Chapter 920 - Please sit (Patreon)

“Sophie, what have you done?” It takes me a moment to realize that what I wanted to say was said by Tess, who stares the young girl down.

Being the bigger sister now, Izzy moves protectively in front of her, and from behind her sister Sophie mutters, “Yes, it's likely my fault. I probably triggered some protocol, either by mind controlling people or by examining the skeleton. But I was so careful, I always was! I double, I triple checked, I even made sacrificial logic cores that weren't connected to me in any way.”

“Like a virtual machine not connected to the internet, that is, in this example, your mind?” Min-Jae asks curiously.

It causes Dennis to step closer and put his hand on the Korean boy’s shoulder. “Not now, buddy.”

Sophie doesn't let it distract her. “I will fix it. I just need a little bit of time. I know you want to cancel all this and get out, but I don't know how much it twisted our mental space. I really don't want someone to get hurt, and I really don't want it to hijack our transfer and get into some of our bodies.”

“It can get to mine, I will fuck it up there.”

“Not now, Nat,” Tess says and turns back to Sophie. “Is Tariel the Undying truly alive? Does it have a mind, thoughts?”

“I don't think so. He is a bit like Blackie used to be, but different as well. Kaiepochjiu’s architecture is different, and they might as well have been built by gods or demigods, but… I, I don't know, it's complicated. Kaiepochjiu have a connection to each other, and I think something came through it, maybe a trigger or order. I don't know yet, as I said! That's why I need time. At least a day. Until then, be careful.”

The rest of her words disappear as Izzy takes her into a hug and muffles her out while saying something about cute.

I meanwhile begin to walk toward the center of the gym, where I pick up a volleyball, holding it and observing my weird skeletal hand.

I'm not left alone as Lily walks next to me with her hands behind her back. I would like to think that I narrow my eyes as I look at her, but my expression options are quite limited currently.

“Yes,” Lily says simply and gives a smug smile.

“What?”

“Yes, I would like you even if you were a skeleton.”

“What?” I tilt my head and continue to stare at her, which causes her confident mask to slip.

“I mean… you know that thing? About a worm and girls asking that?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about.”

Some awkwardness slips into her movements as she begins to explain, “How to say it... Sometimes there is an obsessed… I mean loving girlfr… I mean friend, you know, and they often ask all these silly questions because of insecurities. At least that's what the joke is about. It is very insulting, if I have to say.”

“I see.”

“So, then there is a question joked about, the girl asking the boy if he would like her even if she were a worm. You know, to confirm he really likes her, and-”

“Lily, Nathaniel is teasing you. He knows what you meant very well,” Tess calls from further away, where she stands discussing with Sophie.

With wide eyes, Lily looks at me, and I stare at her blankly. Then I start clacking my teeth in an attempt to mimic a chuckle.

Using the opportunity where she is stunned, I begin to walk toward one of the exits, where I open the double doors, expecting to see hallways.

Instead, it opens into the outside world.

First, I see a volcano far in the distance that is spewing lava constantly, though it doesn't overflow. To the right there is a high school building, on the left there is a big circular track, and some distance away there is a pyramid.

Sidewalks are framed by sakura trees in full bloom. For some reason, there is a river too, and on it a few empty wooden gondolas, the sort that you would see in Venetian canals. But these have orange and yellow flames painted on their sides.

There is a huge lake too, with an aircraft carrier in the middle of it. Instead of jets, that aircraft carrier has trees growing on its deck that seem like the ones you would see during autumn.

I want to lift up and fly to scan the area better, but the amount of kinetic energy I gather that would blow up a city block just lifts me up no higher than if I jumped.

So not only do I suffer from a severe mana deficiency, but there's also a kinetic and a thermal one, as testing it out confirms.

With my subminds mostly gone somewhere and inaccessible, I run a diagnosis on my own. I have been doing it since we appeared here, and now I'm putting even more effort into it.

Where previously I could manipulate the mental space to make buildings appear, change areas, and such, it now feels impossible. One of my goals becomes to locate whatever might be responsible for it, or what is broken, so I can fix it.

Stepping to the side, I allow the rest of Group 4 to pour out. The function to monitor the influence of thought acceleration on them still remains, and everyone seems okay. Still, Sophie is a mind mage here, and something like this would be impossible without her. I can do some fun stuff with my mental space and such, but getting people in and connecting it all would be a bit too much. I just don't have the talent for that.

Once again, I look over the group. Sophie, Tess, and Dennis are in what seems like an important conversation. Maya, meanwhile, looks at her reflection in a window nearby.

Izzy, Min-Jae, and Aaron stick together. All of them are of similar heights and in the same school uniforms. Izzy, especially, seems to be happy.

Slowly, we make our way through the campus of whatever I should call this place, looking for something that we don't even know how to identify. It is as if we are hoping we will stumble onto it.

And that happens just a few moments later.

Moving at the highest speed I am capable of, I reach into a shaking bush we are passing by, grab whatever is in there, and then pull it out.

The moment I see that bleached red blanket full of holes, I know what it is and shake Sneakythaniel in my skeletal hands.

“What did you do? What did you do? What did you do?” I keep repeating.

“You dumb brute! We did it! You did it! Ask yourself, you senile bonehead, you rattle bag, you walking chicken wing!”

I pause just for a moment to pull him close to my face. “What did you do as we entered here? You did something in my status.”

“I won't tell because you are rude to me!”

I can see in his eyes how stubborn he is, so I just turn around and put him on the sidewalk.

“Is that what Nathaniel looked like as a child?” Aaron asks as he steps closer and ruffles Sneakythaniel’s hair.

“So cute,” Lily mutters, and for some reason Sneaky gives her a long look and smiles at her gently.

It almost makes her rush ahead and squeeze his cheeks, but then everyone else realizes it. Sneaky is as tall as Sophie is currently, and they look between the two of them.

“It's weird to see a face so similar to Nathaniel’s smile,” Dennis notes.

“But he smiles a lot, especially as he makes fun of you in his mind,” Sneaky says, surprised.

Before any more information that could be used against me can leak, I push him so we all begin to walk again.

“Where are the others?” I ask him.

“Somewhere around, being busy. They will appear sooner or later,” he says, then takes a few quick steps and jumps up to slap one of the lower-hanging branches of a sakura tree.

In the rain of pink petals, with the lake and the aircraft carrier making a background for him, he turns to me and says, “Dumb bonehead.”

Then the heavy rain of petals covers him, and he disappears entirely, causing everyone to look around in surprise. With most of our senses not even working properly, he is just gone.

I ignore the few members of our group that are bummed out about it and continue to walk, with our attention soon switching to the other people appearing all around.

Some wear school uniforms, others have weird clothes, and a few even wear armor. My mood sours further as I start recognizing faces every now and then.

A schoolmate from ten years ago, an annoying kid I met a few times on the way to school, a guy from the gym, one of the guys who kept trying to pick up Victoria.

Sophie starts recognizing people too, as the two of us are the main architects of this place.

“I think for now it pulls from Nathaniel’s and my subconsciousness,” Sophie says to the others. “It also seems to be degrading, so later it will probably reach deeper into our and then your minds too.”

She rubs her face with her palm. “It isn't dangerous, not currently and as it is now. Even like this it should hold for a few weeks, but that's only if nothing changes. Don't talk to me for a while, I need to concentrate.”

The people walking around us or passing by behave as if it is normal. They form groups, talk to each other, laugh, eat, or swim in the lake. Their density continues to increase as we approach the school, and I hear shouts of excitement as some of them play outside or just laze on the lawn.

“Skeleton Gwyn,” a firm voice sounds from behind me out of nowhere, causing our entire group to stop and turn toward it.

There, a man in a perfect suit stands. He is tall, has long golden hair, and under his round glasses, there are two violet eyes with golden circles around the pupils.

“I have to say I'm disappointed in your lack of punctuality. Have you and your friends forgotten about your class on basic thaumic principles?” Magi Elian snaps his fingers, and the area around us changes as we are all teleported away, appearing in a classroom, each sitting behind our own desk.

I'm in the back row near the window, and in front of me sits Lily, who looks around confused, just like everyone else. There are other students as well, filling all the tables other than the one to my right.

“Next time, I expect you to take your studies far more seriously. As for those of you responsible enough to submit your homework, congratulations. It has been a considerable time since I last witnessed such an inadequate attempt at mana wavelength modification, particularly the two submissions that attempted a modulated buffer loop.”

Passing in front of the board, he takes a piece of chalk and writes on it in beautiful letters, “Professor Magi Elian.”

“As you should already be well aware of, I demand you treat this class with the exact same seriousness I bring to sharing my extraordinary knowledge with you,” he says.

On the edge of my vision, I notice Sneakythaniel also sitting behind one of the tables. Noticing me looking at him, he waves at me, only to get hit by a piece of chalk that Elian throws at him, causing him to squeak.

The Magi acts as if nothing happened and continues talking, “Before we begin, I will introduce your new transfer student. I expect you to maintain flawless behavior and extend whatever assistance she requires.”

The door to the classroom slides open and a new figure appears. Brown hair, two red eyes, with one of them having a golden circle around its pupil.

And two short, pointy horns.

“Welcome, Miss Vega. Further introductions are unnecessary, this class has suffered enough interruptions already. Please sit next to Skeleton Gwyn.”

And at the same time, two voices rise up in a shout.

“What the fuck have you done?” mine, as I stand up and point at Sneaky.

“Master!” Vega's, as she rushes toward me and pulls me into a hug.

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