Weapons of Mass Destruction

Chapter 164: Time to say goodbye

So, that's it. The fourth construct is something I would consider a huge success. The mantle takes around ten percent of my mana, which continues to change through the mana pathways that cover the entirety of my body.

I can turn it off or on when needed, but I decide to have it permanently running in the background.

Then there's the Reinforcement construct that takes thirty percent of my mana. The two constructs combined take quite a nice chunk of my mana, but the effect is a strengthened body and mana that only someone exceedingly powerful can take away from me. In the future, I will upgrade them further and tweak them, but right now, it's great.

In a good mood, I stand up and, after thanking Tess for keeping watch, I leave to give a few pointers to Maya and the kids.

POV Hadwin Harper

It's already night, and we can hear the wind from behind the white wall. Yet, the place where we are is nice and quiet, illuminated by multiple orbs that Nathaniel created and filled with some kind of mana fire. Some of them are bigger, and others are a bit smaller, but all of them emit a soft, dark yellow light and even some warmth against the cold air.

Nathaniel created them in a few seconds, and surprisingly, even after a few hours, they still emit some light and warmth. Weaker, but still present.

"For example, look at the orbs filled with thermal energy he created," Lissandra, the fleshy brooch on the ground, says. "Do you guys even realize that if he made them even slightly unstable, they would explode after a while and most likely kill a few of you?"

As many times before, Lissandra complains about Nathaniel. It's weird to hear that. In my eyes, he is exceedingly talented and daring, yet she seems to think it's not enough.

I yawn and look around. Others seem to be already sleeping, so I move a bit closer to her to catch some warmth from the orb that's near her.

"It's not like we have much choice but to push and risk it. You might not care, but a few of us have families back on Earth," the brooch listens as I talk, "Mothers, fathers, siblings, friends. They are still there, and if we are right, four rounds of the tutorial have already ended."

"You said you would be forcefully returned to Earth in five years. Doesn't that mean the first round was summoned 20 years ago and got out 15 years ago?" Lissandra says, and I know she is mostly polite. She is really smart, so I'm sure she has thought about it much.

"There are multiple options I could think of why we didn't notice anything," I yawn and move a bit closer. It's really cold outside. "The first one is that everyone died and no one got out of the tutorial. This one is a bit weird since there's an easy difficulty."

I pause, and Lissandra listens. She is quite polite today, but I don't mind. It's a welcome change from her grumpy self that slightly reminds me of Nathaniel.

"Another option is that there is someone policing them, taking all the returners under their control and not allowing them to do anything." I say.

"As if something like that would be possible," she says.

"I agree with you. Then there's also the option that the system has something to do with it even after the tutorial."

"This one is a bit better, but I can think of more," Lissandra interrupts me, and her voice, the vibrations she creates with a minuscule amount of mana, gets quieter.

How amazing it is to talk with someone who has lived for hundreds or maybe thousands of years. My only regret is that she seems to be an imperfect imprint of the original from the second floor.

"Time dilation. All the rounds will end at once, no matter when people enter. The first round could start and end in a few seconds after starting, and the others as well. Meaning all the rounds will get out in a short amount of time." When I want to say something, she doesn't stop and talks over me, "Yes, I understood that you guys heard about disappearances a few weeks ago already, so another option is that the tutorial summons people every few days and then lets them out all at once."

"What if everyone returns without their powers, and that's why nothing happened?" This question worries me the most. Like all of us, I've already gotten used to our powers and our bodies that now heal faster, feel stronger, and slowly heal all the imperfections and older wounds.

I once again feel like a young, energetic man and would have a hard time saying goodbye to that.

"Power given by the system cannot be taken away by the system." Lissandra's voice is now even quieter. At the same time, the orb near her starts blinking, and the area where it releases heat becomes smaller.

Weird, Nathaniel's orbs usually don't do that.

So I move closer to catch the head, but still stay careful not to get too close. Nathaniel warned us enough.

A silence ensues.

"Is Nathaniel really as talentless as you say?" I ask. It's something that bothers me a lot. Because if he is talentless, most of us are much worse.

In the silence, the light from the orb becomes even weaker.

When I reach out to push myself up to stand, thinking that she won't answer, she says something in a quiet voice, "He is not."

I pause in my movement and lean a bit closer, wanting to hear the answer more than any of the other questions I asked today

"He has great talent when it comes to mana." Her voice becomes even quieter as if responding to the light that also became weaker, "He could be considered one of the greatest talents back on my planet. Talented enough to become the apprentice of a Champion and maybe even replace him in the future, but that's it. He would have a hard time getting further with his talent alone."

The light becomes weaker.

"But that's only when it comes to talent. The little pup... Nathaniel... sometimes he terrifies me. The look in his eyes, the hunger and willingness to push himself to the brink of death. The absolute confidence he has in himself. He will either die young or reach places we thought were impossible."

The light blinks and turns off, and I feel something touch my hand and quickly pull it back.

"But it also inspires me. I long forgot how it feels to put your life on the line and push to the point of breaking apart. I want it, I want to do the same."

Then the light lights up again, and I glance down. The brooch is still the same and in the same spot, and where I kept my hand, the grass sways under the gentle light.

I let out a quiet, awkward laugh. What am I, getting scared by some grass touching me?

Then I ask another question.

My new construct? Good, very good!

I had Haddy try to disrupt my mana, and he couldn't do anything. I didn't even fight back; I just let my construct work, and Hadwin's attempts became a whisper in the wind, useless the moment they touched my body.

Sure, the mana outside of my body can still be affected, but the Mantle doesn't allow him to reach inside me and stop me from strengthening my body. I even went a bit further back and found an interesting duo of monsters. You know, those two mage hunters – Templar Revenant and Rogue Revenant.

Those poor guys were literally no match... well, they were super easy to deal with now. Sure, I made it last as long as possible, tearing them apart piece by piece, which helped me soften some bad memories I have of them hunting me for hours - all while I barely kept my body from breaking apart.

Ah, good old times.

Anyway, the Templar Revenant's disruptive skill didn't do anything. Nothing at all. I let him hit me multiple times. He was only able to disrupt some external mana, but anything beneath my skin wasn't affected at all.

It made me happy, almost as happy as kicking his severed head around. This will surely become one of my fondest memories.

I then spent a few more days giving pointers to others. Maya may seem reluctant at first, but when you push her hard enough, she follows through. I've realized that she's someone who needs someone else to follow to make decisions for her. Probably so she can blame anything wrong that happens on that person instead of having to deal with it herself.

That's why she so quickly joined Sophie, that's why it was so easy for Tess to deal with her when we got split on the second floor, and that's why I see some relief in her eyes when I tell her what to do.

The scary part is how thoughtfully she is following through. After some resistance, she just goes with it and even improves on the process, taking it a step further.

In the end, it's interesting to watch her [Focus] and see her calm gaze that takes in all the information and logically processes it before acting and improving on it.

Up until now, I thought that some members of Group 4 were weaker than others, with Tess, Sophie, and I probably being the strongest, and Lily showing massive potential. But I've changed my mind now. I think it's more that they didn't have an opportunity to shine and grow.

So, here's a question: Should I focus on my own growth or help them a bit more? A larger group of capable people can be valuable, and if they become stronger, there are things I could learn from them. On the other hand, there's a question of whether learning from them would give me more than training on my own would.

It's annoying to decide right away so I will keep doing what I do now and I'll see how it goes and deal with it later. It's another problem for future Nathaniel. Screw that weirdo.

I come back to reality and cut off my thoughts, turning my attention back to Lissandra on the ground. In the past few days, I did gather as much information from her as possible, along with some methods I plan to use in the future. Still, I try not to follow it all. I'll create my own way and gain my own strength. I won't mindlessly follow in her footsteps.

Lissandra teaches a thing or two to almost everyone in the group while sharing some interesting information they were curious about.

Now then, I should burn her before we move to the blue wall. Taking this thing closer to the highly regenerative aura of the Saint doesn't sound like a good idea. Not at all. I'm sure that if she gets there, she will be able to restore her body somehow and I don't trust her enough to allow her to do that.

"I think it's time for you to give me coordinates and say goodbye," I tell the brooch.

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