Weapons of Mass Destruction

Chapter 178: Pairing

Interesting floor quest, to say the least. At least we have an option to pick one of the four Calamities. As for what the Calamity is, I think we will find out as time passes. As before, we could easily spend a few months here.

Another interesting thing is Community. Iʼve joined it a few times and there are just us, the group 4.

Savant either hasnʼt cleared the floor yet or doesnʼt talk, so thatʼs it. It also means that we can talk only to people from groups that are on the same floor, or it means that we canʼt talk to them because they still have their community blocked due to narrative constraints and system censorship.

We also got another hint, the name of the floor: Waning Realm.

It looks like itʼs yet another world close to dying or ending, similar to the second floorʼs Mana kingdom, which was about to get destroyed, and the third floorʼs Saintʼs Eternal Bastion, which was about to end because of Decay spread by the Saint, and that slowly overpowered the healing powers of the dying body of the Absolute. This floor, judging by the name and floor quest, seems to be similar.

I walk through the night and find the shallow cave where the others are. Itʼs lit by my orbs, and in the surrounding dark area and snowy tops of the mountains, it feels somewhat cozy. I get in and start generating a bit more heat, which I send around me without worrying that my mana wonʼt be able to keep up.

Lily is currently awake and her eyes examine me. ”You did get a healing skill or something similar,” she says after her mana touches me gently.

Being a healer she seems to be able to sense my passive which improves my regeneration because of the increased heat around me. The passive is working even though I do not need it to.

”Itʼs a passive skill,” I tell her.

She doesnʼt say anything, but I can see that she is overthinking once again.

”Lily,” I say, and she turns to me. ”Iʼm not going to throw you away...” I pause and use [Resonance] to block out the sound around us, ”or the others. Not unless you give me a reason to do so.”

”But why? You could be much better on your own or with Tess,” Lily asks and her expression seems somewhat sad.

”Itʼs more fun this way, Lily.” I answer.

”Fun?” she blinks slowly, confused.

I decide to open up to her a bit. ”I thought about it a lot, you know. I even lowered the effects of my [Focus] to think less logically and to understand properly what I feel,” I pause. Itʼs so hard to share feelings, yet it feels right. ”Iʼm strong, Lily, very strong, so I want to be more honest with myself,” As I continue, I get a sensation that is also my Pride, allowing me to open up and trust in my decision. Not the sub-class. My own pride.

”And since Iʼm strong, I will do whatever I want. And what I want right now is to give us, being a group, a chance and have some fun, and maybe... only maybe, we will slowly become friends.” I say. I know this is what Tess hopes for, and I know we just got beaten by Lissandra. There are so many people stronger than me.

For now.

”This is what I honestly want to do now,” I wave my hand. ”Obviously I wonʼt open up to everyone. I wonʼt stop being myself or stop annoying you guys when you start talking too much or do not give me space. But I will try, Lily. I will do it because itʼs what I want.”

When I reach out and pinch her small nose, I notice that she seems as if she is about to cry. This time itʼs not because she is sad. Still, she is such a crybaby.

”I would also like that, Nathaniel.” Lilyʼs voice sounds as if itʼs about to break, ”So I will help you, you and Tess.” The look in her eyes changes, ”and if someone tries to get in the way of that, I will delete them from existence,” this time I almost have a feeling as if dark grayish mana swirls in her eyes, ”because this is also something I want.”

She soon falls asleep after using all of her mana to continue to restore her limbs and sitting near her, I watch the others.

Min-Jae is trying to carefully watch Tess, thinking she wonʼt notice.

Tess is talking with Maya, who nods at something, and that makes her hair fly around her head.

In the corner, there is Biscuit licking Isabellaʼs hand to her happy laughs, and that also makes her protective sister smile gently.

Aaron and Dennis are sleeping, both close to each other, and Hadwin is sitting close to the entrance, looking into the darkness and keeping watch. His face is still hard, and I see him clenching his teeth and holding his empty sleeve where his arm that turned into Lissandra used to be.

I still donʼt like them all; some of them are more important to me than others. I also know that I wouldnʼt be that sad if some of them died. Itʼs probably terrible to say that, but thatʼs how I am, the result of my childhood and my not-so-normal personality.

Yet, I got to know most of them somewhat, and I didnʼt lie to Lily when I said they are fun to watch.

Tess told me about camaraderie, the young woman hoping to create a deep bond with others, even in this place. She just decided to give it a chance, preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.

And she is partially right; there is also a hint of a bond I feel after seeing their sometimes annoying faces for 3 floors.

I wonʼt change easily; I wonʼt become friendly or treat them nicely right away. If they try to kill me, I will do the same. If they treat me nicely, I will also try to do the same. Thatʼs it. Because I want to.

The future will show the rest.

I will beat up Savant, and I will find out who the third Beyond explorer is. I will win the Community tournament. I will clear this floor no matter what it throws at me and find a way to scam the system.

And then, when everything is done, I will look back at my decisions with pride.

Flashbacks - Earth, 3 weeks before Nathaniel got into the tutorial

“Cathy, just donʼt watch it. They keep spewing bullshit anyway,” a man says to his wife, annoyed by her bothering him once again.

“But Bobby! Itʼs really weird that out of nowhere people started disappearing! Do you think the government is behind it? Maybe they kidnap them for testing or try to cover something?” the woman called Cathy asks, her eyes still glued to the TV where the reporter continues to talk, “Look! They say this time even an entire plane disappeared! It didnʼt even happen somewhere without a signal. The plane flew right over the city!”

“Your brain will rot if you continue to watch that garbage, just go and…”

“Did you hear? An entire school bus disappeared, 20 kids with it! Do you think they will give us holidays?”

“That would be nice. Or they could at least give us less homework,” a young boy smirks at his friend, and they both giggle.

“Itʼs not like you do yours, Tom; you keep asking Oliver to do them for you!”

“Itʼs fine; I pay him, and he doesnʼt mind. But hey, did you hear about that bear attack?”

“Sir, people started disappearing again. We are getting messages about thousands of disappearances all over the world. Itʼs the same as a week ago. This time even a group of our soldiers disappeared along with three vehicles and a lot of supplies. Around 20 marines, sir.”

“Any chance of ambush?”

“No, sir! They were constantly monitored by one of our drones. They just... disappeared. We have footage of that if you look here…”

“How the fuck can a bunch of people disappear during a simple museum tour!”

“I donʼt fucking know, Sam. Why donʼt you tell me? Maybe try calling some goddamn prophet so we can both know!”

“Oh, shut the fuck up! Better think about how we are going to explain it to the police! And donʼt just stand there; tell them to check the cameras once again!”

“Did you hear? Just yesterday, they saw the biggest grizzly bear ever! There was this video on the internet of this bear trying to catch the jeep. I swear even his eyes glowed!”

“Probably fake so they can sell this video to compilators for some cash.”

“But it looked so real.”

“Itʼs easy now; even a kid can do that, Tony…”

The hunter breathes out in relief and kicks the corpse of the deer he just shot, “Damn it, do you see how big this one is? Iʼve never seen a bigger one.”

The second man just nods knowingly while examining the deer, “I think this has to be a record; just look at these antlers. What the heck did he even eat?”

“I hope it is the biggest,” the first hunter laughs, “Do you remember that fella Donald? He is staying here for a week to hunt, and just a few days ago, he also a got a really big one. I thought he was lying about how big it was, but now I think he might not have been…”

Flashback - ???, 3 weeks before Nathaniel got into the tutorial

“We have been paired again, my lord. A new planet has been added to the system. They just entered their non-attack phase, and the tutorial started. As far as we know, mana just started to awaken there, and they donʼt have an Absolute, nor are they part of any alliance or under the protection of any ruler.”

“Good, collect all the information you can, and then we will wait. Also, find out if they have any Beyond explorers as well.”

“As you order, my lord.”

”When was the last time our planet got paired?”

”I think itʼs a bit over one hundred years.”

”The cycles are getting shorter. Someone must be messing with the system.”

”Do you think itʼs the Ruler of Greed again, my lord?”

”Possibly. But enough of that, get in contact with the Palace and spread the news that another pairing has started.”