Not messing around, I quickly explain it to Sophie. "Lissandra left something for me: coordinates to her world. You probably can't see them in the system shop because you don't own any, and they seem high up there when it comes to pricing, but I do. The prices of coordinates start at twenty thousand shards, and some of them are much, much higher."
"So where do I come in?" Sophie asks.
"It's simple. You will learn the coordinates and 'save' them. Then I will sell my coordinates to the shop. If I am right, at that point, the knowledge of them will disappear from my mind, and they'll probably get deleted if I etch them into a mana stone, no matter who holds it." I did think about it a lot, and I'm sure they would disappear from the mana stone. The system wouldn't allow such an easy workaround.
I continued, "Then, you will teach me the coordinates again, and I will try to sell them again. In the best case, I can sell them multiple times as we repeat the process. In the worst case, I can sell the same coordinate only once, and if that happens, you will sell them as well after teaching them to me. This doubles the number of shards."
The system probably won't allow me to keep selling the same coordinate over and over, but it's worth a try. If it doesn't work, I can double the number of shards I get from the coordinates and still retain them. Even that much is beneficial.
Sophie is the most skilled in Group 4 when it comes to handling mana, and the system most likely won't try to delete coordinates from her mind, unlike if they were saved into an item.
I'm sure it will take some time for her to learn them, but it would take much longer for everyone else in the group. Plus, I'm certain some of them wouldn't even be able to do so.
There's also the possibility of using Sophie's [Mind-fuckery] skill and having her just share the coordinates with others instead of making them learn it. That would be great.
"What's in it for me?" An expected question comes from Sophie.
"You can keep half of the shards you get from selling your coordinates. The remaining half you will use to buy stuff I tell you." The offer I give her is fair, I think.
But someone else has a different opinion. "Soph! Ask him to become friends with us instead, and he can keep all the shards!" Little Isabella chimes in.
"Izzy, don't be silly," Sophie's voice is gentle. The expression she shows now is so different from when she talks to me.
"It's you who's dumb, Soph!" The little, angry, kitten-like girl uses her small hand to hit Sophie's arm, to which her older sister continues to smile.
When she turns to me, her expression changes. "I want something else instead," she says.
"Go on."
"Clean slate." Isabella still complains after her sister says that, but Sophie now seems serious.
"Explain," I feel intrigued by what she means.
"I know you have a problem with me, and both of us know why. Honestly, it's tiring to keep tiptoeing around, and you must be aware of it as well," her green eyes don't lie as she honestly tells me what she thinks and wants. "I made a mistake, a terrible one because I was scared back then. What it did to you is…"
"Unfortunate?" I offer.
“Yes… unfortunate. I want you to know I would do even worse things if it meant protecting Isabella,” Sophie says. “Much, much worse.” Her voice is sharp, and she ignores the worried expression her sister shows.
“That's reasonable,” I say. I would do the same. That's where the two of us are somewhat similar.
Sophie nods. “I do think so too.” Then she hesitates, “Still, I will continue to do such things. To these fake people from the floors and maybe to other groups if we meet them and I am forced to.”
She spends a bit more time thinking or perhaps looking for the right words to say or the courage to say them, “But I don't want to do it to anyone from our group. I don't expect all of us to become friends, but I want to work together with others without having to see them look at me that way. You may not realize it, but most of the others see me in a similar way you do. Even though Tess is trying, they don't trust me fully,” before I say anything, she says what I wanted to say, “Not without reason. I know.”
“Sophie, you can be more direct with me. Just say what you want to say,” I interrupt her this time.
“I want a clean slate. I want to start over and to do that I will start with you, in hopes others will follow. I will even give you all the shards I would make if you want. I just want us to forget the past,” she seems like she doesn't know where to put her hands, and little Isabella ends up grabbing them and smiling at her sister as if giving her some bravery.
Then I feel a bit of mana from Isabella, mana that flows into Sophie.
“If I attack you or anyone else, you can do whatever you want. I am not so unreasonable as to not expect that. I just want you to stop looking at me the way you do. Feel free to constantly check the minds of others to see if I messed with them. Or continue to strengthen your resistances every time you are near me or sense me using mana. I already know you do that, and I don't blame you. But please, don't look at me with eyes that tell me you will kill me the moment I make a small mistake or someone uses a skill on you again that would make you less rational.”
She pauses, but Isabella uses more mana and that seems to make her older sister continue talking.
Sophie's voice breaks a little, and the wetness in her eyes isn't feigned at all. “It's scary,” her voice is quiet, “it's terrifying to be around you.” As Sophie talks, Isabella squeezes her hands. The little girl seems proud while Sophie looks like she is about to cry. “I made a mistake, and I will make them again. It's pathetic, I know, it's all consequence of what I did. But I am tired, I'm so tired of shaking every time I talk to you.” Sophie falls silent and, after giving her a short hug, Isabella stands in front of me. Her mana and her skill [Empathy] reach out to me, and I allow it to happen.
“I did help you too. I kept watch while you slept, back at the start of the second floor. To protect you from the bad guys from Hard difficulty when you were weak.”
“Yes, you did,” I agree with her.
“So forgive Sophie. We will give you all the shards too.” The little girl is serious, and it takes only a moment for her to gauge my decision from my feelings, and then she goes rushing to Sophie with a big smile on her face.
“Okay,” I answer to Sophie, “We have a deal.”
Her green eyes follow me as I leave the room, and I leave the sisters to deal with it.
She reminds me too much of myself. I have long since noticed that she is also trying the same way I am.
Anyway, I did it only for the shards and to pay back Isabella.
Yup.
“So we sold the bracelet you left with us,” Tess says the moment I sit down with her and Hadwin. Everyone else disappeared suspiciously.
“Well, I told you to sell it if you really needed to, but was there really such a need?” I ask.
“What, you did? Then why is everyone acting like you will come up and chop off their left leg for selling it?” Hadwin looks between me and Tess for a moment and then realizes it, looking at the young blonde. “Tess…” he almost doesn't seem to believe it.
Tess only smiles shamelessly, “I need to have some fun as well, and seeing them talk like Nat will come back and eat them was somewhat cute.”
I can totally understand her. Tess is someone who likes to pull off pranks like that once in a while.
“Anyway, we did have one high-positioned lynthari bother us the moment we entered the city. He really seemed interested in Maya and Lily. You probably already found out how weird they are. He kept lurking around for the two days we spent in the poorer parts of the city, and then most of our valuables disappeared.” Both she and Hadwin seem ashamed as Tess says, “I still have no idea how that happened.”
“I think that annoying lynthari did it,” Hadwin joins in, “He probably wanted to take all the valuables we have and then offer us to work with him.”
“I disagree, Hadwin. He would have taken all our valuable equipment too, yet only the trinkets disappeared. Plus, lynthari from what we saw until now seem harmless towards humans. They are weird, and sometimes annoying, but even Isabella didn't feel any bad intentions from them. Not even once in the nine days we've been here. And we met or passed by hundreds of them.”
“Relying on her skill too much won't do us any good,” Hadwin shoots back at her and they bicker a bit longer, both defending their own opinions.
“So yes, that's when we decided to sell the bracelet. I know you started experimenting with the crown and the sword you left with us is something we can use hunting. We did have Sophie negotiate and she used her skill to get us a much higher price than we would get otherwise.”
“Oh? No protections against mind manipulation?” I ask this time.
“We were careful and did check it. You know, at first, she did get some extra food while buying it. Then influenced someone to give her a small discount and such. Isabella kept monitoring the area and Sophie also was careful, and we didn't find any defenses against it.” Tess looks into my eyes, “Either mind manipulation is extremely rare and there are few defenses against it, or they never had to deal with such a skill.”
“We are testing it slowly. Getting a better price for the bracelet was the first big test, and we might slowly use Sophie's skill a bit more. We could get a lot of secret information, really good equipment that we could even take to another floor.”
As Hadwin says that, I also think about a few ideas. If they truly do not have the concept of mind manipulation or it's something extremely rare, we could end up getting the best items this floor can offer. Just by having Sophie manipulate some people. Sure, as of now the strongest ones I saw were close to level two hundred from my estimation, and there could be stronger ones.
That's why we will have to be careful and slowly exploit her skill. It's quite dangerous, mind manipulation, isn't it?
A curious question flashes through my head. What would happen if Sophie returned to Earth now? She should be able to manipulate the most powerful or richest people on Earth to do what she wants.
“That's what happened to the bracelet, Nat,” Tess continues, “The house is ours, there is even a big basement that is shielded against mana detection or leakage. From what we know, it could be good enough even for you with your mana, so take a look at it when you are free. The view is nice; we still have plenty of mana stones left.”
“They use them here as currency,” Hadwin adds, placing a few mana stones onto the table.
Each of them is a bit different, and the biggest one is the size of my pinky. They are all oval-shaped and seemingly beautifully processed. Just a look is enough to tell me which one has the greatest value.
The surprising part is that all of them can hold some mana or be used to etch mana circuits inside and turn them into heaters, make them radiate cold, turn them into lamps. The more expensive ones seem to be able to handle a lot more mana and circuits, but something tells me I shouldn't do that.
“That one is worth a few hundred thousand dollars if we try to convert its value to Earth's,” Hadwin confirms.
“I see,” I say and put it into my pocket.
Hadwin opens his mouth to say something but then decides against it.
So I take a few more valuable ones.
“Anyway, we were able to find out what Calamities are and identify three out of four,” Tess continues, seemingly unbothered. “These three calamities are called as follows: The Fallen Hero, The Living Tree, and The Colony."
Not messing around, I quickly explain it to Sophie. "Lissandra left something for me: coordinates to her world. You probably can't see them in the system shop because you don't own any, and they seem high up there when it comes to pricing, but I do. The prices of coordinates start at twenty thousand shards, and some of them are much, much higher."
"So where do I come in?" Sophie asks.
"It's simple. You will learn the coordinates and 'save' them. Then I will sell my coordinates to the shop. If I am right, at that point, the knowledge of them will disappear from my mind, and they'll probably get deleted if I etch them into a mana stone, no matter who holds it." I did think about it a lot, and I'm sure they would disappear from the mana stone. The system wouldn't allow such an easy workaround.
I continued, "Then, you will teach me the coordinates again, and I will try to sell them again. In the best case, I can sell them multiple times as we repeat the process. In the worst case, I can sell the same coordinate only once, and if that happens, you will sell them as well after teaching them to me. This doubles the number of shards."
The system probably won't allow me to keep selling the same coordinate over and over, but it's worth a try. If it doesn't work, I can double the number of shards I get from the coordinates and still retain them. Even that much is beneficial.
Sophie is the most skilled in Group 4 when it comes to handling mana, and the system most likely won't try to delete coordinates from her mind, unlike if they were saved into an item.
I'm sure it will take some time for her to learn them, but it would take much longer for everyone else in the group. Plus, I'm certain some of them wouldn't even be able to do so.
There's also the possibility of using Sophie's [Mind-fuckery] skill and having her just share the coordinates with others instead of making them learn it. That would be great.
"What's in it for me?" An expected question comes from Sophie.
"You can keep half of the shards you get from selling your coordinates. The remaining half you will use to buy stuff I tell you." The offer I give her is fair, I think.
But someone else has a different opinion. "Soph! Ask him to become friends with us instead, and he can keep all the shards!" Little Isabella chimes in.
"Izzy, don't be silly," Sophie's voice is gentle. The expression she shows now is so different from when she talks to me.
"It's you who's dumb, Soph!" The little, angry, kitten-like girl uses her small hand to hit Sophie's arm, to which her older sister continues to smile.
When she turns to me, her expression changes. "I want something else instead," she says.
"Go on."
"Clean slate." Isabella still complains after her sister says that, but Sophie now seems serious.
"Explain," I feel intrigued by what she means.
"I know you have a problem with me, and both of us know why. Honestly, it's tiring to keep tiptoeing around, and you must be aware of it as well," her green eyes don't lie as she honestly tells me what she thinks and wants. "I made a mistake, a terrible one because I was scared back then. What it did to you is…"
"Unfortunate?" I offer.
“Yes… unfortunate. I want you to know I would do even worse things if it meant protecting Isabella,” Sophie says. “Much, much worse.” Her voice is sharp, and she ignores the worried expression her sister shows.
“That's reasonable,” I say. I would do the same. That's where the two of us are somewhat similar.
Sophie nods. “I do think so too.” Then she hesitates, “Still, I will continue to do such things. To these fake people from the floors and maybe to other groups if we meet them and I am forced to.”
She spends a bit more time thinking or perhaps looking for the right words to say or the courage to say them, “But I don't want to do it to anyone from our group. I don't expect all of us to become friends, but I want to work together with others without having to see them look at me that way. You may not realize it, but most of the others see me in a similar way you do. Even though Tess is trying, they don't trust me fully,” before I say anything, she says what I wanted to say, “Not without reason. I know.”
“Sophie, you can be more direct with me. Just say what you want to say,” I interrupt her this time.
“I want a clean slate. I want to start over and to do that I will start with you, in hopes others will follow. I will even give you all the shards I would make if you want. I just want us to forget the past,” she seems like she doesn't know where to put her hands, and little Isabella ends up grabbing them and smiling at her sister as if giving her some bravery.
Then I feel a bit of mana from Isabella, mana that flows into Sophie.
“If I attack you or anyone else, you can do whatever you want. I am not so unreasonable as to not expect that. I just want you to stop looking at me the way you do. Feel free to constantly check the minds of others to see if I messed with them. Or continue to strengthen your resistances every time you are near me or sense me using mana. I already know you do that, and I don't blame you. But please, don't look at me with eyes that tell me you will kill me the moment I make a small mistake or someone uses a skill on you again that would make you less rational.”
She pauses, but Isabella uses more mana and that seems to make her older sister continue talking.
Sophie's voice breaks a little, and the wetness in her eyes isn't feigned at all. “It's scary,” her voice is quiet, “it's terrifying to be around you.” As Sophie talks, Isabella squeezes her hands. The little girl seems proud while Sophie looks like she is about to cry. “I made a mistake, and I will make them again. It's pathetic, I know, it's all consequence of what I did. But I am tired, I'm so tired of shaking every time I talk to you.” Sophie falls silent and, after giving her a short hug, Isabella stands in front of me. Her mana and her skill [Empathy] reach out to me, and I allow it to happen.
“I did help you too. I kept watch while you slept, back at the start of the second floor. To protect you from the bad guys from Hard difficulty when you were weak.”
“Yes, you did,” I agree with her.
“So forgive Sophie. We will give you all the shards too.” The little girl is serious, and it takes only a moment for her to gauge my decision from my feelings, and then she goes rushing to Sophie with a big smile on her face.
“Okay,” I answer to Sophie, “We have a deal.”
Her green eyes follow me as I leave the room, and I leave the sisters to deal with it.
She reminds me too much of myself. I have long since noticed that she is also trying the same way I am.
Anyway, I did it only for the shards and to pay back Isabella.
Yup.
“So we sold the bracelet you left with us,” Tess says the moment I sit down with her and Hadwin. Everyone else disappeared suspiciously.
“Well, I told you to sell it if you really needed to, but was there really such a need?” I ask.
“What, you did? Then why is everyone acting like you will come up and chop off their left leg for selling it?” Hadwin looks between me and Tess for a moment and then realizes it, looking at the young blonde. “Tess…” he almost doesn't seem to believe it.
Tess only smiles shamelessly, “I need to have some fun as well, and seeing them talk like Nat will come back and eat them was somewhat cute.”
I can totally understand her. Tess is someone who likes to pull off pranks like that once in a while.
“Anyway, we did have one high-positioned lynthari bother us the moment we entered the city. He really seemed interested in Maya and Lily. You probably already found out how weird they are. He kept lurking around for the two days we spent in the poorer parts of the city, and then most of our valuables disappeared.” Both she and Hadwin seem ashamed as Tess says, “I still have no idea how that happened.”
“I think that annoying lynthari did it,” Hadwin joins in, “He probably wanted to take all the valuables we have and then offer us to work with him.”
“I disagree, Hadwin. He would have taken all our valuable equipment too, yet only the trinkets disappeared. Plus, lynthari from what we saw until now seem harmless towards humans. They are weird, and sometimes annoying, but even Isabella didn't feel any bad intentions from them. Not even once in the nine days we've been here. And we met or passed by hundreds of them.”
“Relying on her skill too much won't do us any good,” Hadwin shoots back at her and they bicker a bit longer, both defending their own opinions.
“So yes, that's when we decided to sell the bracelet. I know you started experimenting with the crown and the sword you left with us is something we can use hunting. We did have Sophie negotiate and she used her skill to get us a much higher price than we would get otherwise.”
“Oh? No protections against mind manipulation?” I ask this time.
“We were careful and did check it. You know, at first, she did get some extra food while buying it. Then influenced someone to give her a small discount and such. Isabella kept monitoring the area and Sophie also was careful, and we didn't find any defenses against it.” Tess looks into my eyes, “Either mind manipulation is extremely rare and there are few defenses against it, or they never had to deal with such a skill.”
“We are testing it slowly. Getting a better price for the bracelet was the first big test, and we might slowly use Sophie's skill a bit more. We could get a lot of secret information, really good equipment that we could even take to another floor.”
As Hadwin says that, I also think about a few ideas. If they truly do not have the concept of mind manipulation or it's something extremely rare, we could end up getting the best items this floor can offer. Just by having Sophie manipulate some people. Sure, as of now the strongest ones I saw were close to level two hundred from my estimation, and there could be stronger ones.
That's why we will have to be careful and slowly exploit her skill. It's quite dangerous, mind manipulation, isn't it?
A curious question flashes through my head. What would happen if Sophie returned to Earth now? She should be able to manipulate the most powerful or richest people on Earth to do what she wants.
“That's what happened to the bracelet, Nat,” Tess continues, “The house is ours, there is even a big basement that is shielded against mana detection or leakage. From what we know, it could be good enough even for you with your mana, so take a look at it when you are free. The view is nice; we still have plenty of mana stones left.”
“They use them here as currency,” Hadwin adds, placing a few mana stones onto the table.
Each of them is a bit different, and the biggest one is the size of my pinky. They are all oval-shaped and seemingly beautifully processed. Just a look is enough to tell me which one has the greatest value.
The surprising part is that all of them can hold some mana or be used to etch mana circuits inside and turn them into heaters, make them radiate cold, turn them into lamps. The more expensive ones seem to be able to handle a lot more mana and circuits, but something tells me I shouldn't do that.
“That one is worth a few hundred thousand dollars if we try to convert its value to Earth's,” Hadwin confirms.
“I see,” I say and put it into my pocket.
Hadwin opens his mouth to say something but then decides against it.
So I take a few more valuable ones.
“Anyway, we were able to find out what Calamities are and identify three out of four,” Tess continues, seemingly unbothered. “These three calamities are called as follows: The Fallen Hero, The Living Tree, and The Colony."
