Chương 197: Chapter 191 - Interlude 18.1

1 The setting sun illuminated the balcony at the restaurant where they were sitting, casting a rather fetching orange and red pallor on the building, which the current decoration complemented excellently. Not that Katie was surprised. Just spending one hour on this balcony cost more than what some families made in a year. And it didn't even include the price for the food.

But it was the favorite of her late mother, so she made sure to visit the place at least a few times a year, just to relive some of the happier memories from her childhood. Usually, she would come with her brother, but this time Isabella declared that she wanted to discuss something, and if she was forced to spend time with that cow then she was going to do it while sitting on a sinfully comfortable chair, watching the beautiful countryside and munching on delectable food made by professional chefs.

'Maybe after father calms down I can invite the others…' Katie mused as she cast an annoyed glance at Isabella. Said 'friend' was eating the prepared food with great relish while looking just as impeccable as Katie. After all, it wouldn't do for two daughters of two great families to show something uncouth to the world. She took the porcelain teacup in front of her, and raised it gently to her lips, resisted the urge to sip it loudly, and instead did it gently, her lips barely touching the rim of the cup.

Then she placed it down with equal gentleness and spoke up. Despite the restaurant assuring every one of their guests that their secrecy was well maintained, and the location was swept for bugs and other listening devices regularly, Katie still made sure to choose her words carefully. In their life – and the world – there was no such thing as a private moment or full secrecy.

"Why did you want to talk to me?" she asked placidly while trying to make sure that her eyes were conveying the true message. Isabella swallowed the last bite of the expertly crafted tea sandwich, made sure to wipe her hand in the available napkin before answering Katie.

"My family has been rather insistent that I divulge information about the company… I was looking for advice on how to deal with them," she replied with a small but cute frown. Say what you want about the woman, but Katie knew that she could act cute when she wanted. She nodded while mentally translating the question. Apparently, Isabella's family has finally realized how much she gained by being kicked out of Eternal Light and wanted in on it, which surprised Katie, as she expected it to take longer.

She had met Isabella's family many a time and their heads were so far up in the clouds that she didn't expect them to admit they made a mistake.

"Did you remind them of their actions?" she asked with a pointed look. Isabella elegantly scoffed, just as they were taught when they were younger.

"It seems, the family believes that blood is thicker than weeks of insults and disparaging comments…" came the stone-faced reply, but Katie could read the cold fury in her eyes thanks to experiencing it through their adversarial relationship.

"And they want you to do what, exactly?" Her frenemy looked away, taking in the beautiful sights for a few moments before answering.

"To share the information that I gained. They want to know where to get powerful pets and mounts, how to use mana expertly, and everything I know about the distortions…" Katie had to blink at the audacity.

"And I assume they would thank you properly later …" she commented with a raised eyebrow.

"Not even that," denied the other girl angrily.

"Apparently, it's my duty to elevate the family above others…" Katie looked back at the other young woman, knowing that she was in the same position she was, and couldn't help but feel some manner of kinship. Not that it was the first time she felt something like that. After all, it was this feeling that made sure that they spent their school years either fighting against each other or helping the other one annoy their families.

Still, while she never really knew how to get back at her family, more specifically at her father, meeting with Sam had opened her eyes to a world of possibilities. Ever since that fateful time when her boss bade her to confound her own father with seemingly actionable intelligence, she had been inspired. Inside her own mind, she wove countless plans in the same vein, trying to see if she could improve on it or maybe even diversify into different plans.

And now, as she listened to Isabella's woes, she had to hold back the most wicked cackle that was threatening to come out of her own mouth. While she managed that, the grin that appeared on her face seemed to surprise the other woman. Isabella glanced around furtively, then leaned forward with interest shining in her eyes. Katie knew many men would give any of their appendages just to have the same view she had during that action, but she couldn't have cared less.

"You have a plan, you crazy gremlin?" Isabella asked, scared and excited at the same time.

"Of course, I have a plan!" Katie declared proudly while patting her own, visibly smaller chest. Then she abruptly stood up and grabbed Isabella's hand.

"But not here!" The employees of the restaurant watched as the two young women, dressed in clothing worth more than their salaries, ran out of the building while giggling to themselves like two teenage girls who just found out that their idol was going to visit their town. Clarissa sat in the room and waited for her next client. As the Healer Guild building operated as a hospital, they made sure that healers would always have to do a few shifts dealing with the walk-ins.

They were mostly NPCs with very common issues like catching a cold, slight fever, not knowing they were pregnant, and so on. Occasionally, a player would walk in dealing with some kind of curse or permanent debuff that their healer couldn't remove. And thanks to her skills, the women at the intake desk sent those hapless fools to her. Granted, it increased her reputation with the Healer Guild and provided a lot of experience points, but sometimes it was really hard not to punt those idiots out of the window.

Like the fool in front of her.

"… and our guild has many great facilities. I'm sure a healer of your caliber would feel right at home," the useless fop declared after Clarissa healed him of some permanent debuff that she knew could be removed with some of the most basic skills. So, either their guild was so incompetent that none of their healers knew that skill, or they were just sending people into the Healer Guild to recruit healers while receiving treatment. Plus, he was staring at her breasts during the entire conversation.

Somehow Clarissa didn't think she would be happy in their dinky little guild.

"I'm afraid I'm already part of a guild, so I have to politely decline your invitation," she stated, stone-faced. Instantly, the guy's face turned red.

"You think you can reject us? Huh?" he exclaimed while standing and leaning over her.

"Do you know who we are?"

'God save me from men with fragile egos…' she complained inwardly while only saying a few words in response.

"Melody. Snack time." For a long moment, there was silence, then the medical examination room was filled with the sound of the most deadly noise imaginable to mankind. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"HONK!" She was organizing her reports, making note of the name of the player who tried this recruiting shtick after checking his paperwork when the door opened and one of the guild workers stuck her head in.

"Another one, Clarissa?" she asked with an amused air around her. The first time she showed up with Melody, that stab-happy swan instantly captured everyone's heart. Thus when the workers and other healers saw a man being chased by an enraged swan holding a knife in her beak they just cheered the bird on.

"Yes. Another one of those," she said then turned toward the other healer.

"Can't we exclude them?" Sadly, the healer just shook her head.

"I know how much they annoy you and the others but we swore an oath. Healing everyone, no matter of alignment, race, or background. Just because we suspect they are pretending, we can't simply refuse to heal them. What if they are actually infected with something deadly?" Clarissa just sighed.

"You are too nice, Healer Nancy." The other woman just tittered at her, then smiled gently.

"I'll give you a few minutes to rest, then I'm going to send the next one. All right?"

"Thank you." She sat, leaning back in her chair, painted white because why not, and stared at her skill list. After she had returned from the valley, her life became rather hectic. When she wasn't at the headquarters helping out Lucy, she was in talks with the other healers about the plants, poisons, and other materials she had found in the valley.

Donating those samples allowed her to skip an entire level in the reputation system, making her one of the most promising healers currently enrolled, according to one of the Head Healers. However, while she freely shared the materials, she kept the new skills she had acquired to herself. Clarissa felt that if she showed those off then she would never be allowed to step outside the building. The first one was simple yet effective. Not one that would confine her to the building, maybe even the opposite.

[Overheal: Level 5/100 (12%) (Passive) Your healing is excellent. Such excellence shouldn't be wasted. For every 100 health points you overheal, the target gains 1 health point buffer per level. This buffer does not act as a shield but if the target is wounded it will be used to heal. The maximum buffer is 1% per skill level of the target's maximum health except for yourself where it is 2%.] A skill that once again enhanced her healing capabilities, but even if it was powerful, it had nothing on the other two skills she gained. [Body Autonomy: Level 3/100 (9%) (Passive) Your body is your own and nobody can tell you otherwise. Spells that would target your body have 0, 75% per skill level less effect. You are also immune to possessions.] The possession line was interesting, and she did a brief tour of the library to see if there were monsters that did that, but she only found a few scant mentions of ghost-type monsters. Which made her think that she would need to watch out for players trying to possess her…

'How dreadful…' she mused as she read the last spell for the hundredth time. [Path of Least Resistance: Level 11/100 (0%) (Passive) Your magic has been learning alongside you. And now it follows the path of least resistance. Every spell affecting the body costs less and is more effective. Spell costs are decreased by 0, 1% per skill level and the effectiveness is increased by 3% per skill level.] It was simply bonkers, how powerful the skill was.

Though based on the gossip she had been overhearing in the guild building, she would need every ounce of that healing power in the future. Liz looked over her workbench and clenched her fist in happiness. She had finally done it. On the table was a small box, maybe a foot in all dimensions, with blue lights running along the faces of the box, all of them terminating a small half-globe in the middle that was radiating the same light.

Liz has been on and off working on this one device ever since she accepted her contract with the AFK company. It was one of the first things she and Lucy had talked about, but until she gained the Tablet of Light, the entire project was only meandering forward. But with the addition of the new element in her arsenal and increased proficiency with said element, as well as a lot of studying, Liz finally managed to finish the first prototype. Now the only question was: would it work?

Several drones buzzed around her as she stared at the box with trepidation, but in the end, she gathered her courage and reached out with one hand, waving her palm over the half-globe.

"Activate!" she called out, a little louder than necessary in her nervousness. There was a brief hum as the device turned on, the light intensifying until the small half-globe in the middle was shining strong enough to cause spots to appear in someone's vision if they stared at it for too long. Then there were a few cracks, pops, and electric discharges, but the device flashed exactly three times and a flat blue screen made of blue light appeared in front of Liz.

The screen was broken up with occasional static and glitches and it never stayed in the exact same place, causing it to look oddly distorted, but even through these things Liz could see the text on the screen. NAME: PASSWORD: With an underscore symbol flashing rhythmically after the first word. Under the two words was the universal symbol for keyboards. Carefully, turning her body sideways in case of explosions, she reached forward and touched the symbol with one finger.

Instantly, the device hummed even stronger and she could smell smoke, but the screen flashed once and another smaller screen appeared at an angle to the first one, offering her the sight of a proper keyboard. Grinning triumphantly, she used one finger to enter the required information.

"What did I set the password as?" she mused loudly as she entered the word 'drones4ever' as the name.

"Oh right, password. Silly me…" she chuckled and entered the password before pressing the enter button. The device buzzed a little as it processed the operation, but to her relief, the screen flashed once again and the password screen was replaced by a new one. There was an adorable minimalistic drawing of one of her drones with glowing eyes and next to it a name. LightOS It stayed there for around half a minute as even more smoke started appearing from the device.

Ignoring it, Liz waited as the loading screen vanished and she was face to face with the 'desktop' of her homebrewed magical operating system. Granted, it only consisted of a blank screen with four icons. One to turn the device off, one to lock it once again, one to show the readings of the sensors, and the last one was a rudimentary Pong application. She moved her finger over the icon for the sensor and touched it. There was a brief pause and a low-frequency whine started coming from the device.

Her eyes, however, were only focused on the screen. Another flash and the new screen appeared, but before any useful information could appear, she was interrupted by a very familiar sound. CRACK The half-globe on the top of the device cracked, and the screen vanished within a blink while very foul-smelling blue smoke started emerging from the cracked part. Liz stared at it for a second, then clicked her tongue in disappointment.

"At least it didn't explode this time…" One of the drones flew closer to her face, and she reached up to pat the adorable creation while it automatically nuzzled into her hand.

"Don't worry, honey. The next one is going to work! I think I know where I went wrong…" Dan walked back and forth in front of the door, which separated him from the biggest decision that would affect his life. Every time he looked at the clock on the wall or the watch on his wrist, it showed a different time, yet for the life of him, he couldn't tell what the actual time was. Or the date, or his birthplace.

All he could think was that if he failed, then every second of the work that he did in the last few years would be for naught.

"Would you stop pacing?" Lara asked with a bored voice as she paged through some manner of a magazine.

"I read your paper and it is good. Your adviser read it and said it was good. They allowed you to finish the defense, so it was not bad. Don't worry, you got it." Dan just shook his head.

"You don't understand! I'm pretty sure that I made a mistake somewhere… I think it was–" Fortunately for Lara, before he could get into his rant, the door opened, choking his words into his throat. The man, dressed in a suit sent a commiserating look at Lara and then grinned at Dan while motioning for him to enter.

"Doctor."

"To Dan!"

"Congratulations!" Dan watched, still somewhat dazed, as his friends raised their glasses around the table at him. They were in a private room in a restaurant with a name he couldn't pronounce. He knew it was expensive because Lara refused to let him see the menu. Said girlfriend was sitting next to him, one hand holding a glass of beer, the other interwoven with his own arm. And around the table was the rest of the team.

Sam with Lucy grinning at him, Tim quietly talking with Claire while Isabella and Katie sniped at each other while sipping wine. There were a tremendous number of feelings rushing through his body and he was incapable of articulating what he was actually feeling at the moment. Relief and satisfaction that he finally finished his degree and not a small amount of horror knowing that he would be leaving the world of academia and finally stepping fully into the real world.

"So, Dan… or rather Doctor Dan," Sam spoke up, gathering all the eyes in the private room.

"Now that you finished school, what's the plan?" Instantly, all the other eyes turned to him, causing him to break out in a cold sweat.

"I don't know… I have been working on it so long that it feels weird not to do it…" he admitted.

"Any offers from companies?" Sam asked.

"Tons… So many…" he grumbled.

"Had to have my people check them over. There were so many…" Lara interjected with a cheeky smile.

"Ninety percent turned out to be scams…"

"The rest?"

"Not worth the email they were written on…" His girlfriend stated with a laugh.

"Bummer…" Sam answered with a smile on his own. Before they could plan to overthrow some country, he interrupted.

"I was planning to focus on the game for a while. You know, relax and stuff…" he admitted abashedly. Sam just gave him a thumbs-up. While the rest of the group voiced their approval. The next hard-hitting came from Lucy.

"Now that you're finished with school, where are you going to live?" Once again Lara spoke up.

"We're looking for a nice apartment near you guys!" she declared with a smile. He turned to her.

"We are?" She just smiled at him.

"We are." Dan was about to complain when he realized that he hated dealing with that kind of thing and that he would be living together with his gorgeous girlfriend. So, he simply nodded and turned back to Lucy.

"We're looking for an apartment near you guys," he repeated what Lara said with a small smile. Lucy just chuckled and raised her own glass in salute while the room was filled with laughter.