Chapter 1039 1038: Another Step Up The Mountain

Chapter 1039 Chapter 1038: Another Step Up The Mountain

After the two Fiends went ahead and had their fun at my expense, the rest of the dinner we had was rather tense and not as flavorful as before, mainly because I had three separate gazes on me that were clearly somewhat judgmental and worried, which only made me feel slightly angry at myself for what I had planned to do.

Judging how strong the general combatants at an arena should't have been that difficult, and after I got their measure I wanted to make some bets that tapped into the sphere of Lust so that I could begin using this power I had on something besides training and honing my control over it.

I wanted to not only harvest more of it, but also to make use of it and benefit from how easily people seem to lose themselves to it when they come into contact with it; it muddled the senses and addled the mind enough that I thought I could swindle some people out of almost everything they owned in a fight that was never fair from the start.

I wanted to use my powers to make a quick buck that would benefit us all, but of course that close minded and tunnel visioned focus that I had wasn't shared amongst my lovers, and for valid reasons; who would want to risk their lover making a fool of herself and betting something to someone who didn't deserve it?

Especially without the knowledge that it was happening, and not knowing at all whether or not something had happened to her that would most certainly influence your opinion of her in certain ways.

It was an obvious thing that I saw clearly now, but to my prior self who was brimming with overconfidence and an assuredness that I could not only control my powers, but also somehow negotiate a deal between myself and someone who negotiates for a living on top of actually winning in a battle against someone I didn't know..?

Somehow the idea of losing just never crossed my mind, but I guess that's just arrogance and pride taking root and blossoming, so of course there wasn't anything that I had thought of that would go wrong; they were concealed behind the hideous fruits that my arrogance and pride bore.

I... even now I still thought I could make use of my powers to squeeze out even more from these people that I had never met, and I was determined to at least bring it up again and get Jahi's opinion on it together, but until then I just remained quiet and finished eating, taking care of my appetite and doing my best to not invite anymore suspicion or doubt onto myself.

By the time that dinner had concluded, Cali had disappeared once more while Sla'Salaxi followed behind the Sultana and Lady Kio, despite the Dogkin making it rather clear that she didn't want anything to do with the Fiend and that she was very clearly about to lunge at her and attack her, though the soothing from the Sultana helped somewhat.

She was still baring her fangs at the pink skinned Dogkin though, and I had a feeling that come tomorrow morning, there was going to be an interesting development there in some capacity or another, but just thinking about it made me feel a bit odd so I instead focused on myself.

A voice I hadn't heard in awhile either suddenly popped into my head, and I had to stop myself from jumping as I realized that my System had just made itself known after Goddess knows how long, something that funneled even more guilt into my heart as I bit my lip.

[Ah, don't feel bad; after who knows how long in that void drifting around and waiting to be of use, simply being here, with you, is more than enough for me. You don't realize just how lucky your mortals are with all of this stuff happening constantly, even when you think that you are bored.

Besides... I think you said it first, and I will have to agree with you, Katherine; you aren't really that in need of a System compared to what all three of us believed. Everyone always wants one when given the choice - and you certainly didn't turn me down when we first met - but like we had come to agree upon, we have a rather... mutual and quiet relationship, don't we?]

I smiled sadly at that as I nodded, though that only made the voice sigh as they said [Don't feel bad, seriously. It makes me feel bad for keeping quiet this entire time. You're far more adept at handling yourself than our Lady had thought, and besides, if you ever actually required help I was always here to give it, even if you don't realize it.]

'You say that, but still... when was the last time I even checked my status..? When was the last time I even bothered to acknowledge your existence? Of course I would feel terrible! Who wouldn't?!'

[Eh, really, it doesn't bother me that much; besides, we've both seen how well you can do without direct help from me, and honestly? When you aren't worried about what you feel like you need to do, when you aren't crunching numbers and calculating how much more of this you need to do to get that... you are capable of more that way. That's why I haven't really popped on by. Though this mini pity parade forced my hand, so to speak.]

'Pity parade? I just was thinking that I haven't really kept up with something that was beneficial for me mentally and was something that showed respect to someone I deemed is owed that respect. That's all.'

[Yeah... sure... are you forgetting that I am a part of you, Katherine? Lying to yourself... if I had a head, I would be shaking it.]

Snorting, I rolled my eyes and dryly thought 'Funny. That can't have been the only reason you popped on by, right? Like you said, we have a rather mutually beneficial relationship, yes, and a large part of that relationship is your role and how I make use of it...'

[That is a severe oversimplification that borders on being somewhat disrespectful but sure, let's go with that. No, I don't have anything really important to say to you besides congratulations on leveling up... quite a few times...]