Chapter 158 - A Reckless Decision
Chapter 158 - A Reckless Decision
Sheila only stayed for a whole six hours investigating everything about the Giant Ant's nest, and also the most important of them all, the Queen. She didn't get that much information in that short amount of time and couldn't continue more because another urgent matter appeared that required of her presence. She had been wondering where did that girl gone to but now that the latter suddenly entered the Trial Tower and madly charge toward the slime, she begins to wonder what happens for her to react to such extent.
The girl didn't even bother taking rest and continue slaying slimes one after another, not even minding the small wounds that slowly accumulated all over her body. If this keeps up, she might eventually get swallowed by the momentum. Although she only knew her for a week, she never saw her becoming this flustered and doing a reckless thing, not minding her life is on the risk. The girl was the type that appeared to be calm and collected even though she was a bit shy around a stranger. That was the impression Sheila get from Mia after getting to know of her within this week.
"Is it that time of a month for her? No matter how cold one appearance be, they would become an Ogre once that time of a month came after all. Fortunately, I have got the pain resistance potion with me, so it didn't bother me one a bit."
Sheila muttered while pondering what problem fall onto Mia that caused the latter to do some reckless action without considering the consequence. Thankfully I was currently in the Trial Tower so the system could notify me faster if the others were doing reckless stuff that might risk their life, thought Sheila as she breathes a relieved sigh.
"While I'm on the topic, no wonder Ria didn't enter the Trial Tower at all for the past few days. She should have known about the Pain Resistance potion that I shared with her a while ago, but perhaps, she might have forgotten about it since she never came to me to ask for it... Hold on. Since she had already forgotten about it, what if I suddenly mentioned it while she already suffered for the past few days while I didn't have to suffer alongside her? Wouldn't she get angry at me for not reminding her about such a useful potion available?"
Sheila gulped nervously after noticing the problem in her thought. Perhaps, she might have to look for an excuse, maybe the excuse for being busy would work? It should be, isn't it? Technically, it isn't wrong. Or why not simply sent it to her inventory before messaging her about it? Yes, that should be done. She wouldn't be able to find a loophole in my lies by reading my facial expression like face to face since it's in the message. Her ability to read people is almost as frightening as Sara, her mother. If one were to lie in their face, they must at least have one tough and shameless heart to be able to do so with the risk of getting exposed.
This is one of many reasons why she relied heavily on them. As her family and best friend, both of them understood her as much as herself so she didn't have to worry about getting trick or lie by others so long as she's with any of the two. Most importantly, both of them are also good at giving advice. Although Ria didn't have as much experience as Sara, her advice is not really that far behind. It's no wonder both of them could succeed in life, unlike her who was only good at causing trouble for them.
When it comes to that, she's second to none. Of course, it is not something one would be proud of, but it isn't so bad either. To perfectly execute the art of troublemaker, one would need a special skill, not many could have done as smoothly as her. In a way, she could be said to specialize in that. Sheila shook her head to remove the thought before teleporting herself to the dimension where Mia resides within the Trial Tower. The people that were able to enter the Trial Tower by something else instead of using the system like her would enter in their 'dimension'. That was why they couldn't meet each other unless Sheila brought them along.
In their dimension, they are the sole human. This is too makes things easier for them to hunt the monster without having to fight for the loot and stuff that one would usually see in the games. This is not within her power but of the system instead, yet that doesn't mean she couldn't do anything at all as she had once said, she did a couple of configuration to implant the ideas in her mind and make it work. As the host of the leveling system, she has the ability to do so but not completely. The system's capabilities regarding space magic are almost second to none. At least, that was her thought after knowing the full extent of what the system could accomplish regarding the Trial Tower.
If the system ever turned hostile, she couldn't possibly do anything if it were to suddenly decided to send her into the endless void, the place beyond the Trial Tower, where no average human could survive living in there. Her fate would be none other than death, she couldn't even resist. That was simply how scary space magic is. After all, she had experienced it once when the system decided to abruptly teleport herself into the Trial Tower.
Anyways, the moment Sheila arrived in Mia's dimension, she was not that far ahead from the girl who was currently attacking the slimes in a distance with her magic while also bashing her club at the slimes that managed to get to her. It seemed she was so focused on the battle that she hasn't taken notice of another intruder in her dimension. Sheila keeps her distance and watches the fight from afar as to not get in her way. Since she's already here, Sheila wasn't worried much about not being fast enough to rescue Mia who might get in trouble later down the line with her reckless behavior.
Within the Trial Tower, she could technically 'blink' out of existence toward another location within the blink of an eye. But of course, this only works when she's in their dimension but the same couldn't be said on her own which she thought was strange but didn't bother to investigate further. The system's real capabilities knew no bounds. Looking at the way Mia fights, though it seemed reckless, her expression still appears to be calm and rational. When she realized the slime had her surrounded, she focused on bashing the slime on her side until it leaves her enough space before retreating out of the encirclement from that route.
That was the current situation happening in front of her. When Sheila thought she was in predicament and was about to go and rescue, Mia would always find a way to retreat before firing at them with her magic, leaving them exploded to pieces. If one has a weak heart was to see it, they would have fainted on the spot from having worried too much. Or might have gone ahead to rescue her even though she didn't need any. When Mia had finished killing the group of slimes and was drinking the potion to heal the wounds on her body, Sheila immediately used the chance to made her presence known to her.
If hadn't stepped in at that moment, Mia would have gone on another rampage since she didn't bother taking a rest so long as the potion did their work on healing her properly. The wounds all over her body are definitely successfully healed, but that doesn't mean it also included her stamina. Right now, Mia was breathing heavily which proven that her stamina had already run out even before the fight Sheila had witnessed a moment ago. By appearing right in front of her, Sheila also brought a bottle of cold mineral water to give it to the latter before saying.
"You should take a break. Your body will break down at this rate if you continue even with the healing from the potion."
Not surprising at her sudden entrance, Mia took the water bottle given to her without saying anything as her thirst was starting to become unbearable for her to resist the moment her eyes caught it in her view. It only takes a few breaths for her to finish the whole bottle, it goes to show how thirsty and tired she is after fighting many battles without taking any rest nor did she drink any water until now. Since she had already completed the quest of killing a certain amount of slimes, the zone had turned into a safe zone upon completion unless she took another quest for a chance to go rampage once again.
That was exactly what Mia was going to do after having sated her thirst, but Sheila was prepared for that as she had already disabled the quest system in the card earlier before appearing in front of her. Not finding the specific quest in the card, Mia looked up at her with a pout, looking like a child having their favorite toy stolen from them. Although Sheila appeared to be stoic in her expression, she was internally dying and almost laugh at how adorable Mia looked to her. She somehow managed to control the urge by looking away before asking the latter what happened for her to turn out like this.
"It was because of one annoying girl. I never crossed her path in my entire life yet that girl always appeared in front of her just to annoy me for no particular reason. I had been enduring it up until now since it would just be a waste of time of humoring her, so I would rather focus on my studies instead, which apparently was a bad move as it turned out for her to be even more annoying."
Mia explained with a frown when she remembers the time she was unjustly bullied at the Mage Academy. It was clear to Sheila that Mia must really dislike the girl.
"Just before I came here a few hours ago, I was in the middle of shopping for the day and unexpectedly, I came across her and her annoying little group. The moment her gaze met mine, her face turned ugly as she hurriedly marches toward me with the same ill intent that I could tell simply by looking at her face. Obviously, I turned my back and was about to run away but the shouted from her caused me to halt in my step."
"Later on, I somehow accepted the duel requested by her. I don't know what gets to me, but I didn't regret my reckless decision at all. It will be three days later at one of Mage Association's branches which are based at A District. I didn't know that they have a base around, though it was a branch one. The fight will be in a small Arena facility built by them."
"That was the reason why I want to get stronger as fast as possible in preparation for the later duel. I knew very well that my current capabilities are not enough to win against her. That's why... can you please allow me to train here before the date of the duel? I have enough of her BS and want to beat the crap out of her until I'm satisfied. That is my only desire for the moment."