Chapter 922 - Thaniels (Patreon)

“Now, this is a technique I haven't used since the 3rd floor era. And you know why? Because it's akin to a crutch. An Easy Difficulty demon could do that. Their pets could do that.” Nerdthaniel walks across the meadow while instructing most of the Group 4 members on how to compress mana.

The goal is to compress it enough over your fist, only then can you do damage to the autumn trees around us that the Group 4 members are now punching.

“Tess, you are cheating. I told you to use only the technique I just so simply explained. Dennis, don't think I haven't noticed your connection to your brother. If you two try to cheat again by cooperating, I will throw you off the ship.” Nerdthaniel speaks up again, raising his voice. “I'm here to show you the basics. Even if you think you are good at them, you are wrong. It's ME whom they call Mana Daddy, not you.”

“Fuck,” I mutter quietly. “Could he stop saying that with my face?”

Nerdthaniel slaps the back of Maya’s head for probably no reason, disrupting her technique as he speaks. “We likely have less time than planned, but since it's a specialized submind like me teaching you instead of the main body bastard, I believe I can do a better job, and in a shorter amount of time.”

Izzy and Aaron snicker somewhere off to the side, but Nerdthaniel doesn't even bother punishing them, knowing the laugh is likely at my expense.

“Do not forget,” he says. “First, we will optimize your compression density to establish a baseline output. Then we move on to recalibrating your mana perception fields, and lastly, we fortify your resistance against external mana disruption.”

“Is he mimicking Lissandra?” I ask in a whisper.

“He totally is,” Sneaky answers. “That part of us always had an unhealthy crush on her ability to control mana.”

“He what?”

“We are a fucking mess! I'm hiding plenty of minor, silly things from ourselves. More than you would totally expect!”

“Nat, has anyone told you that you might have a problem?” Sophie asks next to him.

Looking down at her, a barely 6-year-old girl with her face twisted into an expression partially mimicking Sophie's, I can't even take it as a proper insult.

I don't know how, but she must somehow notice a snicker on my skeletal face and kicks me. In reaction to that, Vega hisses and pounces on her, pushing against Sophie, sending both of them rolling onto the ground.

Still, it is as she said: a bit of a mess. Though after what we dealt with in the Beyond, I appreciate it somehow. There are a few things that bother me, and I've even noticed myself feeling fear at certain thoughts, but somehow I like this better.

After all, even if it's happening to me, it's easier. I know I can handle it and endure. Even if there is the possibility of my father being pulled from my subconscious, similar to Sophie. I can do it.

“Where is Demonthaniel?” I ask Sneaky.

“We aren't calling him Primordialthaniel?”

“I think Demonthaniel fits better with him having white hair, horns, and red eyes. Primordialthaniel just sounds weird.”

“There is a master who looks like a demon?” Vega lets go of Sophie from her chokehold, allowing Sophie to take a deep breath.

Just as my minion tries to stand up and move toward me, Sophie moves like the snake she is and sweeps Vega’s feet, making her stumble and pulling her to the ground.

Even in the body of a 6-year-old, Sophie has the brain of an evil 23-year-old woman. A responsible adult. And she even has some proper training in martial arts. Not being caught by surprise this time, she grabs hold of my minion despite her smaller size, twisting her arm and smiling victoriously. She even seems a bit proud of herself.

It is a sad sight.

“And I don't know where he is. Nerdthaniel probably knows, so ask him,” Sneaky tells me.

“Who else is there?”

“Just Mapthaniel.”

“No Assholethaniel and Redacthaniel?”

“Redacthaniel stayed part of us. Even now, there are things we want to censor.”

“That is true," I confirm seriously. "And Asshole?”

“Not telling!”

Vega, now free of Sophie’s clutches, keeps sneaking gazes at her to attack again when the opportunity arises. Still, she finds time to give Sneaky a kick. “Even if you look like Master and are cute, you cannot talk like this!”

“But I'm your master too!” Sneaky complains.

“Master, what is this lost child blabbering about?!”

“Ignore him.” I tap on the ground next to me, and Vega sits down, moving closer and curiously tracing her finger across my ribs, which make a hollow clinking noise.

I can see she is testing whether she should try to use them as an instrument, but when she looks up, she realizes I've caught her. So she quickly looks away, ashamed.

While watching the Group 4 members train, I ask her, “And how are you doing? Is everything okay on your side?”

“They kidnapped Tami. He acted way too much like the noble he used to be, and they thought they could get some money from his family. When we couldn't find a way to contact them, they threatened to kill him unless we stole that fancy, pretty mana stone from one of the local nobles.”

“Classic.”

“As you say, Master! So we did that, Tykka organized it all. Everyone had a cool role, even Mini, that annoying dagger, and Liira. I think that emergency food overgrown rat helped too, from a distance, and killed one of the corrupt guards belonging to the group kidnapping human children.”

“He has a name, minion. It's Alibi Fin Pain Veal Coronet Deli Vassal an Lace Aster Vapour Maveric. And the kidnappers?”

“Yes! We ran into them while planning our heist. We needed an item to open the lock, and there was only one man capable of creating it. In exchange, he wanted us to find his missing niece.”

“Oh, a chain quest. Also classic.”

“There were no chains, Master! So we saved the children and got the key. Then there was one suspicious man who always smiled and acted nice. Everyone else trusted him except me. We needed him to help us get the blueprints, and in exchange he wanted to come with us, so we agreed. But when he tried to betray us, leave us locked in the vault, and escape, I was prepared and killed him!”

“Very good. And your friend Tami and the mana stone?”

Smiling smugly, Vega pulls a necklace out from under her shirt. It is a nice dark silver color with a mana stone tied to it: a beautiful, green crystal star that reflects the light in a way that makes me stare.

“They still tried to kill us to 'get rid of the proof' when we went to make the exchange, so we fought them. But Tykka was sneaky and knew it would happen, so she apparently informed the guards ahead of that meeting. Now they've all been caught. I'm still angry we couldn't keep all their things because the village guards took them, but the mayor gave us medals in front of practically the whole village, and there was a festival.”

“Did you have fun, Vega?”

“Not really. I just ate a lot of food, took some more for later, and left for my room.”

“How silly,” I mutter, caressing the top of her head.

“Master, just in case... Do you plan to stay like this?”

“Nope.”

“Good, because I'd prefer if you had a real hand. This isn't comfortable at all!”

“Oh,” I say, pulling my hand back.

Instead of me, Sneaky reaches out and pats the top of her head. Vega turns to look at him, ready to be angry, but something in his expression stops her, though she continues to sulk a little.

My attention is drawn back to Nerdthaniel, who continues to trashtalk the others while demonstrating techniques I remember from my training with Lissandra. Even if it's different from what we planned, here within my mental space he can create methods out of thin air similar to what Lissandra uses. Having to use a specific level of compression and frequency to damage a tree is the simplest first step in all of this.

As annoying as it is, with me having trouble properly using my mana for some reason, I leave it up to him. Even if he likes to use that annoying mana-science jargon, he doesn't seem to be a bad teacher.

Once this is over, we will see how much of the training carries over for Group 4. As for mine, it is even more difficult to say. Yet, even if I didn't plan or anticipate it, won't separating myself from my subminds and a big part of my total processing allow for some independent training? I think it does, and I do just that, trying to observe and find what is wrong while examining myself, this space, and its influence on my skills.

“Why are Izzy’s flames so powerful here?” I ask Sophie, who isn't participating in the training because she is still searching for what exactly is wrong with our creation.

The green eyed girl looks toward her sister, who laughs as Aaron tells a joke. Both of them then look at Min-Jae, who likely fact-checks him, before Nerdthaniel, who still hasn't put his feet on the ground, floats over to deliver a few new insults.

“I think that's just a reflection of her subconsciousness here,” Sophie says. “You know that because I was suppressing her emotions, she burned those attendees on the third floor.”

“I do. So you think she still partially holds herself back outside? It didn't seem like that to me.”

“No,” she shakes her head. “We worked on that, and she can use her flames very, very well. I just think she always perceives them as stronger and more dangerous than they actually are. Something like that, maybe? Even outside, when she is using them, it feels like she is grabbing them by the throat to make absolutely sure they are under her control, even if her subclass already makes it easy to selectively damage things.”

“So you are saying that my trouble with properly using mana here stems from the fact that I perceive myself as not having enough mana or control, and that is reflected this way?”

“Are you stupid?”

“No, Sophie. I think you are stupid.”

“Say that to me once there aren't multiple split personalities of you running around. And you,” she points her finger at Sneaky, who twitches at catching strays, “you smiling so nicely gives me the creeps. At least his other subminds are more or less behaving like him.”

“But they are all me,” Sneaky says, smiling as if to tease her. “If you think about it, am I not a young, innocent part of us? If you expand on that further, I might actually be the real me. How I would be if things were different.”

“Master is perfect as he is,” Vega interrupts, disagreeing.

“Obviously,” both Sneaky and I say at the same time.

“Main body bastard,” Nerdthaniel calls out to me out of nowhere while Group 4 continues to punch the trees. “Get over here and join the training. Your current output is a disgrace to all of us.”

“Yes, yes,” I mutter as I stand up and head through the meadow toward him.

Something crunches under my feet, and when I look down, I see a dog tag lying there. Picking it up, I read the text engraved on it: That annoying warrior serving the 3rd floor's king.

I toss it aside and finish making my way toward my submind as he speaks: “The main purpose of this place was training, and that is what it turned into overall after that external influence. You and everyone else have to train to get your full powers back.”

“Tell that to Izzy,” I complain, gathering mana inside my skeletal body.

“Main body bastard, we both know Sophie is at least partially wrong. Tell me: what does little Izzabella have?”

“A fragment.”

“Correct. And why isn't it suppressed, but instead further strengthened by her subconscious perception?”

“Because it is a fragment of a god.”

“Correct, Main body bastard. And why is that?”

The amount of mana I've gathered is honestly ridiculous, yet it only causes tiny flecks of mana to flicker across my finger bones. It requires far more effort than I am used to, but I modify the frequency according to the requirements Nerdthaniel set and observe the tree in front of me.

“Because whatever influence messed with our thought acceleration likely has something to do with gods,” I answer him. Then I reach out and punch the tree, releasing all that mana.

Unlike any attempt from the members of Group 4, the barrier around the tree shakes. It ripples, cascading outward until the barrier breaks entirely, allowing part of the impact to hit the trunk directly.

A rain of brown and orange leaves showers down around me.

Walking toward another tree with an even stronger barrier, I clear my mind. Whatever or whoever invaded my mind, they are going to regret it.

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