Chương 22: Wallhacks and Cofounders

Ch. 22: Wallhacks and Cofounders Two days of poor sleep and nonstop rune scribing with tentative autonomous spell-copying had passed, and I had become a one-man production line for the upcoming Mimic hunt, locked in my room and working around the clock. Sahirah had taken the news of the failed negotiations both better and worse than I'd expected. Better, because she didn't blame me for signing her up for a fund raising event when all she'd agreed to was participate in a monster hunt.

But worse, because she insisted on handling the follow-up negotiations with the sales representatives herself. According to her, now that failure meant a transfer to some school in who-knows-where, we should focus entirely on the Mimic hunt as if our lives depended on it. With that mindset, she'd immediately moved back into my room. Despite sleeping beside me every night, however, my overworked self had barely seen her over the past two days, thanks to the fact that I'd pulled two all-nighters in a row.

Two hellish all-nighters without coffee, to be more precise... To my surprise, on the very first day of rune scribing, while I was upgrading Fuck Everything Into Oblivion with a powerful kill switch, Sahirah informed me that she'd be skipping every class to handle the negotiations with the sales representatives so I could focus on what I did best: Creating spells. Now I was emptying what had to be the tenth vial of mid-grade mana ink when I heard her voice from outside my room.

"I'm coming in, and I have guests." She had a key to my room and normally entered without a word, so even if she hadn't warned me of the guests, I would've known something was unusual simply from the way she spoke. I pushed against the floor with one foot, spinning my chair until I was facing the door. To my surprise, Niko stepped inside first, his brown fur unusually well groomed. Apparently, the guy had actually showered and brushed himself for once.

"Hello, Eric," he said, his nostrils flaring as he sniffed the air.

"Your room smells like ink, and you haven't showered in two days. Are you taking care of yourself, my friend?"

"I'm fine," I replied, no longer bothered by his bizarre hygiene-based conversation starters.

"Sahirah brings me food and water every day, and I'm going to rest this afternoon before tonight's first hunt. I just need to finish the spell supplies." I still didn't know exactly what Sahirah had negotiated with the sales team, but just as she'd trusted me to negotiate with the principal, I'd trusted her to look after our interests when dealing with everyone else. Niko simply nodded before stepping away from the doorway and claiming a seat on my bed.

He'd probably leave the sheets covered in loose fur, but I wasn't about to complain. After all, he was here because he'd agreed to risk his life fighting Mimics. The scaled brothers entered next.

"Human." They offered small bows, and instead of sitting on the bed, they respectfully leaned against the wall. I sighed. Unlike Niko's fur, their scales were harmless against the bed sheets. So why were they the ones standing while my furry frind was sitting on the bed? Zira came in after them, her pointed ears lowered as she looked around the crowded room, struggling to find somewhere to sit. Noticing her discomfort, I offered a solution.

"Here. Sahirah's chair is empty." There were two chairs at my writing desk now, and neither of us was pretending we weren't sharing a room anymore. Zira looked at the chair for a moment before shaking her head.

"No, thank you. I don't want to sit anywhere near you and risk a misunderstanding with... you know who." Overcoming her shyness, she instead sat beside Niko on the bed, hugging Sahirah's pillow against her lap as if it were a shield. I expected Sahirah to enter next. Instead, someone else did.

"You might remember me." The speaker was the tough-looking Driari woman I'd sent flying into the muddy pool during combat training. Lili. Unlike Zira, she was taller and confident. Everything about her suggested she was either a leader among the Driari or someone whose opinion mattered. With her ears standing proudly upright, she crossed her arms and remained in the center of the room as though she owned it.

Looking at her, I couldn't help wondering what kind of miracle Sahirah had pulled off to convince someone like Lili to join us. I'd definitely have to ask about that later. As Lili continued glaring at me, Sahirah finally entered, locking the door behind her. Without wasting a moment, she claimed the chair beside me before looking at each person in the room.

"A girl must know," she said.

"If any of you have questions, ask them now. The next time we all gather will be during tonight's hunt." To my surprise, the usually quiet scaled brothers spoke first.

"Isss it true..." Kip began.

"... that the two of you will pay usss one thousand credits..." Kap continued.

"... for just a few nightsss of hunting?" Kip finished. Sahirah and I exchanged a glance. She'd negotiated the payment, and from the ten thousand credits Principal Dickhead had advanced us, fully half of the hunting budget was going straight to the five of them as compensation for the danger they'd be facing. Considering how much I had already spent into ink... the margins on this operation would be terrible.

But on the bright side, if Principal Dickhead ever payed the remaining 20000, then Sahirah and I would be instantly very happy. Realizing I wasn't going to comment, Sahirah answered herself.

"Why wouldn't it be true?" she asked.

"Has a girl ever lied to you?" With the uncanny coordination only twins seemed capable of, Kip and Kap replied instantly.

"We trussst the human..."

"... not you."

"Your choice," Sahirah replied with a mischievous smile.

"But I'm the one with enough mana to save your scaled rears when the Mimics try to steal your bodies." The brothers exchanged another glance. Then, without another word, they both nodded. Niko burst into laughter. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

"The two of you are as socially rigid as your scales." Grinning, he added, "My people would never commit the social faux pas of disrespecting the life mate of someone they trust." An awkward silence swallowed the room. Sahirah and I carefully avoided looking at each other, while even the two Driari women suddenly seemed very interested in anything except the conversation. So much for being the social expert, you feral, fuzzy, furball.

Why did you have to call us life mates when even ourselves lack a label for our relationship?

"I have a question," Zira finally said, breaking the silence. Her gaze rested on Sahirah instead of me.

"How did the two of you get enough credits to pay all of us?"

"Principal Zorik is our sponsor." Sahirah deliberately left out every detail of how we'd secured that sponsorship. Lili used the brief answer as an opportunity to finally join the discussion.

"I don't understand you two," she said.

"Did you just wake up one day, realize you'd never see your own people again, and decide to settle for each other?" Unlike Niko's accidental comment, this question was no accident. It also wasn't one I could easily answer. Settle certainly wasn't the word I would've chosen. Fortunately, Sahirah replied before I had to.

"A girl does not require your understanding." She rose from her chair and met Lili's gaze without flinching.

"Is there something you wish to ask about the Mimic extermination... and only about the Mimic extermination?" Lili smiled, apparently unbothered with Sahirah's refusal.

"How exactly do you expect us to identify Mimics?" Her eyes shifted toward me.

"You don't seriously expect us to scan everyone in this school with your system, do you, human?" I finally stood, reaching across the mountain of inscribed spell sheets until I found a copy of the small orb I'd set aside. Unlike the others, this one was a completely new version of the system.

"Activate this prototype of the next version of the system, " I said, placing it in her hand.

"Then you'll see." By now, practically every first-year student knew how to activate one of my systems. Lili found the activation point immediately and fed the orb just enough mana to turn the thing on. To her surprise, and everyone else's, the sphere didn't sustain itself through Passive Mana Absorption like the previous versions. And instead, it slowly began drawing mana directly from Lili herself. That was intentional, and not a downgrade.

After all, scanning every individual within its improved range several times per second required far more energy than Passive Mana Absorption could ever provide. And placing everyone nearby under a shared illusion also required a fair amount of mana. But the mana cost was worth every drop. The reason was simple. Levels hovering above people's heads had become a thing. [Niko, Lvl 25] [Kip, Lvl 23] [Kap, Lvl 23] The Driari names looked slightly different, since their people had surnames.

[Lili Erwarin, Lvl 27] [Zira Valmyar, Lvl 21] Sahirah and I had them too, though with one important detail. Her surname had been censored by the spell to avoid revealing her mysterious identity. But that wasn't even the impressive part. [Sahirah, Lvl 117] [Eric Nevermore, Lvl 26] The entire room turned toward her, ignoring my comparatively normal level. She, meanwhile, looked at me suspiciously, clearly wondering if I'd accidentally revealed her surname to everyone.

Before anyone noticed anything unusual, I simply winked at her. She was safe. Then all of a sudden everyone started talking at once.

"What is this, Eric?" Niko asked.

"How are those numbers calculated?"

"Why is Sahirah's number so high?" Zira asked.

"How is this number supposed to help us, human?" Lili added. Meanwhile, the scaled brothers had already begun arguing over which one of them was stronger despite having identical levels. Listening to everyone talk over one another, I eventually gave up trying to interrupt. Instead, I slipped an arm around Sahirah's shoulders and waited for the room to calm down. Only when the novelty wore off and everyone started behaving like civilized people again, that I finally gave them the short explanation.

"Your level is simply the sum of all your status points divided by three." I smiled.

"The math is so simple I bet even Principal Dickhead could do it." Whether it was the explanation or the joke, everyone stared at me with wide eyes. Zira's widened the most.

"How can Sahirah be almost five times stronger than the rest of us?" Instead of answering, I simply smiled, keeping my arm around Sahirah. Her number wasn't a bug. She really was that much stronger than everyone else. She was in a league of her own. Well... except my own level probably underestimated my real combat ability. The Casting Assistant and Mind Library gave me versatility that raw attributes couldn't measure.

But quantifying casting speed and versatility would've been a nightmare, so I was perfectly happy with this version of the formula. After all, I'd designed the system myself. If I ever became dissatisfied with the results, I could simply change the algorithm in a future update. For now, though, I was perfectly content being average. Especially when I remembered just how embarrassingly low my level would've been before dual cultivation.

"Fancy illusion, human," Lili said.

"But I still don't see how those numbers help us find Mimics any better than your old sphere."

"Oh, that..." I replied with a villainous grin.

"Just ask someone to leave the room, and you'll all witness my sheer brilliance." Judging by the blank stares, nobody understood why I wanted someone to step outside. Honestly, even in my sleep-deprived state, I was enjoying every second of their confusion. Taking a deep breath, Niko finally climbed off my bed.

"An alpha has to act like an alpha every now and then." He walked toward the door before adding, "And I swear I'm not volunteering to leave the room because the smell of sweat is becoming unbearable." I grinned. He opened the door and stepped outside. For me, time seemed to slow. My eyes moved from person to person. The scaled brothers. The two Driari women. Even Sahirah. Not even her had seen this version of the system before. She'd gathered everyone here simply because she trusted that I had a way to find Mimics.

The instant Niko disappeared behind the wall... I smiled. His body had vanished. But his name hadn't. [Niko, Lvl 25] The floating text remained perfectly visible through the wall, faithfully marking his exact position. It was basically a wallhack. The reactions were even better. The scaled brothers immediately rubbed their eyes before rushing to the doorway to confirm what they were seeing. Zira and Lili followed more cautiously, but they checked as well.

Even Niko stopped on the other side of the wall, undoubtedly staring back at us as he realized he could see every one of our names through solid stone just as clearly as we could see his. As for Sahirah... She simply smiled. The beautiful smile of someone who hadn't doubted me for even a second. Forcing myself to look away while unconsciously pulling her a little closer, I finally finished my explanation.

"Tonight we'll split into search teams. Each of you will receive one of these prototypes so you can search every room in the school, even through walls, doors, and locked spaces." I held up one of the orbs, knowing full well I could never sell them or let the sales team keep them after the hunt. They were far too invasive, the kind of wartime solution that had no business existing once the Mimics had been dealt with.

"If one of you spots something named 'Mimic,' you'll use another spell to contact me immediately. Sahirah and I will come running with enough firepower to finish the job."

"What if the Mimic attacks us before you arrive?" Zira asked quietly.

"I've prepared several illusion spells capable of paralyzing a Mimic. You'll each carry multiple copies. As long as you still have mana, you'll be able to keep it restrained until we get there." Everyone exchanged uncertain looks. For a brief moment, I wondered whether some of them would back out. They didn't.

"He knowss his runesss," Kip said.

"And ssshe hasss the mana," Kap finished. Nobody felt the need to add anything else. After a brief farewell, they all left my room, leaving only Sahirah and my exhausted self behind. I retrieved the prototype Lili had activated and placed it back on my desk, making sure the growing pile of supplies was ready for tonight's extermination. Once everything was in order, I finally asked the question that had been nagging at me.

"How did you convince Lili to join us?"

"She originally came to stop Zira from participating." Sahirah smiled mischievously.

"But I suspected she was mostly jealous that someone beneath her was making so many credits. Inviting her solved the problem." It hit me then that, besides possessing a ridiculous amount of mana, Sahirah was also much better at reading people than I was. An idea I'd been keeping to myself for days finally surfaced.

"Hey," I said.

"I know we still don't have a translation spell or any real privacy yet... but would you like to be the co-founder of my company?" Her green and amber eyes met mine. She didn't answer. I panicked a little and hurried to explain.

"I mean... you're already skipping classes to help me. We're making credits together. We have a team now. And I'm sure you can see by this point that my ideas have the potential to change this world, or at the very least be profitable." Extending a hand toward her, I said, "So why not make it official? You're already playing the role of co-founder in practice." Instead of taking my hand, she walked over to the bed and sat down. Her voice was quieter than usual when she spoke.

"Why do I get the feeling that co-founder isn't the only role I'm already playing in practice, Eric?" That wasn't exactly the answer I'd been hoping for, but there was something unusually thoughtful in her expression, so I waited instead of pressing the matter. She patted the mattress beside her, inviting me to sit. Without hurrying, I took the seat, resisting the urge to ask again. After a moment of silence, she finally gave me a proper answer.

"I'm not going to skip every class the way you do," she said.

"And this doesn't change the fact that we still need to talk in private."

"Is that a yes?" She looked at me with her mismatched eyes and smiled.

"What do you think?" I couldn't help smiling back. Finally, I let myself fall onto the bed, knowing those two sleepless nights hadn't been in vain. For the first time in a long while, the road ahead felt clear. We'd eliminate the Mimics. We'd find a way to earn the full payment from Zorik during his fundraising event. And I'd meet Elitha Hearthstrong again.

Hopefully, her translation spell would become my ticket out of this school after some sort of knowledge exchange, allowing Sahirah and me to officially found our company, prepare for a future that might be harsh if the Greys actually decided to invade Earth, and bring a system to this world on a scale that not even she could imagine yet.