the drowsiness.

"You're awake! See she's already awake." Fily went to me but I avoided her hands full of gum.

"You imbecile!!" Petunia shouted after seeing her gum splattered all over the floor and walls.

"Sorry." Fily smiled at her but Petunia was already so pissed that I even had to step up to prevent the both of them from fighting.

"You can just fix it again like what you did earlier," I told Petunia since Fily looked like she was ready for another fight with that fake smile of hers.

I saw Petunia's cloud being able to fix itself earlier so I'm sure she could just do it again.

"Tsk." Petunia looked away from us with teary eyes and started swirling her hands in the air.

The gums were able to follow her command and met with each other in mid-air. Even the ones in Fily's hands were quickly detached from her to join the purple cloud that lost its dark purple transparency and was now replaced with a grayish purple color instead.

Petunia rode her flying cloud once more and slowly went ahead of us downstairs, looking gloomy and depressed and all that.

Was it because her gummy lost its transparency?

"Look what you did." I blamed Fily for it but she just scratched the back of her head.

"I didn't mean it…" She bargained but Petunia was not listening anymore.

Now I kind of feel bad for her.