CH.170 Getting Ria

CH.170 Getting Ria

“Sorry Alice, but not today. I have to first ask if it is fine with everyone in the village as well as Agatha.” I told Alice as I was leaving. She had asked to come see the dhampir village with me and while I didn’t mind, I didn’t just want to bring her without any warning.

“No, I understand. Next time then. I was just really hoping to summon the dragon you gave me and I can’t do it here.” Alice said.

“Can’t you do it in the practice grounds? They are large enough, as long as you don’t actually fly with it. Also, don’t forget to train your skills. Even if you can level them up with the cards I gave you, you will soon have a disconnect between your skill level and your actual skill, so make sure to practice.” I reminded her. I had already warned Alice of it yesterday, but the reminder is also telling her that training is something she could do today.

“I will. I was just hoping we could practice together again.” Alice said.

“Yeah, sorry. I just have too much to do. I’ll try to make some time so we can practice together.” I promised her. I do need some practice myself as well. Otherwise I’ll never get telekinesis to the level I want.

Okay, bad word choice. I can literally get it to the level I want, but I meant being able to use it in the way I want. Mainly, being able to levitate myself with it. And maybe be able to float a couple of swords around myself while at it.

“Good morning.” I said as I picked up Agatha.

“Good morning. Are we going with that flying golem or taking this one all the way?” Agatha asked as she got into Overdrive.

“We can swap after we get outside the walls. I can’t just summon Gradius anywhere. It is kind of big.” Even though Gradius doesn't really disturb the air around it and it can take off vertically, I would still need a decent space for the take off. “And since we can’t take Gradius when we come back, I think swapping will be a good idea.”

After all, Gradius can only fit two people. Perhaps it is time for Laura to open up Rise of Destiny so I can get a B.E.S. Big Core. I think it should be a larger ship, so I could fly with more passengers. I do worry a bit about the counters B.E.S. monsters have, but they should only be removed when they battle or use their effect, so it should be fine.

We did as I suggested and swapped Overdrive for Gradius once we were a bit away from the city and the trip through the sky went fine.

“It is Lady Agatha and Mr. Summoner. They are here!” Anika called out as she saw us, even though I’m decently sure everyone would have spotted Gradius as we landed in the village.

“Good to see you, Anika. Have you been good?” Agatha asked the little girl.

“Yes! I’ve trained with Lua!” Anika answered.

So they are already working on the true blood magic. I don’t remember how long it took for Lua, but I think it was something like 5 days or so.

(Actually, it only took her two days after she was cured.) Laura said.

(... what, really? Holy god Lua is amazing.)

(Yes, she is.) I heard a voice that I hadn’t heard in a few days. But it was slightly different. She no longer sounded just like Agatha, but instead a bit ... younger? Well, I guess the slightly higher pitch makes me think of a younger voice.

(But she did also have Vampire Lady for an afternoon before being cured, so you could also say it took her two and a half days.) Laura added some extra information.

(... yeah. A half day makes all the difference. Like that would be the case.) I commented.

(In plenty of cases, such as your Monster Reborns, half a day can be the difference between life and death.)

(Sure, but we are talking about learning a new skill. Well, I guess this is more like evolving a skill. Shouldn’t that take at least a week?)

(Depends on the skill and the individual. But true, usually learning a new skill takes between two weeks to two months.)

(As I said, Lua is amazing. And I will take no more comments on that. And what about you, Lua’s system support? What happened to your voice?)

(Mistress asked me to change it slightly when she named me.)

(And I also told you to stop calling me ‘Mistress’, but apparently that didn’t work.) Lua cut into our conversation. Another thing I didn’t expect. I thought we were still in the instant messenger phase, where we had to say each other's names before sending a message. How long has Lua been listening in on anyway?

(I haven’t been transmitting our conversation, so she shouldn’t have heard anything except what her system support was saying.) Laura said.

(Well, okay. I’m just confused. What can and can’t other people hear? And is there some distance limitation to this? I just haven’t heard Lua’s system support since we left, so...)

(We have no distance limitations.) Lua’s system support said. (But we tend to avoid excessive snooping.)

(And she can’t actually hear us while we are in the factory.) Laura added. (So if you have anything secretive, we can speak there.)

(Now that you brought that up, I would like to know more about that.) Lua’s system support said.

(Brian, may I?) Laura asked.

(Sure, I don’t mind.) I have no idea what Lua’s system support will do with the information on Different Dimension Factory and honestly, I don’t care. But considering what Laura can do with it, I’d guess good things. Probably.

“Good. We will leave after lunch, so pack up quickly.”

“I will. I’ll come to the town hall as soon as I’ve packed.” Ria said, as I left her ... house. Yeah, that still isn’t a house. A hut maybe, but not a house.

“Hi Lua. Can I bother you for a second?” I asked as I caught Lua in the town hall.

“Sure, I’m not doing anything. What is it?”

(Lua, it is something a bit more private. Can we go into the room I slept in last time?) I asked her through our system link.

“Ah. I understand. Sure.”

We entered the room and Lua locked the door.

“So, what is it?”

“I think you know. I want you to introduce me to someone. I heard you named her and I’d like to know her name.”

“Ah, of course. Her name is Maria, or just Mia. Mia, say hi.”

(Hello again. Please just call me Mia.) Lua’s system support said.

“Well, hello Mia. Wait, should I do it like that or inside my head?” (Hello Mia) I added a second greeting.

(Either is fine.)

“Okay. What about her voice? Why did you change that?”

“Just makes things easier. I don’t know if you ever lived with a person that sounds like your system support, but it can get confusing.” Lua said.

“Understandable. What about your system mission? Have you gotten anywhere with that?”

“Yes. Most of the dhampirs here will learn in soon. I think Ria will only take a day or two, so could I ask you to help her with that.”

“Yeah. Of course.”

“Thanks. But I think I can teach everyone before Ria gets deemed stable, so once that is done, we can move onto the next village.”

“Yeah. I also have something in 26 days, so I can’t leave before that. I was invited to Earl Sawyer’s 60th birthday party and it kind of doubles as my debut party as a noble, so I have to take part in that.”

“Eh? Well, you are a noble, so of course you would be.”

“Well, technically I haven’t been nominated yet, so...”

“Doesn’t matter. The thing on your arm is the proof.”

“I could just be a dungeon master, not a founder.”

“You could. And I could say I am a noble while not actually being a noble. The difference is that your ... thing acts as some level of proof.”

“It is a dungeon founder's terminal, in case you wanted to know.”

“Honestly, I didn’t. But thanks anyway. I’m more interested in that other mode it takes when you summon multiple monsters.”

“Me too. I would love to recreate that so I could give you, Alice, Alex and Christina one. Would probably help you all a lot.” Well, Christina has her own terminal, so there is a chance she will be able to unlock a combat mode on it. And that combat mode might be a duel disk of some kind.

“Yes, it would. Having to hold onto the cards can get difficult if I need to do something while I have two monsters summoned.”

“Yeah. It was difficult for me as well, before I got my terminal.”

...

...

“Come on. Let’s go back. My mother brought some of that ... blood cooking you talked about last time and I want to taste it.” Lua said, as our conversation had clearly ended.

“Sure. I also have something I want to try in terms of cooking, so this might get interesting.” I said as I followed Lua out of the room.