novelraw Chapter 99 : Chapter 99
Chapter 99 : Chapter 99
Chapter 99 : Suspicion
"Here, drink this."
Vanessa brought the cup to Sal's lips.
After taking a few sips of water, Sal tilted his head back to speak, but Vanessa shook her head and brought the cup to his lips again.
"No. You're in a state of severe dehydration right now, Sal. No questions until you drink enough to satisfy me."
Given Vanessa's firm tone, Sal practically had no choice.
Every slight movement of his limbs was painful, so he had to endure the humiliating situation of drinking water at a slow pace.
It seemed to Sal that he had already emptied half the bottle, which should be enough, but Vanessa continued to tilt the cup, making him drink.
Judging by her smile, she seemed to be enjoying Sal's predicament a little.
Sal emptied the cup and stared straight at Vanessa.
Then, Vanessa slowly refilled the cup without taking her eyes off him.
"You're taking revenge for the sniper rifle incident last time, aren't you?"
Sal's voice was still weak and faint, but at least he was able to speak now.
Instead of answering, Vanessa filled the second cup and placed it next to the first one.
She raised one eyebrow, showing an expression as if asking if he had more questions.
Resigned to his situation, Sal took the cup and emptied it as Vanessa instructed.
Seeing Sal's compliance, Vanessa smiled with satisfaction and broke the awkward silence.
"While you drink water, I'll explain a bit more about what happened."
When Sal nodded slightly, Vanessa showed a satisfied smile.
Seeing Vanessa about to start explaining, Sal signaled that he was ready to listen.
"Since you're a crafter, I'll try to explain in terms familiar to you. There are people in other ranks who can use the Mythos Crafter ability too. Ranks like Rare Crafter, Unique Crafter, Epic Crafter. However, Body Manipulation itself isn't a standalone ability but belongs to the same category as Invention. My ability also falls under the Body Manipulation category, but as you experienced firsthand, it's completely different from that girl Lucia's ability."
Sal nodded as if he understood and accepted more water to drink.
Although he initially resisted, he now felt grateful even for Vanessa feeding him water.
When he looked at Vanessa, she continued speaking.
"Mythos Crafter is an ability combining Appraisal Enhancement and Restoration, right? My ability is called Constitution; it's a mixture of Reconstruction, Composition, and Refining. The Body Manipulation category is rare because it includes techniques that can be directly applied to the human body. I can elevate not only myself but also others to a higher level. Usually, such techniques are limited so the user can manipulate either only their own body or only another's body. That friend's ability is probably a weaker version of Composition or a similar ability. Well, that's not very important. What's important is that I can change the very essence of myself and others. That is the ability I used on you today."
Vanessa pushed the water cup toward Sal again, and Sal reluctantly accepted and drank it.
Even though he really hated the affectionate voice she used to soothe him.
"Your friend made you more sensitive to essence so you could find and activate the gates. That task takes a long time and requires a lot of meditation, so today we skipped that part."
Vanessa tapped Sal's chest over the armrest of the armchair she was leaning on.
"Only your essence could pierce through those gates. So I gathered all the essence from Sal's body and made something like a bullet. I shot it at each gate to give it more power, and overcharged the new gates to produce more essence. As a result, the effect grew like a snowball, and the pain became severe as you passed through the gates. The reason you could take a breather for a moment was because I repaired it with my essence."
Vanessa put the empty water cup down on the side table, lifted the water bottle, and refilled it.
She glanced at Sal once and reluctantly nodded.
"One question, then drink water again?"
Sal didn't miss the opportunity and threw a question.
"How far has it progressed now? I don't feel anything."
Vanessa looked at Sal for a moment and smiled.
"Essence gates are fickle things. I could have pierced through them all, but Sal's essence was so excessively condensed that even a tiny activation of your ability could break the tension and ruin everything. I wanted to raise your ability up to 50, but your body barely withstood up to the low 40s level. Your essence storage capacity is absurdly low, probably because you created the Mythos Crafter ability."
Although Vanessa allowed only one question, Sal couldn't hold back and threw another one.
"Then why are you here instead of working on the Credit Floor where you can earn the most Q-Credits with this ability, Vanessa?"
Vanessa narrowed her eyes and pushed the water cup to Sal's lips.
"I was originally doing it as a side job, but Quest stopped it quickly. He said it eliminates the process of patience and discipline. Students have to make progress through effort, and getting things for free is not allowed."
Vanessa mimicked Quest's exaggerated preaching tone.
"Still, thanks to that, I earned enough to graduate and took an enormous number of Master Classes. I also worked on creating the skill transplant system with the R&D department. My ability is integrated into that skill registration device. I earned a lot of Q-Credits in the process and took quite a bit of royalties too. Jez was extremely proud of me for negotiating that."
The smile disappeared from Vanessa's face.
Shaking her head as if regretting it, Vanessa handed the cup again to Sal, who was trying to use his hand weakly.
"Take it slow, Sal. You went through a tremendous ordeal today, and it will take quite some time for your body to adjust to the new core and recover. For the time being, crafting and appraisal work are prohibited. Even if a portal opens in your room and pours out an armory. Do not use your ability until your body adapts. Got it?"
Although she spoke as if asking for agreement, it was effectively an order.
Sal nodded reluctantly, and Vanessa continued to stare at him as if that level of reaction didn't reassure her.
Then finally, Sal answered.
"Yes, I understand. I won't use my ability for a while. Then... when can I use it again?"
Vanessa laughed and tapped Sal's chest.
"It will take a few days. But if you buy and drink beverages, you might recover a bit faster. Still, while external essence can heal the body, to build a solid foundation, you must produce the essence yourself. If you use the core immediately, it will break, and the circuits will snap. Then the balance will collapse when using abilities, leading to frequent failures. Skill transplanting is exactly what corrects such things. Essentially, it resets to the starting point and rebuilds the core with a new ability blueprint."
Vanessa looked deeply at Sal and paused for a moment.
"However, you must take into account that your internal gates are still at the lowest stage. Raising it to 40 is excellent, but it's only a level barely a few months ahead of your peers. As time passes, much more practice and effort are needed to strengthen the core, so you absolutely must not let your guard down. From now on, you must diligently manage your core to produce enough essence to maintain your ability."
Sal tilted his head back and leaned against the back of the armchair.
He wanted to close his eyes and fall asleep, but he couldn't because he had to return to the dormitory.
Falling asleep in a private meeting room on the Credit Floor wouldn't be good for his reputation.
He would surely be charged an overnight fee.
Frowning, Sal looked at Vanessa, who was smiling brightly.
Somehow, he felt like Vanessa was enjoying his pain.
"When will I be able to move without pain?"
Vanessa shrugged and gestured roughly at Sal's body.
"I told you at the beginning, Sal. You need to exercise more. Your recovery is slow because your body lacks basic movement and core strength right now. I could rearrange muscles with essence, but the amount of essence available to use right now is too small. It would be best to set up an exercise plan to build a balanced body as soon as possible."
Vanessa took out her tablet from her pocket and tapped on it.
"I'll send you a list of exercises to do every day. If you thought it would be okay for a Support Class to be lazy, you're greatly mistaken. Versatility is the key factor separating Supports who graduate from the academy and those who don't."
Sal groaned inwardly at the thought of having to exercise every day, but since Vanessa said she would even send him an exercise list, he couldn't complain out loud.
Vanessa noticed Sal's confused expression.
"I know Sal works hard and endures pain. So why not just finish it all at once? So you don't sprain your back lifting a wrench later. You'll thank me later."
Suddenly, Vanessa stretched her body and smiled broadly at Sal.
When she clapped her hands excitedly, Sal felt an ominous premonition for some reason.
"Ah, right. Try becoming friends with that assassin girl. Ask her for help saying you want to learn martial arts or something. Instead, you make gear for her. Then she won't leak your secret, and you can become best friends with an assassin. It's a win-win."
Sal stopped, his mouth agape in shock.
Vanessa fixed her gaze on the tablet again, pretending not to see Sal's attempt to weakly lift his body.
Recalling his conversation with Anna Sakura, she seemed quite kind at first.
But after learning she was spying on him for the Delvers Guild, she became an uncomfortable existence.
After witnessing her combat in the dungeon raid, he hoped she would be an ally rather than an enemy, but trying to get close with lies or false pretenses made him uncomfortable.
'Can I make a deal with Sakura like that, or confess the truth that I hope won't be revealed yet?'
In the worst case, she could make something to hide his identity.
The fact that Sal was Mythos was bound to be known sooner or later anyway.
Dr. Bobby knew his identity too, and since the entire academy staff was briefed before the dungeon raid, it was fate that everyone would know eventually.
While Sal sat contemplating his future direction for a few minutes, a vibration rang in his pocket.
Vanessa turned the tablet toward Sal, showing the schedule she had written, and said.
"A balanced diet and regular meals are essential. And besides exercise, the most important thing is sufficient sleep. Since most days you'll likely be dehydrated or sleep-deprived, you must stick to this to improve that."
Sal looked up at the ceiling and sighed.
Then, as if remembering something, he looked at Vanessa and frowned.
"Wasn't the reason you brought me here to talk about the Reavers Guild? What happened?"
Vanessa looked at Sal for a moment, then laughed brightly.
"Do you hate exercise so much that you'd change the subject to Vila?"
Vanessa didn't wait for Sal's answer and continued with a smile.
"Well... a small problem arose on the Reavers' side. The Guild Master put a brake on all investments, so our probationary guild proposal is blocked. Vila is extremely angry at Reavers right now. I could feel his anger intact when he said Reavers deliberately forged the signature. I guess he's worried he might be stuck and have to look elsewhere now."
Sal slumped his shoulders and let out a sigh of relief.
"Then can I relax a bit? Things were progressing too fast, so I thought signing a contract immediately might be a mistake."
Sal tried to lift his body from the seat, but muscles all over his body screamed in pain and resisted.
Grimacing, he sat back down.
Vanessa shook her head and stared blankly at the other side of the room.
"It's not a bad idea. But this is a significantly lucrative deal. It's good that there's a Reavers interested in Sal's value, but it's not bad to watch if other offers come in either."