Chapter 140: Selling the corgi

Chapter 140: Selling the corgi

"What are you even—" Hadwin pauses, sighing as he looks up at me.

What? Why is everyone sighing so much around me?

"You are ruining this corgi," he says, stepping closer. I notice he is holding a nicely crafted shield, and I can even feel some mana emanating from it.

I'm not ruining Biscuit! He was ruined from the start. I mean perfect. He was perfect from the start. Moreover, I have to do things like this once in a while. It continues to make me feel better, even though it might seem silly.

But now, "Show me your shield," I gesture to Hadwin. The man, not even surprised at this point, hands me the shield.

Reflective Shield (Uncommon):A shield that creates a weak shimmering barrier and reflects a portion of incoming attacks back at the enemy. It strengthens with each reflected assault but requires mana.

Oh ho, isn't that interesting?

"You can't have it," I hear somewhere in the background. I decide to ignore it, already sending my mana into the shield to observe it.

The moment my mana enters, it gets sucked inside, moving through thin, circuit-like paths into what I think is a mana stone. Then, inside the stone, something happens and mana is sent outside again, this time with some reflective properties. Terribly weak, but surely interesting.

"You can play with Biscuit three times if you give me the shield," I say without thinking.

"The heck, I don't want..."

"Five times," I quickly add. When I hear Biscuit woof at me, I look up and finally remember that it's not Isabella I'm talking to.

Oh, awkward... But that makes it better, "I'll be taking it for a few hours," I say, and boost my body to launch myself around the room, "Go and talk with Tess. You guys can take care of everything."

Huhuh, good job Haddy! You can cook, you bring me nice shiny new stuff, you will deal with people instead of me. I'll make sure to pay you back somehow!

But now, let's examine the shield. After seeing Tess keeping a watch, I lift my eyebrows in a question, and I swear she sighed before nodding, indicating that she'll be on lookout.

So, I combine both parts of my [Focus] through its new upgrade and send my mana into the shield.

I broke the shield.

Hadwin is asking for the shield from down the street, so I tell him I need more time to examine it.

After a few more fights with monsters that I do not join, Hadwin is asking for the shield again.

Now I start panicking.

What the heck! How the hell is the shield so weak? I only sent a minuscule amount of mana inside it. It's uncommon; it should be better! Maybe it was broken even before I touched it? Could I say that to Hadwin?

Okay, okay, let's focus.

Once again, I send my senses through the shield and this time, look at the circuits that are hidden under the surface of the shield, leading from the handle towards the mana stone that is safely imbued inside the thickest part of the shield.

This one seems fine. This one is good. Why is this one so oddly shaped? This one isn't leading anywhere? What the heck does it do?Ñ00v€l--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

Oh, this one is slightly burned. Now then, I consolidate my [Focus] and [Oscillation] and activate them as I carefully send the tiniest thread of oscillation mana through the destroyed part, then reach towards it with [Mana Manipulation].

"Sorry, I thought you broke it and yet you were trying to upgrade it for me. I apologize for suspecting you."

"It's fine," hehe. I quickly look around, trying to detect little Isabella and, as I thought, she is nearby. Her eyes are wide and focused on me. Her expression clearly says that she knows as she reads my feelings.

Dang it.

I lift my hand, showing one straightened finger. She shakes her head silently and lifts her hand showing three straightened fingers. Then after exchanging a silent glance, we both lift hands showing two fingers and she smiles.

I'm sorry Biscuit, I sold you out once again.

Hadwin uses the trap twice and catches two sparrows that are bigger than usual, allowing us to have some food after a long time. My piece is the smallest as I give half to Lily and then some to Biscuit.

Right now, I feel that my body is fully upgraded and ready for more levels of skills and more stats. It's not like now it's not a problem to dump most of my stats into mana and ignore constitution. Nope, this part is still a problem.

Another issue is the itching palm of my hand. It started a few days ago and it's getting more and more annoying, yet I'm still unable to detect the reason. I'll have to continue to observe it carefully.

The body upgrade just made me less reliant on food, water, and sleep, and I still don't know exactly how it works. The system obviously didn't give me detailed descriptions, but I did continue to observe my body the entire time, looking out for some noticeable changes.

There are none, or what is most likely, I'm not able to observe them at my current level of skill.

Nothing unexpected.

"Are you scared of me?" I ask Kim during a moment of boredom while both of us keep watch. It's morning and we're letting others rest a bit before we move the final stretch towards the wall that is now much closer, making us realize it's even higher than we thought.

"I...I don't know." he says.

That's a weird way to answer. You either are or are not.

"Partially, I understand that you won't hurt me the way you did to Cipher and Goldie, not if I don't try to hurt you first or betray you," Kim says cautiously, clearly still worried about my reaction, "But I'm still nervous and can't help it. It's not because I'm planning to hurt you, it's just..." He pauses and thinks, looking for the right words, "I'm scared that I'll make an unintentional mistake and you'll treat me like your enemy."

He looks at me. A young 15-year-old boy, someone with an inferiority complex because of his talented siblings and overreaching parent. In my eyes, he's still just a kid.

"It's scary, Nathaniel, you are scary."

I see, that's also a way some people see me, and I don't think the way he thinks is unreasonable or untrue.

"I'm not worried about what happened to Cipher and others. They tried to control Lily and always acted so arrogantly, and you didn't even see how they treated the natives," he shakes his head. "I think all of us have already gotten used to all this blood and stuff."

I remain silent and listen to him.

"But," he moves a bit closer and our eyes meet, and this time I do not look away, "Tess, Lily, and Izzy don't seem to mind, but everyone else? Sophie is always walking on tiptoes around you. Aaron and Dennis are scared of you, Maya avoids you, and Hadwin is very careful about how he treats you. You just seem like you could snap at any moment." Kim finishes his sentence.

"Thanks for telling me," I tell him.

This time it is he who nods.

He might not know, but I'm trying; I really am. I'm trying to stay patient, I'm trying not to cast people away, and I'm trying to open up slightly to some of them.

I don't even know what I am expecting from that, but I think that's something time will tell.