Weapons of Mass Destruction

Chapter 660: Awfully curious

“Where are Dennis and Aaron?” Min-Jae asks Tess.

“They went north to observe that area that’s always covered in mist. They brought Noodle and Maya along because they planned to explore deeper inside.”

“I’ll go and grab them so they can see Nat before he goes back to Beyond.”

“Sure. Be careful.”

As she says that, Min-Jae starts pulling on his body and quickly moves through the jungle, leaving me, Tess, and Biscuit behind.

Tess glances at the puppy sized corgi with his tiny, cute antlers, then at me. “Lily went east. She found some monsters she wanted to fight so that she could level up a bit, but she should be back in a few hours.”

“So everything’s going well so far?” I ask.

“As well as it could. Everyone’s been a bit more... proactive? If that’s the right word. It’s a reasonable reaction to what happened, but we’re only human. In a few months, when the memories start to grow more distant, we’ll calm down again, if only to find ourselves getting stomped on again.”

“How dark of you.”

“I’d call it being realistic. But it will make us stronger. And how about you? How did it go?”

“I found her and could’ve probably killed her if I’d tried really hard, but of course, nothing ever goes according to plan. Instead, I brought back one of Sophie’s fragments.”

Tess smiles. “So our spiteful mind mage managed to pull off something that sneaky. That sounds just like her. Still, who would’ve thought something like this would happen after everything that went down between you two on the first floor?”

“Or the second time, when she and Hadwin tried to kill me—right after I showed up half-dead from fighting Cinderbear.”

“I think it was me who put them in their place, if I remember correctly.”

“Yes,” I confirm. “You were so cool back then.”

Her smile widens. “I have my moments. How’s your social battery? Do you feel like talking about plans, asking questions, or just blabbering?”

“I think blabbering is fine. We can talk about plans when everyone’s here instead of everyone telling me things separately.”

Tess straightens her posture and lifts her chin. “In that case, you are currently looking at the second member of Group 4 to reach a level over 300. I’m only accepting congratulations. If I hear anything close to ‘took you a while,’ you can be sure I’ll be as petty as possible when the time for my revenge comes.”

“You’re so cool. Level 300 already? Congratulations.”

"I'd prefer a bit more enthusiasm, but I'll take what I can get."

Biscuit keeps glancing between me and Tess, as if unsure what to do, but in the end decides to stay quiet. He just snuggles closer. I’d even swear he puts his ear over where my original heart is and listens to it in much the same way my minion likes to.

That’s when a thought hits me, maybe the real reason Biscuit likes to take such a small form is so that he can be carried around. I still remember the existential dread my minion went through when Vic told her she wouldn’t be able to listen to my heart anymore as she grew older.

I push that thought away. “It must’ve taken a lot of work. I mean, I did some large-scale leveling with explosions and stuff to get where I am, but you...”

“Right? But with my Potency and my Primordial Lightning being so good at single-target damage, combined with my ranged projectiles... it wasn’t all that bad. Plus, I got some decent level-ups from everything that went down on the seventh floor.”

“What class did you get?”

"I thought you'd ask that first. It's called Primordial Stormpiercer. Unlike yours, mine’s just Arcane, but that just means I'll have to try harder next time."

"I don't think there’s really all that many attendees running around with Arcane classes."

"Right? I was thinking that too. It also came with a nice passive that improved my [Farsight] a lot. Soon, I might even be able to see through clothes."

I glance at her and blink slowly, half in disbelief, half daring her to elaborate.

She holds my gaze and smiles—calm, amused, utterly unbothered. It’s one of those smiles only this tall blonde can pull off.

I say nothing. Just keep looking at her, waiting.

She chuckles softly. "I think it’s part of your charm, Nat, for you to react like that after one of my looks. But it would also be fun if you blushed and looked away. Min-Jae did that. It’s heartwarming to see him act like that after everything he’s been through."

"I will not apologize."

"Of course you won’t. Biscuit, do you want to show Nat his new room?" she asks.

At that moment, Biscuit reacts immediately and wriggles until he breaks free of my hands. Then, instead of flying, he creates a series of purple mana arms from his back. Eight of them, moving upward before twisting toward the ground. Just like spider legs. Except they're human arms.

With fingers.

I had hoped he’d stop doing that.

Not expecting Tess to answer, we follow the terrifying being that is Corgider as he swiftly moves down the stairs and then to the side through a carved out hallway into one of the bigger rooms. This one is inside the trunk but has a huge opening onto a branch, like a balcony, offering a pretty nice view over the shorter trees.

I see. Biscuit knows I like a room with a good view, so it’s not bad. All my items are here, too. There are the thermonuclear warheads, some mana stones, my Earth clothes and snacks, a few experiments, and some things I was able to steal from the Academy, all nicely piled up.

There are even two mattresses. A larger one, and a smaller one near it.

Oh, how cute. He prepared a bed for himself as... Then Biscuit climbs onto the bigger mattress and lies down comfortably. His spider-human legs vanish, and he looks at me from the top.

I see. So the smaller one is for me.

There’s no need for me to turn around to know Tess has that smug smile on her face.

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For the time being, I stay in my room alone with Biscuit. I'm gracefully allowed onto his bed, and as I lie there, I continue to pet him.

All these cheeky things aside, I still think everyone should have their government issued emotional support corgi. There is no question about that.

As I muse on that, I continue to check the Community while keeping my stats open on the other screen.

Lvl 323

Strength: 264

Dexterity: 252

Constitution: 457

Mana (Stage 1/3 - Vast Mana): 1675 + 1675

I’ll need to improve the Restrictive Training Emblem and Burden Enhancement Inscriptions again to increase their output, as my stat gains have been slowing down again. But it's nothing I didn’t expect, just one of the many things I’ll need to do.

Savant (Hell, Alone) - It's been months since we met during the tournament, and the first thing you said here is that I was a bitch when I forfeited our duel.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - I remembered it out of nowhere, and it pissed me off like it always does. And finally, you got your ass to the 9th floor.

Savant (Hell, Alone) - Not everyone clears their floors with a full roster of party members.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Oh, you are so cool, you clear all those floors alone?

Tacita (Hell, Luce) - 〜(>