Chapter 7: Interface Changes

After Jay said that to Sarah, she set out to stare him in the eye, and even though she was giving him the most scary look that he had ever seen, Jay did not back down, thus starting a little staring contest to see who had the strongest determination!

However, the contest only lasted a for a short while because Sarah avoided Jay's gaze soon after it began.

"...Haaaaaa."

Seeing Jay's stubbornness, Sarah had no choice but to bitterly accept his decision, as she knew that she wouldn't be able to say anything else that would change his mind.

"Okay, if you are determined to do this, fine, I won't insist, but you have to at least tell me what your plan is." Said Sarah in a serious tone as she sat down again, somewhat annoyed.

"Well..."

'Obviously I can't tell you that I have a system which give me parasites capable of infecting any super... wait, I sound totally like a villain!'

But before he could think about it anymore, Sarah's terrifying look brought him back to reality, he had to give her an answer, and what he chose to tell her was...

"It's a secret!"

"...I'm going to hit you, and hard..." Threatened Sarah as she lifted one of the couches in the living room with her wand and made it float right above Jay.

"Wait! Wait! Don't let it down! It's a secret, really!" Jay shouted as he covered his head and tried to appease his dangerous mage friend, "I'm begging you, please trust me, everything will be fine!"

"...You're not involved in anything dangerous, are you?"

Seeing that Sarah's gaze had turned to a suspicious look, Jay had no choice but to tell her something to calm her.

"Sarah, I understand that you think it's crazy for me to take the entrance exam, and I also understand that you have your suspicions when I don't want to tell you my plan, but I beg you to trust me, I swear that I will tell you everything in due time..." Jay said with all the sincerity he had, "Also...could you please put the couch in it's original place...?" he added with a pained expression.

While Jay was talking, Sarah had been slowly lowering the couch, to the point where it was practically a hat to Jay.

"...you better."

After that, Sarah stood up and waved her wand, causing the couch that was on top of Jay to return to its original position, then she started walking towards the backyard.

"You're leaving now?"

"Yes, seeing that you don't want to tell me anything." Sarah replied without turning around.

It seems that she was still a little upset.

Although she always had a positive and carefree attitude, the fact that Jay didn't trust her had annoyed her.

"Why don't you stay and help me with my exercises?"

"I don't want to-"

Without giving her time to finish her sentence, Jay interrupted her, "You could use me as a target for your spells~!"

Sarah stopped instantly before turning to Jay and asking excitedly, "Really?!"

'Ahh, this will hurt...but at least I'll be able to exercise more easily with her spells...especially the cleansing one, it's a real wonder, plus, I'm sure this will improve her mood even a bit.' He thought.

"Of course, but you'll have to help me with my exercises."

"No problem~!" Replied Sarah visibly more animated than before as she gave Jay a thumbs up pose.

'There are still 9 days to go and collect the little ones in Carl's body...as for the exam...there are 2 months left, although it's not soon...I'd better train as much as I can...'

"Then...let's go to the backyard!"

That way, Jay's first intensive magic training had begun.

***

9 days passed quickly, and after Jay's intensive training, he had managed to raise his statistics much faster than expected, however, he had been worked to death.

"...haaa...haaa..."

In the same backyard where he had been exercising his body intensely for the past days, Jay was lying face up on the ground, only wearing a pair of sweatpants with nothing on top because he felt more comfortable that way.

His muscles that were barely visible before were now more pronounced, which made him look a little bit more attractive.

"...I...totally wore myself out...I won't be able to get up for a few hours but...hehehe...it was...totally worth it..." Said Sarah from the ground with a silly smile on her face before falling asleep due to tiredness.

In fact, she was almost in the same state as Jay, if not worse, although she wasn't phisically tired, she had exhausted all her magical power, which was something that hadn't happened in a long time, after all, Sarah had always been very careful about her mana reserve.

However, as Jay had told her that today would be the last day he would be her walking target until further notice, she had decided to make the most of this last training session, a waling target who was willing to receive spells was rare after all!

And although the half-naked young man and the beauty lying on the backyard attracted attention, what stood out most of all was the state of the backyard.

There were parts of the backyard where there were small cracks, others where there was a lack of grass and there was even a crater with a rock inside in one of the corners...

"...Well, I think it's time for me to go pick up my little ones..." Said Jay getting up from the ground with a somewhat tired but happy expression, "...wow, we really made a mess here huh...", he couldn't help but regret it a little since the one who would have to clean it all up would probably be him.

"Oh well, never mind, I'll do it later...first I have to pick her up~"

After saying that, he took her in his arms princess style and carried her inside the house, for some reason, despite being asleep she let out a small giggle as she was carried to the guest room to rest.

"Heh, I guess you're really happy that you were able to use your spells without restrictions eh~"

After climbing the stairs and arriving at the guest room, he gently put Sarah on top of the bed, seeing her sleeping face, Jay felt a little bad about hiding something as important as the fact that he had awakened as an esper from her, making her worry about him.

They had been friends since the first grade in high school, including James, and the three of them knew quite a bit about each other.

Jay even knew what branch of magic Sarah belonged to and also what kind of martial arts James practiced, although he didn't know because he had researched or something, but because they had told him.

While it might seem unimportant, that showed how much they trusted in each other, after all, it was like telling the other person what your strengths and weaknesses were.

But there was an important point to make here, James had only told them what kind of martial arts he practiced, not what fighting techniques he knew or had learned, which was totally understandable, so Jay didn't feel so bad about not telling James.

However, with Sarah it was totally different, even though a mage's spells are something very intimate to every magician, these past days she had shown him what kinds of spells she used, which ones she excelled in and which ones she wasn't as good at, something even James didn't know, and even though he hadn't told her about his "plan", she still had showed him her spells...

There was the possibility that she had done this only because the entrance exam was close and she absolutely needed to test them, but knowing her, Jay was sure that she did it for another reason.

To show him how much she trusted him...and for that reason, he felt bad.

"...I promise I'll tell you everything when I get back...so wait for me a little bit..." Jay said as he watched her sleep before leaving the room.

A few seconds after Jay left, Sarah slowly opened her eyes and whispered with a small smile, "...you better...", and then she went back to sleep.

***

"Hmm, it'll take me about 20 minutes to get to Carl's house...as for the reason of my visit, I'll make something up on the way~" said Jay putting on his jacket and rushing out of the house, in the direction of Carl's house. "I'm really intrigued to know what happened to my little ones..."

The reason he was in a hurry was partly because of the excitement of finding out what his parasites had accomplished, but on the other hand, he was intrigued by what the system interface was showing him.

_____________

[Carl Davis]

Skill: Wind Control (D) (Assimilated)

Condition: Fatigued, Weakened.

Parasites: 1 (Unstable)

Assimilation status: 100% (1% per day per parasite)

_____________

Even though the assimilation was over, for some reason, of the 10 parasites that had originally been in Carl, only 1 remained, and on top of that it said that it was in an unstable state, without overlooking Carl's fatigued and weakened state, of course.

Because of all of the above, Jay was really interested in going to Carl's house.

In fact, when he woke up and saw that Carl's interface had changed, at that moment he wanted to run out to meet him, however, he was caught by a certain magician who forced him to exercise and be the target of some of her spells, making him have to temporarily postpone the visit.

But now that he was free...

"...It's time for a little visit~!"